story

Okay it's story time, this one is just a weird coincidence that ends with some dangerous nudity. So I am on a short tour with two DJ friends of mine, heading from NYC to the Kentucky Derby. My friend Terry is from Louisville so it's a homecoming for him. I was there to take photos, but I don't even think I got paid other than the free trip. I just thought it would be a weird time.

One of the stops was in Indianapolis. I barely remember anything about the actual party they DJd but we were staying with another DJ and he was throwing us an after party so I was just talking to cute girls and inviting them to the after party because that seemed more fun to me than the actual party. I got this girls number to invite her, but she didn't show and the party was kinda a bust. Just a bunch of midwest hipsters setting off some very tame fireworks. Not super important to the story.

Her place also happened to have roof access, so one day we decided to shoot nudes up there. We were taking photos up there and we could hear people down on the street having a BBQ. I looked over and we had this idea that we could maybe hang her over the edge of the roof and get a shot with them and her in it and we slowly leaned her over the edge, four stories up, and I held on to her legs while she dangled off the ledge. It was fucking terrifying and I have no idea why she did it. I would 100% never do that shot now but at the time it seemed like a great idea, and honestly it made for an insane shot, which of course I have to paywall here. https://www.paperview.media/?view=3062&ref=0xc51149934febB0DccBf683060bf6C29BE523e254

When I go to put her number in my phone, IT IS ALREADY IN MY PHONE! She was the girl I invited to the after party in Indianapolis. I couldn't believe it. Neither of us had any memory of meeting, but we had texted each other about the party. It was so fucking wild. It also turned out that the place she was staying in NYC was a two minute walk from my place.

Fast forward two years and I am flying back from Chicago after covering the Pitchfork Music Festival and working some after parties for a liquor sponsor. (Bonus coincidence, ten years later I went on a Tinder date with a girl I had photographed at one of the after parties.) Sitting next to me on the plane is this cute girl who has her Pitchfork wristband on and so I strike up a conversation. We end up talking the whole flight and she's coming to NYC for the summer. I was in a relationship at the time so I wasn't hitting on her or anything, but she was cool and she didn't know many people in NYC so we exchanged numbers.