4 Slugs From a 44 No Less No More with Leah (Patreon)

This was the first official set I ever shot with Leah, and it turned into way more of a story than I expected.

She rode down with me from the Phoenix area as part of a road trip, and the original plan was simple—stop at Boot Hill and grab a few frames in the actual historic cemetery. We figured it’d be quick and easy.

Didn’t go like that.

Boot Hill is owned by the town, so we checked first. The woman there was cool about it, but the town clerk gave us a polite no—and basically said they’d appreciate if we didn’t shoot around town either. Not illegal, just one of those “we’d rather you didn’t” situations.

But then she pointed us somewhere else—this full replica western street just outside town.

And honestly, it ended up being better.

We had total freedom to shoot, no interruptions, and the light out there just wrapped everything in that dusty, cinematic tone. The wood textures, the open street, the way the sun hits skin out there—it all just works. It feels real without being restricted by the actual location.

Leah fit the environment immediately. This was our first time shooting together, but she moves naturally and knows how to hold a frame. A lot of this set is just letting the scene breathe—wide compositions, letting the background tell as much of the story as she does.

There’s something about this one that feels like a mix of controlled and accidental. None of it went how it was planned, but it landed exactly where it needed to.