We left LA at night and drove to Phoenix in a single hop. The Best Western outside of town beckoned to us, so we made camp there...

...Sarah had a bunch of shoots lined up and I've been playing chauffeur - which mostly entails sitting in a shady spot with my laptop, editing files in Photoshop. I'm not saying life is tough, or anything.

Scottsdale is fun! The main drag appears to be occupied by people who want to show off their cars, their plastic surgery, or their dogs. Sitting here watching them go by is like watching an episode of "The Stupids" - the traffic is stop and go and, as I write this, some clown is revving the engine of a Ferrari like it's a chainsaw. I bet his mechanic's kid is going to an ivy league college.

(uncensored)(also looks OK in color)
I spend a little while trying to make one of my images look like a fake of a Peter Lindbergh photo, because there are the cool lights in the background. While Sarah was catching her breath between posing sets for I took a couple shots of her just relaxing. Sometimes, you get lucky and this was one of them.

Michael did a couple of shots of me to use for a byline for a magazine article. While he was setting up, Sarah brought me a coke, and was talking to me, and I was - um - visibly distracted.
(uncensored)
Most of the time I was looking at the camera. I swear! Well, at least half of the time.

Tonight, when Sarah's done shooting, we're heading out into the desert in the general direction of Dallas. We've got a couple days to get there, and - weather and the luck of the road permitting - I'm taking us down toward White Sands national monument. I know what you're thinking: "OMG. Marcus is going to shoot yet another bunch of 'naked girl on sand dune' photos! What a powerhouse of creative innovation!" Well, to tell you the truth, I probably will - and who'd blame me? But I'll see if I can do something interesting, too. Maybe I can try to shoot some fake Westons...

The clown with the Ferrari has passed into memory, and my mango orange smoothie has run out. As the samurai philosophers say, that means it's time to go.


mjr.