2024 April Show: Snakebite Tuxon, AZ

La Serie de Intimidad

A Wet Plate Portrait Session with friends

This is the very first image that I took of the series, not really knowing where it would take me. Casper Valentine came over to help me practice shooting that morning, and it turned out to be such a sweet day between the two of us and this new friendship. I used inspiration from a famous image by George Platt Lynes, and I wanted to put Casper’s body in a similar position to commemorate his journey and celebrate their new torso. After several images were taken, I was left feeling very emotional about our first bond and about the vulnerability we both shared this day. In this image, his healed chest shows strength and power and the dedication one takes when transitioning to the way we see ourselves on the inside.

This was the second image that came to mind once the series started to unfold internally. I summoned a lover one morning to pose for me. The piece was to pay homage to Robert Mapplethorpe and his images of queer folk in raw poses. I wanted to portray them as I feel them, soft and tender, and to give light to their approach to our many encounters. I wanted the image to emit tenderness and closeness. Perhaps they will always tell the story of our companionship and vulnerability in this relationship.

The Tiera Rainey portrait came to mind because I’ve always perceived her to be incredibly powerful in her presence. We’ve been in each other’s company more often than before, and this time it felt like the stories and space that we shared brought us closer. I called her up one afternoon and asked her to pose for me. There was a moment of pause, and then she agreed. If I told you that I wasn’t ecstatic, I would be lying. I threw out some ideas and moods, and she asked me to capture her softness because she was tired of being perceived as strong. I accepted this request, I drew up a few sketches, and sent her a mood board days later, asking if this was a route or interpretation of what she had in mind. She agreed, and we set a date.

The week leading to her arrival, I scoured the streets for fully blooming palm fronds and soft fabrics. I pictured her as Venus in a desert setting, and I envisioned capturing her youth and transitioning into womanhood. Her birthday was coming up, and this series would be an important factor for her personally. She arrived, and we quickly got started. All in all, there were at least six images taken, and this one really captured my eye. The position of her leg and of her toes dipping into the copper pan drew me into the story that her new life would be telling, and I was here to witness this wonderful transition.

The Racheal Rios and Kristie Ramos portraits were thought out several months prior to the day they were taken. I had been envisioning, sketching how to portray this special homage to Racheal’s work and profound bond with Kristie. The thought behind this piece was that I wanted a long, dark, thick braid to come from Racheal’s head down to the floor and wrap up like a snake around her best friend Kristie. Kristie would be holding the end like a snake head while Racheal braided her hair while facing her friend. I wanted the public to see the closeness to each other and feel the intensity of sisterhood and of something so sacred as braiding your hair. I chose to use both of the images from that session because I failed to capture one that I loved more, and they both seem to need something from the other.

I wanted to shoot Mercy Schaefer since the first time we met. We instantly share the ability to imagine extravagant scenarios and to make each other laugh, and the bond that pulled us closer was our appreciation for one another’s creativity and existence. I wanted her to be captured in this vulnerable state of familiar comfort and to imagine herself alive in the past and existing in this made-up reality. She instantly grabbed the concept and ran with it. The two pieces I shared for this series seemed the most personal. I wanted her to feel seen and loved and to be transported.

The images selected of Alexsey Kashtelyan were chosen because I loved the way his features portray an ambiguous tale of flirtation and merely existing. His mannerisms have always seemed effortless to me, and his demeanor really transcended in the tins. The way he naturally carries himself has always fascinated me, and I wanted to bring that to the series.

Casper Chest 1

Casper Chest 2

Tiera

Mercy

Mercy 2

Mercy’s Stage

Kristi & Racheal’s Stage

K&R pt.1

K&R pt. 2

Pensive Lover 1

Tulip Lover

Pensive Lover 2

Alexsey’s Stage

Jock & Cigar

Jock & Cigar 2

Jeans & Bulge

Coffee & Jock