Rockabilly Weekend travel journal!

What’s up, Hive? I took a few days off leading up to Viva Las Vegas. There’s always a lot to prepare for, even though I make these trips with only a back pack, a camera, an extra lens and a couple changes of clothes. This is going to be a freewrite. I’m cruising comfortably […hopefully it stays like this] at 40,000 feet. As I’ve documented extensively here on Hive, I really don’t enjoy flying. This always terrifies me. As beautiful as the sights are above the clouds, I white-knuckle it the entire time until we land. I’ve had a few flight attendant friends that’ve sent me videos to work through the anxiety, but I always try and distract myself by writing a blog post.

I’m on my way to Las Vegas for the Rockabilly Weekend, Viva Las Vegas. I’ve been making this pilgrimage for Viva Las Vegas for almost ten years. It’s typically a brutal event. I’ve always gone to LA for a week prior or immediately after. That more or less results in two back to back tours with anywhere between 10 and 25 shoots in each city. I’ve grown to dread this annual trip, even though it generates more than half of my yearly income. In 2019, I’d just returned from New Zealand and Australia. Viva Las Vegas was close on the heels and I felt desperate for an intervention. Needless to say, VLV2020 didn’t happen, and I haven’t been to the event in two years. This will be my triumphant return.

I’m doing things much differently this year. First and foremost, this trip is just about Vegas. My friend Cindy […I’ve shared photos of her many times. She’s one of my favorite models and people on this earth], just had surgery. Originally my plan was to make my way to LA and shoot with her again, but, doctor’s orders, she ins’t going to be recovered enough to shoot. Probably not even to hang out, so I decided against the extra travel and dates on the road. Another reason I’m hopeful this trip won’t be as hard on me is because I’m only a guest photographer for two events. Granted, they’re all day events with 8 - 10 models, but each shoot is between 30 and 45 minutes.

Production for these events is one of the biggest time, resource and energy sucks. In most cases for private shoots, the photographers provide hair and make-up, sometimes wardrobe and often, the location. It is a ton of work to get all of those things in to place. The last couple of years, as often as possible, I try to do these guest photographer spots. I make around $300 per model, but the shoots are short and the only thing I have to worry about is taking good pictures and returning good edits over the weeks that follow. This is one of those career revelations you really wish you discovered a decade earlier.

Many of my most iconic shots have been taken during Viva Las Vegas and although I may cringe at the date approaching year after year, it’s impossible to separate from my story as the photographer that pioneered the dark pinup subgenera. With some quality of life changes in place, there’s a lot I’m looking forward to. The selfies will be coming shortly after the car show Saturday. I’ll be getting to see @vintagevandalizm, one of my very best friends, and I’m signing copies of Dark Pinup at the @wcpublishing booth with pinup icon, @masuimimax! More to come, but for now, thanks for reading the first entry of the Viva Las Vegas travel journal.