I had an amazing photoshoot with Michael Baxter two days ago. These are the first few shots I've picked from my 2nd disc of the shoot (I have 3 discs).
This is not the last that I'll be writing about the shoot, when I am back in Japan I plan to write about how amazing the shoot was, how my mother reacted to it, and my own thoughts about "Baxter-Bhuz-gate" in relation to folks who worry that he might be undercutting photographers.
I'll go into far more detail about the whole day, but to start:
If I lived in the bay area I think we'd have an exciting working relationship, he was very very excited about my style and personality....but I'd still pay other photographers who had visions and styles that suited other sides of my dance. If Pixie had been in town I would have booked her, shot the same costume but with my hair slicked back and perhaps a bowler hat, and been happy with the one or two amazing shots I'd eventually license from her for use in ways that I wouldn't use these. If Michael were in Japan I would still use Nam (the photographer that I have used before) for his unique sense of capturing a certain soft femininity with dancers.
Him being free wouldn't prevent me from hiring other photographers, nor would his price be the reason I want to work with him again. He photographs many people who would struggle have the ability to get good photos and still pay bills and make ends meet, and he photographs people who budget the cash to work with a variety of photographers and other means to promote themselves.
But I'll go into that later. It was a trip of a day. He's a unique person who would make a facsinating documentary subject...like all people who are particularly passionate about certain causes and beliefs...and Michael is full of passionate ideas about the world that drive him to do many things that seem nonsensical or downright insane at surface glance but when explained broke down my highly cynical side.
He also hooked me up with Geisha Moth and we shot some great photos of a proto-type top that she's working on, but I'll be posting those later when she's about to roll them out so that she doesn't get requests before she's ready to produce more. This is a sneak peak but isn't one of the shots that shows how SUPER cool that top is.
