a) i'm living in new york and los angeles.
b) i'm 26
c) i took a photo class in high school.
d) http://thedirtiestlittlerainbow.blogspot.com

that's a loaded question. i guess it all started back when i first picked up a camera in high school. i remember my photo teacher believed i showed promise and would push me to shoot as much as possible and enter me in contests and whatnot. you know, like a "don't let school get in the way of your education" type thing which i didn't like at all cause i hated everything school. not cause i'm a fucking bad ass or anything, but cause i'm a special ed. kid so i guess every time the spot light was on me i thought it would just expose the fact that i was slower or that i was on "that team" (fyi: that team is the shit) it was one of the only classes i was in that was a normal class and i was still kind of getting put on the spot. in a super rad way, but still it made me uncomfortable. anyhow, she entered me in a studio lighting contest and i knew i didn't want to take a photo of a fucking wine glass or shit like that, so i thought how about shooting some nudes?

so by something like my tenth roll of film ever shooting i shot a naked girl with roserybead and a bible. after all that i moved up to san francisco to go to the academy of art which i dropped out of after about two weeks and i stopped taking photos all together.. i guess until about a year ago but right after i dropped out i moved in with the beautiful mr. alex pardee and his girlfriend at the time and we loved going to the magazine where we'd get old porn magazines and i started collected nude snap shots. i'm not really a porn guy, i don't know any of the big porn stars or anything. i'm down with that homemade shit. so a lot of the photos i was buying were taken with a disposable camera or polaroids where the girl didn't want to show her face and it seemed like they just told stories which intrigue me or at least i would drape little stories like ornaments on photo i really just liked looking at. like, maybe this woman always wanted to pose naked, but if anyone ever saw them her life would be over or maybe these photos were of some dudes mistress or this girl's just a hooker. so i found myself staring at these photos for more then just tits and i also loved that fact that everyone was so normal. some girls were big, some had little boobies, some had no ass, some were super skinny, some were moms and being a normal guy i'm alway curious on what women look like naked and most woman aren't porn stars so when i started taking photos again i've been taking photos of just about whoever will let me. it's super funny though, i opened the door wide open for anyone to walk through and most of the girls have been these gorgeous models and i've found lot of what people have been referring to as the more interesting women on myspace and shit. so at this point where i've shot so many nudes, i've got my system down. i never ask people to pose. i just ask them questions about their lives and after someone's been naked for an hour, talking about their job or their boyfriend(s) or the fact that they're insecure about their body and posing nude empowers them-i think magic happens. so when i'm saying i want to create a "porn type" book, i really do want it to be a porn type book, but my type of porn. everyday people and i also think i found some couples who feel comfortable with me shooting them having sex, but still for whatever reason if you're shooting photos that are deficient in taste, but with an old rolleiflex with black and white film it magically suggests "art work". so i've been searching for the perfect blend of making my mom proud and disgusted, but being 1000% kevin hayes.

a bloody steak from peter lugers and a few 40's.

women, my folks, rod serling, richard pryor, alfred lion, francis wolff, norman lear, robin harris, william eggleston, thelonious monk..

i fuck with both.

i don't have a routine. i just always have my camera around my neck and i'm always shooting. i have found that drinking helps me. i think the more careless i am the better i work.

as for music jon brion is my number one without a doubt. largo was my "cheers" for quite a few years of my life.. hank williams, cole porter, duke ellington, the new birth, galt macdermot.. any and every early blue note record is just about flawless. but my favorite type of music is 90's rap. i think it was chris rock who said something along the lines of "whatever kind of music you were listening to around the time you started getting laid is going to be your favorite music" so yeah, it doesn't get too much better then shit like junior mafia to me.

photography and i doing some work with my family as well.

all i do is just day dream of what i'd want to look at then find ways to connect the dots. but as for right now i'm getting hired for jobs then i'm finding myself in really strange situation because of them.. like, i'm writing this after a 12 hour drive from iowa to denver because i'm on tour with a band called 'dawes' right now and i shot a bunch all day. it's really just if a photo raises it's hand i'll take it.

i always have a canon ae-1 around my neck and i've also been shooting with an old canon rebel my mom bought me quite a bit cause she always asks me if i like/use the camera she bought me and i'd feel like a dick if i didn't use it. also an old rolleiflex and a ton of point and shoots. i've been shooting with so many different camera because like i said before drinking helps, but cameras are fragile so you can do the math.

i guess having nothing to really hold me back. i've always had a girlfriend and a place in LA (my home town) with all my old friends around or i was playing in a band or felt the need to be close to my mom and dad. so now i've got a place to stay in LA and NY and i'm not playing in a band and i'm single for the first time in a while so i guess i'm just at a point in my life where i'm not considering another's feelings before i make a decision and i'm pretty stoked about it.

i would watch the movie 'blank check' again and try to buy everything "Mr. Macintosh" bought in the movie. i don't think a million would get me too far down that list though.

hanging out with alex pardee.

What do you love most about where you live?

knowing i can travel to the other side of the state and i've also got a place.

i'm been having this conversation TOO FUCKING MUCH LATELY.. but 2pac or biggie. i'm from los angeles so i've got a soft spot for 2pac and i'm not saying i've got a soft spot just cause i'm from LA homeboy is fucking GREAT. 2pac i my favorite, but biggie is just a better rapper. the only argument about 2pac being better that i'll even listen to is the fact that his catalog is unreal in the rap game. like if you were to listen to '2pacalypse now' and go through every record after, each one gets better and i don't really think that's ever happened with another a solo artist in rap. it seems like lots of rappers come out the gate with real heat then fall off then they come back for a minute then fall off again. 2pac has what looks like the best rap "career" in my opinion, but biggie is just better to me. he just came out strong as fuck and ended strong as fuck and also had songs like 'juicy' that are as pop as rap can get, but still hood at the same time and i don't think 2pac's had a song like that. he had hella hood songs, but nothing as easily digestible as 'juicy' OR 'big poppa'.. those are fucking wedding jam by this point. and all the people he was ghost writing for were the shit.. i don't know you just said to "rant and rave about something" and i honestly had this conversation for the millionth time in fucking iowa with a bunch of really rad strangers last night.. so yeah, 2pac's my favorite, but i think biggie's a better rapper.

i believe am going to have some upcoming shows, but they're all in the works and nothing is finalized so who knows.. but i am working on a portrait series of lots of my favorite people as well as a "porn type" book. it's not going to be porn, but i'm talking nudes that i believe can find a nice home in a gallery, but at the same time if some 13 year old got a hold of it, he's going to have to hide it under his bed.

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