cherry

Edit: This turned out to be a kind of love letter to SuicideGirls and all of the friends and adventures I've made over the last nine years....

I was going to make my next entry about my time in Paris, but after the surprise of my wonderful friends' AnnaLee and GoGo's set (The Wolf Caught The Bird) popping up on the front page, I felt like I just had to share these tender, happy out takes with you. I couldn't keep them all for my own heart...






That day was so bittersweet in many ways, most of which I'll never tell.





When Gogo and Annalee asked little old me to recreate what was lost I was speechless! (and yes I blushed a thousand shades of pink).





Of course, Annalee has been my closest friend for six years now, and Gogo and I became really good friends after we finally got to spend quality time together a couple of years ago when we made this and this and had more adventures inside of two days than you'd think possible in a conservative town in Alberta.





Both women are such a huge strength and inspiration to me and I don't know where I'd be without either. We spent all day preparing for this set, including hours of me playing with GoGo's hair, and us going to pick out the underwear sets on a rainy morning in Soho, London. Some things didn't play out and others did and at the end of it all, the minute AnnaLee and Gogo finished snuggling, AnnaLee and I had to say our hurried and teary goodbyes and run out into London to hail a taxi and rush for our train. Both of us were torn between wanting so badly to miss our train and desperately trying to make it so we didn't miss our wonderful adventures back in Scotland (which you can see in my last blog entry).


Gogo: 'Oooh what's in there?!'

I'm just so happy I could capture this time for them and for you to see.

AnnaLee and I looked through this set so many times after we departed London and every time I came to this following picture I just couldn't help but see GoGo thinking...


'Fuck you, SuicideGirls. I caught her first...'


------

Now to quickly answer a question I keep getting: the camera in the background of the photos is a Mamiya Universal - an old press camera from the late 60s/early 70s. It's a medium format rangefinder.

------

A little, nervous and exciting News:

Just a couple of months before the 9th anniversary of me becoming a SuicideGirl I'm heading back out to the UK to work on the next DVD project. It'll be the 3rd SG DVD I've been proud to be a part of and I'm especially so excited for this one, and I can't even tell you anything about it yet!

It's strange to be going 'home' to work on this too. So many things have changed in the 9 years since I discovered SG and almost all of it is thanks to my family here at SG. My dreams have changed too many times to count (and still changing) but all I can say is I feel so lucky to be here.

This past April was also the 7th anniversary of me becoming a staff photographer. I've worked so hard over the years, I've burned myself out over and over and spent more money than I care to think about; to always improve and always bring something unique and different to the sets I shoot. Most of all to really bring any connections I make through in the photos; to perhaps share a little with you what it's like to to be friends with strong and beautiful women like this.

I've had wonderful times and brilliant memories. I've had adventures and copious EUREKA moments where I feel like I levelled up. Even still, it's been far from easy and I've so very nearly quit on at least six different occasions. But, the biggest lesson I've learned is that nothing worthwhile is easy and unless you're fighting, you're not going to be progressing.

Even though I'm shooting a little bit less than I used to I can't ever imagine life without SuicideGirls and you know what? That's really weird when you think about it...

-----

xxxx.