to live and drive in L.A. (2023) (Patreon)

Well I did have something slightly productive come out of this trip—I got to do a shoot with a friend for my lookbook project! This is Sammie and her '84 Alfa Romeo Spyder; we had an absolute blast driving it around town and getting shots yesterday.

Obviously, most of the pictures are portraits that I'll slot into the book; we took so many I'm practically drowning in choices for Sammie's pages. This one, however, I took for a wide composition and figured I'd do the whole cinematic thing with it. 

And why not? L.A. is cinematic when it's right. Being poor here sucks, commuting here sucks, but yesterday we weren't going to work and I got to pretend I wasn't poor and the energy is so vastly different that it's impossible to not love it here when it all feels right. Los Angeles is a city so steeped in cultural references that it just takes a few things going right—bright-red convertible with the top down on the PCH, two hot dolls dressed up for the day, perfect weather and good conversation—to make you feel like you're the star of your own show. Like you're the protagonist of your own life and in charge of your own fate. 

It's not true, of course—luck and timing play a much larger role than any actual skill or effort—but in West L.A. people stare like you're the protagonist, and that just makes it feel a little more real for the day. And hell, let 'em stare—we're serving.