Primordial Creative

Clementine - Goddess

Clementine Hetherington is an actress + model I met at the beginning of the year as part of a retro horror suspense film project, and we ended up shooting a couple times since then.  These are from earlier in October with hmua Julia Fae, and it's a kind of mythic/ angelic theme that I really feel personally connected to.  

Brittany the Snake Lady

Brittany is actually a coworker of mine at an elementary school who, in conversation, revealed she was the owner of 5 snakes.  The rest is history.

Kaila - Purple

The second of two Kaila instant film sets this month, these had the fun distinction of incorporating the instax into the shots!

Riley + Braden Round 2

Another round of Arizona-by-way-of-Seattle couple Riley and Braden!

October Update

Hello Patrons!  I missed doing a Sept update as a lot of stuff was in transition but since there's a lot to look forward to in October, I thought I'd do an early update around the Primordial Creative studio.

There's a lot of travel this month- LA, New Mexico, Portland + Nashville - partly due to opportunity, Fall break time off from the elementary school I teach at, and of course Halloween-themed shoots are my specialty.  I found a service called 2019-10-03 03:55:26 +0000 UTC View Post

Adele

Adele is a musician/ composer that I saw at an event at a local art center playing drums for an artsy dance troupe - after a few months of following everyone involved on Instagram, I saw Adele posting the kind of selfie stuff a model would do and I hit her up to see if she considered shooting.  Fast forward and it turns out the only time she'd done anything close to this was 9 years ago, at age 13, with my mentor Betsy Schneider for her project about 13 year olds.  Crazyland!

Camera Quest #4: The Borrowed 4x5

What can one do with a 4x5 with a  wonky shutter?  Find out in this episode of Camera Quest!

Quick Update!

Just got a new job as a special ed teacher in an elementary school for Gilbert Public Schools, the same district I taught high school for last year!

In other times in my life I've actually managed group homes of developmentally disabled clients and did 8 years as a behavioral counselor in a rehab for teens, so it's not a huge leap.  And I don't know how long the assignment is, could be months, could be whole school year...

but it's one less stress factor of money and will abs...

Weird 35mm Film

Check out work I shot with art models using unusual special effects from Revolog, Cinestill and Kono 35mm films! 

In the coming months I'll be exploring new ways to have more Patreon-exclusive videos so if you have requests or suggestions let me know!

Alina x Primordial Creative

Alina isn't just a person who shows up occasionally in my social media feeds - we're also collaborating on a music project and she's a great friend.  She'll be coming back to Phoenix to shoot in 2 weeks and I couldn't be more excited.  In the meantime here's an extended chat we did in July!  Some of this appeared on my IGTV but this has about 4 extra minutes and is a pretty wide ranging discussion of creativity and relationships.

July Update + Spotify Playlist

Hello Patrons! July is a special month for me because both Maggie and I have birthdays in it, and it’s the first month I’ve planted the flag to not do any traditional kinds of shooting. Of course at this point I’ve been booked by a musician and an aspiring model to do traditional shoots so I guess that’s not exactly what’s happening, but I’m pretending I’m some sort of completely different person. 

The main things going on this month are a music project I’m involved...

June update + playlist

Hello patrons!  

Welcome to June - a month I arbitrarily would be the end of traditional photography with models for now.  I  wrote extensively about it on other social media but have clarified it a bit more for myself and others, essentially the cycle of setting up a photo shoot with some young woman in her 20s either locally or another city feels like something that is not what I should be doing with my life nor something I can justify as some ...

Cheyanne + Family Hootenanny

One of the most personal and fun shoots in recent memory- Cheyanne Roxell and her family on a sunny Sunday afternoon!

Mixing Music In Adobe Audition - FREE course to $15+ patrons

This course is freely available to any $15+ patrons! 

Adobe Audition is an amazing sound editing and mixing suite from the Adobe Creative Cloud; even with a variety of apps including Garageband, Propellerheads, Korg and other companies, it's my go-to software for creating my final compositions, be they ambient soundscapes or bouncy hiphop tracks or smashing rock ...

Update + May Spotify Playlist

Hello patrons!  This update is just prior to getting back into the swing of shooting things.  I make it sound like it's been a long time but by Thurs it'll be exactly a month which is shorter than most of my hiatuses.  People think I can shoot my daughter Maggie whenever I like but it doesn't work like that with us, and even though I met a grip of local models only one, Cheyanne Roxell, is someone I can set a time/date/concept and stick with it 100%.  Also, we have a lot o...

May Update

Hello patrons!  Around the Primordial Creative compound, things have gotten a little quiet- I got a part time job in an unusual art installation experiences place called Wonderspaces, which besides cutting deeply into the art making time, has given me a bit of financial break so I can do things I've been meaning to do like work on publications, make t-shirts, hire voice talent for my projects and save up for art making ...

April Playlist + Update

Hello patrons, time for the April Spotify playlist + update!

In the last week I repainted the large room of our house and injured a nerve in my  spine doing the ceiling.  It has been very painful and I couldn't do much but lay on my back and listen to music or watch tv.  This has led to my first ever trip to a chiropractor which is bewildering in itself, being put in traction and having another machine pour electricity through my spine.  Oh, it's allergy season in Ph...

The March Spotify Playlist + Update

Hello patrons!  I'm about to embark on a Seattle day trip that will likely have 5-6 shoots, certainly more people than I've ever shot in that city in a row.   Only one of them being someone I've ever met before, but that person @sailor_marimoon has been an enthusiastic booster of me to the point where I could go and do something like this and have a bunch of people lined up to shoot with me.  

I also just tested with two mor...

The February Playlist

For this month's Spotify playlist, I was thinking hard about melody and songcraft- from M83's "Graveyard Girl" and Beck's "Heart Is A Drum" to Midnight Oil's "Now or Never Land" to a couple Killing Joke tracks- songs that are really enticing and hook-y, avoiding some of the more atmospheric or rhythmic music that I usually fill up my playlists with.  The consequence for me is that this one is harder to work with- it's not background wallpaper, it's no soundtrack to getting things done- b...

2018/ 2019

Hello Patrons!  

The last 12 months have been a lot of getting rid of things (sister, 2 cars, our beloved elderly dog, all the expensive gear bought for the 2017 studio business, a hundred ceramic masks I had sculpted and years of artwork in closets) and trying to live a simplified life with acoustic guitar, vinyl records, chess playin' with Maggie, and instant film transitioning from Fuji Instax cameras to Lomo Instax cameras and eventually Polaroid Origi...

Menswork

Welcome to the final $1 Saturday Set!  All future sets are at the $5 level, with 2 monthly Instant Film sets at the $15 level.  Since this is the last one, I wanted to go out with something unusual.

The question occasionally comes up "why do you photograph only women?"  Well, I have shot a ton of guys over the years- for example, when I had the studio in 2017, I did several freelance jobs involving men, bands + an author essentially.  I've included images from 3 of t...

Erika Instaxed

Welcome to the final "Weekday Instax" which I've been running for at least 250 entries.  Starting next week in 2019, there will be 2 bonus sets for $15+ patrons that focus on instant film- essentially the same amount of content but as 2 sets rather than every weekday, which became really impossible to keep track of.  I plan on releasing these bonus sets on Saturdays alongside the regular Saturday sets so keep your eyes peeled for those!

Anywho, this is a new instax mini versio...

Alina Laundry Day

Recent work with Alina at a location we saw out the car window that caught her eye!

Erin instaxed

I can't explain that little red square at the bottom of this, but I like it!  Merry Christmas friends!  Erin Holmes, shot in Albuquerque sometime in 2017.

Merry Christmas From Me + The Better Half

Have a lovely day friends!  Please ignore the phone in my hand- it's the remote control for my new Polaroid OneStep+!

Ana Instaxed

Ana Corbi, original June 2017, instax version Dec 2018!

Lotta Carlotta 18+

I shot with Carlotta Champagne twice in rapid succession in 2012 - the first was in my backyard, hence the incredibly cheap set pieces of ripped plastic.  Carly had a wide variety of wardrobe and accessories and we just played with those, and as I look back on "random prop and wardrobe" themed shoots, I always grimace at how over complicated we made nothing.  Or how nothing became overcomplicated nothing, if you get my drift.

If you want a Fuji Instax Mini for any ...