Megan: Steampunk Textile Mill

Megan and I have known each other for over half a decade at this point, and have always shared a kindred connection thanks to our mutual love of all things dark, spooky, and nerdy.  As a photographer with a knack for makeup and modeling, Megan and I share a creative brainwave. When she’s not shooting the Moon and capturing the Milky Way at night, you can find Megan chasing storms and freezing lightning bolts by day.

We’ve bounced photoshoot ideas back and forth for years, but the distance between DC and Rhode Island has hampered our opportunities.  On my last visit in 2018, we had planned a foggy graveyard shoot, but this never materialized.  This Summer we made more firm plans for photoshoots in advance of my trip to Rhode Island in July.  Unfortunately our foggy graveyard plans fell through yet again… but we were able to finally have our first photoshoot together after all these years, and it definitely isn’t our last!

Over the years I’ve come to love Rhode Island’s mix of oceanic leisure and venerable rural antiquity; the small New England state is rich in history and photogenic backdrops.  At a super-secret location, Megan and I held our finally-first-ever photoshoot in a former textile mill, incorporating our mutual love of steampunk to coordinate with some of the antique equipment surviving from the industrial revolution.  We used this first shoot as an opportunity to experiment - Megan had a wardrobe first, sporting a steampunk-styled corset, and ran through poses while I took advantage of the creative flexibility and added some dramatic color I don’t usually get to include in many of my other photoshoots.

This was a photoshoot we were excited for months, maybe even years in advance, but we ended up even more excited about it after seeing the results as they offloaded onto my computer - dark, bold, and dramatic.

So today, on “The Queen of Halloween’s” 30th birthday (born on lucky October 13th!), I hope you enjoy the first creative project my Rhode Island Muse and “The Duke of Spook” finally collaborated on together.

The Queen of Halloween & The Duke of Spook will return!

Behind the Scenes

Well, less behind-the-scenes, and more selfies during the shoot and afterwards at a cookout - have to keep our super-secret shoot location super-secret somehow!

Katie's Cars and Coffee, November 2nd, 2013

It's been quite some time since my last visit to Katie's, but now that I've wrapped up some client shoots I've had waiting, and am back in the area after several trips, I decided to stop by Katie's.  There were some interesting additions to be seen; until last weekend, I'd only seen one C7 Corvette Stingray in the wild, out at Leesburg Outlets of all places.  It's clear that the takeover is imminent, because there were 5 C7s that I counted at Katie's this past weekend - I wouldn't be shocked if there were more.  It won't be long before these beautiful cars will become commonplace, and, well, not shocking anymore, like most Corvettes (sorry Corvette lovers...  it's true.  But don't be sad; Ferrari has quite a few models that are the same way.  Let the flames begin...).  I think it looks good in silver, but better (evil) in black.  The Corvette finally has been given a proper, though long overdue, refresh.

With the time change, Cars and Coffee began wayyyy before the sun was up, but this also prompted some folks to show up a bit later, and run Cars and Coffee a bit longer.  Even given the Daylight Savings Time change, I think most people missed seeing the Shelby GLHS, and Washington Nationals Right Fielder Jayson Werth arrive in his lifted F-250.  This was the first I can recall seeing a Carrera GT in person.

This street rod and Toyobaru are what I love about Katie's; it's about car  enthusiasts coming together to appreciate car culture, young and old, stock and modified.  Katie's is very Come As You Are.  Anything and everything can fit in.

And the most Jalopnik-ist car ever goes to?...

...and yes, it was a diesel.

"Ohhhhhh shit....  OHHHHHH shit!  Shit, shit, shit!  Ohhhhh shit!...  Awwwwwwwwwwww......."

This thing died pretty hard; note the black smoke as the engine says it's had enough.  It got trailered home... but not before the amazing reactions of the two gentlemen riding it.

This blog post has been republished by J. David Buerk onto Oppositelock.  For the full set of photos, view the album at his Facebook Page. All photography is by J. David Buerk, and is copyrighted All Rights Reserved.