Did I mention I shot topless at the White House`? (Patreon)

Guten Abend! After a very long tour and a lovely dinner with my family on Thursday, I finally had a day to lounge around, drink wine, and relax. I wanted to take a few minutes to tell you all about the tour and about what is to come next.

Nov. 17th:

I woke up and took my time packing, showering, and saying my farewells to my animals before heading up to North Carolina for the day. After a long 5 hour drive, I arrived in High Point to shoot with Louis Reed. As you all know, I purchased my first instax camera, so Louis helped me piece it together. We started off shooting some casual looks in the sweats I had arrived then and then moved on to hours of semi suspended shibari work (I have some instax film photos from this I will be sending out to a few of you!). At the end of the shoot he gifted me an old lighting set up he did not need anymore after hearing of my forced natural light dilemma as a photographer (really made my day). After wrapping with Louis I drove a a few miles down the road to Matt Schmidt where we went out to a fancy dinner with amazing bloody marys. On the way back we picked up some wine, figured out what our concept would be, and went to work. We shot for a few hours and as always created an amazing piece. I showered and hit the pillows.

Nov. 18th: 

I actually woke up before my alarm that morning -  that is how eager for D.C. I was. When it seemed like a good time to depart, I exited Matt's house and loaded up the car. D.C. was about another 4 or 5 hours I believe, but the drive was beautiful. I stopped by Dunkin Donuts and made a straight drive up. Finally in Maryland, I got to Shane Evans and Ashley Splooshie's house (awesome photographer and model couple). Shane and I had planned to shoot at the White House that day, but he was ill so we post-poned. I ended up wasting the day (boo, I should have done something) until around 7 when I hit up a Japanese joint for some sushi and sake before my shoot that night. When I arrived at Union 206 Studio, I met up with Byond Help Photography and makeup artist Violet. I had actually shot with Marc once before the only other time I had been to D.C. (Shane had flown me out, first time on a plane too!). We did a golden concept with fiery makeup and used latex paint - that stuff is so weird. I captured instax of these, too!

Nov. 19th:

As this was supposed to be my last day in D.C., I woke up to make the most of the day. I headed over to Virginia about an hour away to make my shoot with David Segal (there are so many tolls through there, ugh....). This shoot was very relaxed - I mostly posed on the same wall with different backdrops. Some nudes with the light shining in through the blinds and some with his large business suit. I did not capture instax of these, but I will post the digital files. After wrapping this gig, I departed to officially see D.C. I texted Shane to meet me at the White House so we could make up for the day before. This was my first time ever seeing the White House and I think I definitely made a memorable impression. Once there I had said to Shane there were a lot more people than I thought there would be on a Sunday. He replied by saying there were more cops than usual, too, so he ran the shoot by them. Topless in D.C. - totally legal, by the way! I didn't want to undress publicly so I asked Ashley her thoughts. There was a cool older Tibetan man in a booth set up that read "Free Tibet" (caught a shot of it) and we asked if I could duck behind his tent. He smiled and said sure, happy to help. I took my shirt off and quickly put my pleather jacket back on, but some people definitely did double takes and stared. I walked back to the White House and we waited for the majority of the kids to disperse - ya know, wanna avoid those screaming moms. When the coast looked clear enough, Shane told me to go. We shot very quickly (it was cold as hell, too) so after 5 minutes go by I bundle back up and run over. Of course, a hilarious group of teenage boys were standing propped up against the fence with their skateboards, nodding and smirking. I laughed. I got instax of this moment too, but I am keeping it.... (sorry!) Digital files will definitely be shown. After the whirlwind of topless White House shooting, we grabbed some hot coffee and left D.C. for dinner. We stopped in and grabbed some pasta and soup (I got a beer, too) and headed home to relax. We watched bad TV for hours.

Nov. 20th:

I was supposed to head to Richmond on this day, but I arranged to spend more time in the D/M/V area.  I woke up slightly dreading the day because my first shoot was in a park in Virginia entirely nude with not so pleasant temperatures. I grabbed a hot coffee on the way and hoped it would help (it didn't). I met up with Tad Maerd and we drove to a more secluded part of the park. It mostly consisted of emotional artistic nudes curled up on the ground, but posing took a long time because of the cold. I spent a lot of the time warming myself up. However I did get a few good instax shots from here, too. Afterwards I headed back over to Maryland to meet with Billy Monday. The drive through the open country made me wish I had planned more time to stop at the antique shops. I got lunch at a small Thai place and tried their Thai beer (yum). I also watched the news featuring Charles Manson's death. I paid and drove 2 minutes over to the studio where we shot some more artistic nudes. He even let me keep this big beautiful rope prop! No instax was taken unfortunately. I've already posted 2 of the shots on IG however! When we wrapped I had a lot of free time but wasn't sure what to do, so I spontaneously drove to Baltimore. I was a little bummed to find parking was a lot harder to snag than I though - after driving aimlessly for an hour, my anxiety was bad enough that I wanted to head back. It looked beautiful, but I'll wait to explore it until I am not alone. Some homeless man that claimed he was mute and shot in the head harassed me at the gas pumps. I felt bad, but man, scary moments. I drove back to Maryland and grabbed some cheap Chinese takeout, smoked some weed, and passed out early.

Nov. 21st: 

This was the day for Richmond! Since it was Ashley's birthday I woke up early in time to have coffee and breakfast with them. I do not eat red meat, but I had never tried "scrapple", so they fed that to me. Wasn't horrible, I guess. Afterwards I packed up the car and headed back to Virginia where I met up with Sonnie Marie Slagle, a beautiful witchy model and photographer. Her friend Raven, another photographer, joined us and we shot some beautiful vintage styled shots. I grabbed only 2 instax shots here sadly (regret!). She had a beautiful ginger Pomeranian (Oh! And Shane had a huge rottweiler that liked to be a lapdog ). We drank wine and chatted until it was time for me to head 5 minutes down the road to my last shoot of the evening. Andy Welch had rented out a 2 star motel room for us to shoot in (and where I ended up staying because I did not know any hosts). Thankfully it wasn't a bad place, just thin walls and bad customer service. We shot some dark themed, mystical yet sexy piece for about 4 hours. He ordered pizza, we talked, I showed him my music - good stuff. After he left I devoured the rest of the pizza and watched bad cable until I fell asleep. 

Nov. 22nd:

Ah, the last day of my tour.... I woke up a few hours early so I could take some self portraits in the shady motel room (instax and digital available!) I love the product and I cannot wait to share with you. After I felt satisfied I packed up, returned the room key, and headed down to North Carolina. After noon I met up with Nuance Artistry who I had worked with once before. We drove a few miles to an abandoned mill `(man, was it beautiful!). I shot artistic nudes (again, so cold). Some involved a lovely violin, too. I snagged some instax shots here that I find breathtaking. I cannot wait to share all the gems I collected over the trip. We hiked our way back to our cars and I prepared myself for the long 5.5 hours ahead of me. I listened to an audiobook (Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay) and chugged a double shot coffee to keep me going. When I finally made it home, I hugged my fur babies and collapsed onto my couch. You never quite miss home until it is gone.

I hope you all had a splendid holiday whether you celebrate or not. I will be sending out the prints and instax film I owe you all very soon. For now, I am resting. 

Thanks for listening and supporting me. 

A little preview into my life.

Good night.

xxLilith