Red is not a color you associate with Greece. That would be blue. And white. White houses with blue accents and trim overlooking the blue Mediterranean. Houses made of locally sourced stone, volcanic cement, and mud, finished with thick plaster, and coated in limestone whitewash. That’s the image I get when I think of Greece.
Yet there it is, the Red 2026 exhibition at the Blank Wall Gallery in Athens, Greece celebrating the color red. It was an honor having two photographs in the exhibition that ran this May through early June.
“Red is my favorite number” above was shot in the very un-glamorous city of North Hollywood. While the photo below titled, “Squashed like a bug by The Man” was shot in the sometimes glamorous (but not often) city of Hollywood.
Related: Home Sweet Home
The day I shot “Red is my favorite number” was a day I set out to do a beauty shoot in a small studio on Lankershim Blvd. My idea was to do a one light beauty still shoot with the Red Epic camera. The camera at the time had a stills mode but it wasn’t really convenient to shoot in that mode so I shot video with the plan to pull still frames from the footage – which I’ve done many times with great success.
While editing, I realized I could edit the video footage into a nice little vertical beauty fashion film. I really had no plans to do this but it was staring me in the face begging me to do, so I was compelled to do it. And I’m glad I did as it turned out great.
After the beauty shoot in the studio, we hit the street and got some fashion shots. Again, shooting street fashion was really an after thought but we got some great shots. It seems to turn out that way more often than not. The main shoot you plan turns out to be secondary to the spontaneous shots you just go out and do on a whim.
The shooting of the photo titled, “Squashed like a bug by The Man” was another time I used the Red Epic camera and shot video where I pulled still frames in editing. The video was an episode of my web series, The Man Van where I played a guy with a black van who tries to make a web series. Life imitating art. Or maybe the other way around.
Shooting the episode with actress, Kaitlyn Clare was such a blast. She’s so talented and fun to work with. We got a whole bunch of excellent still photos and the episode was one of my favorites in the series.
The photo also earned me Photographer of the Day on January 1, 2025 at BBA Photo Prize.
Check out more fashion photography.