Titania's visit

You guys! Thank you sooooo much for helping me get Titania to Los Angeles for a visit and photoshoot!! Titania and I have been close friends for many years, and we hadn't seen each other in over a year and a half, so I really needed a dose of BFF. Titania and I started off her visit by having a big yard sale. I invited all of my model and stylist friends over to purchase wardrobe that I'm done shooting with. I tend to collect a lot of unique pieces because I'm a picker, and Titania was running a vintage side business and had a ton of stuff from lots that she had purchased. The sale was a complete success, and with extra spending money we devoted an entire day to shopping, lol. The second day we relaxed, caught up, and that evening we met up with some friends and did some bar hopping! There is a popular group of themed bars in Los Angeles-the most well known being Good Times at Davey Waynes, which is a 70's themed bar that appears to be built out of a home that hasn't aged a day since 1975. We visited this one, another called No Vacancy which is prohibition themed, and also went to Breakroom 86, which is an 80's themed bar. I have to say 86 was my favorite, both for its attention to detail and the cool live show, but Titania preferred No Vacancy because you enter through a hidden staircase underneath a bed which is quite interactive. All of these places have very kitschy entrances. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back!The next day, Titania and I were both booked for a photoshoot together and then went out to dinner afterwards. We spent our evening indoors watching Clueless and acting like teenage girls. On Saturday, it was our official shopping day. We started our day with drag brunch at Hamburger Marys, and then booked it to Its a Wrap. One of my two all time favorite stores was closing down, and that morning they had slashed the liquidation prices to over 90% off. Titania and I raided this place. They had a huge amount of costumes from the movies John Carter and Dracula which I picked up. I'm dying to shoot with everything!! After hopping around Hollywood and hitting a few other shops, we finally made it back to my place. Again we opted for staying in and watching a movie. This time, Cabaret. Cabaret is sort of special between Titania and I, because one of the first times I actually met her was when she was performing in a local theater doing this musical. However Titania had never seen the movie before, so I thought it was important to finally introduce her. Ultimately, this resulted in the two of us dancing and singing around my living room for an hour and a half, lol.  

On Sunday I finally pulled out my camera and demanded Titania model a little bit, lol. We did two photo sets at my apartment. One in a pink peignoir, on my sofa, shot with my new ring flash. We also did a video to go along with this. I tried to do it sort of trippy and artsy with my new lens baby. I haven't started editing yet, but I think it's going to come out very cool. The second photo set we did was with my ring flash, on a plain wall. It looked really hot, and I'm excited to finish editing it (I'm about halfway through right now). 

On Sunday night, we went to my local watering hole where I do karaoke weekly. A friend of mine and I had organized it so that we could do a photoshoot after the bar shut down. I dressed as Dolly Parton and we created some really fun retro styled images. Titania helped do the lighting for the photographer.On Monday Titania and I had another photoshoot together, and then that evening we went to a comedy club for a live show and dinner. It was a lot of fun, and exactly what I needed to end of the day.Tuesday was our last day. I photographed and did video of Titania (none was nude on this particular day). We broke onto some fenced off property and figured if we were going to get caught, it would probably be best not to be naked. LOL. I shot her in one of the dresses that I purchased at the sale, and then we did a photoset and video of Titania roller skating. I'm pretty excited about these and really focused a lot on my lens baby for motion blurs. I also used my GoPro, and two other lenses, so there should be a lot of options when I get to editing.That night, was our last night together. There was a big Halloween party in the valley, so we got all fancied up. Titania dressed as a character from the Disney movie Hercules, and I dressed as a magician's assistant. After such a great trip, saying goodbye was bittersweet. I really hope she visits again soon (because there's no way in hell I'm going to Milwaukee until it's warm again). Haha.Thank you all so much for getting us back together again. I think soulmates come in many forms, and she is definitely one of them for me.

<3, Carlotta