Sarah at Club Bacy's and Downtown

I drove around downtown on Thursday and spotted several places I hadn't shot before and a few new hidden treasures. Such as the Diamond plated metal wall hidden in the recess of an older building. The plans were made, I would go to my new spots on Saturday and take some amazing photos. The next step was going onto facebook and finding someone I had never photographed before. This is always a challenge because you never know if the person will show up and if they will be as excited as you are to shoot.

I gotta a feeling. Saturday started and the day showed promise. I was up early, my new little rescue pup hadn't chewed my room while I slept, shoes were in one piece and it looked sunny and beautiful outside. I went to the store to pick up some Gerber Daisies I had seen the day before and then off to meet my new friend/model for the day.

Sarah showed up right on time and was as excited as I was to go play and discovery new things. She had such a peace to her that I knew it would be a wonderful experience and day. I have done the driving around taking photos for hours before with Misty and Trevre and it was so much fun so my hopes were high.

Our fist location was the diamond plated wall. We got a parking space right in front of it and it was cavernous inside to work in. From the road it appeared to be a small recess. However there was ample room to set-up reflectors and the flash light on a tripod. Not to mention is was extremely clean. Huge bonus!

The wall and Sarah photographed beautifully. Sarah and I were getting excited about the next location as we packed up our stuff. Then I realized the next location was actually a red wall half a block down. We got into position and the lighting was a bit difficult to work around and then someone started beating on the glass wall. That is when George and Brittney came out of Bacy. A completely unknown treasure laying in wait, 10 feet away and behind a door. We talked outside and they invited us in to look around. Bacy is truly a photographers paradise. It has five floors all done in different themes and colors. Metallic walls that are divine to photograph against. There are pink, gold, purple, diamond and black walls to name a few. The furniture and decorations could be photographed and shown in most of the trendy high end fashion magazines. Sarah went out to get a new outfit and George gave me the full tour. WOW! If I ever owned a full blown Studio it would be similar to this building. Multiple floors all different and my loft on the top floor.

We stayed and photographed in our little Oasis called Bacy's for almost 2 hours. I look forward to going back, setting up lighting and making a day of it.

From there we drove around for a short time and found old red barn doors, glass walls, and a pair of exceptional graffiti walls. We were looking for a short break and headed over to the Farmers market. For those of you who haven't been to the Farmers Market GO NOW!!! Fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and more. As you walk around they hand out samples of the fruits and vegetables. We had home grown tomatoes red and yellow with a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper, the sweetest pineapple I have tasted in a long time, orange slices, grapefruit, papaya, grapes and more. After our mini buffet we headed to Deep Ellum to wrap up shooting. There is an old building there that I have always wanted to explore and wondered more than once what it was. Turns out it is artists lofts that rents for $1 per square foot and we happened into one of the artists Bobby Chitwood who kindly let us in the building to look around. All of my years of curiosity did not due the property justice.

Every corner had something different from dilapidated windows, old elevators, huge wooden doors, graffiti tarps, shadows and colors everywhere. We even came across an old wooden stump in a hallway by a sun lit window. As we left the lofts, headed to the last stop and exquisitely done green graffiti wall with a piano keyboard and music notes. I found that I was almost giddy from the day, the exploring and the great company. There were photographers everywhere at the green wall and I wondered if any of them had found a treasure or their own Oasis while shooting that day.

On the way out of downtown we stopped at one more solid yellow wall and finished the day with a bang.

The day didn't stop there. I had blown off my butterfly shoot that morning(no complaints) and it was 4:45pm and I was suppose to be 35 miles away at a camera store at 5:00pm with a friend. I called her to beg for mercy, which wasn't needed. She needed to cancel as well instead we went to a couple consignment stores, out for dinner and then to Michael's. I got home about 8:00pm and got everything ready to edit the photos from the day. Remote for background noise, comfy clothes, warm blanket, water, sixlets and my trusty MacBook Pro. I got thru all of the photos, edited them all, and narrowed them down substantially from 685 to 272. I love to edit, I love seeing the photos and playing with them. So, I touched every single photo and got done about 3:00am.

I slept well last night. Going to bed knowing hands down that it had been a great day and I am truly blessed.