Photo by Chase Person (from l to r, Jennie Kay, Michael James Schneider, Nick Mattos, Wayne Bund, Chase Person, Summer Olsson, Logan Lynn)

Two years ago, when I lived in Los Angeles, I left my job to take a year-long “artistic sabbatical”. I felt a creative itch that was brought about by working with my LA family at Sacred Fools Theater Company. A few months into that year, I went through some shit. I came out on the other side more determined than ever to create a life that was artistically fulfilling, and more than anything true and authentic to myself. I visited Portland for the first time in February of 2013, and instantly fell in love with it, thanks to my good friend and tour guide Summer Olsson. And then a funny thing happened:

I moved to Portland in June of 2013. I started meeting brave, smart, creative people everywhere I went, who loved to collaborate. Summer and I decided to team up on a few soundtracks together, the highlight of which was this soundtrack and photo shoot last November:

(photo by Summer Olsson) from l to r, Michael James Schneider, Summer Olsson

More recently, I met Nick Mattos, who’s become a close friend and frequent collaborator. We’re working on developing a webseries together, *How To Save Your Own Life, and did a soundtrack in May that included some of my favorite song picks from a guest contributor. It also featured the photography of the talented and smart Chase Person:

photo by Chase Person (from l. to r. Nick Mattos, Michael James Schneider)

Jennie Kay has been a contributor to the blog since almost the beginning. She recently moved from Guatemala to Seattle, and I couldn’t be happier. Here’s an example of her storytelling, look for more from her on BLCKSMTH soon!

from l to r, Michael James Schneider, Jennie Kay

The more unplanned and spontaneous the photo shoot, the better, which is why it was so much fun to wander around Albina street with Logan Lynn and get strangers to take snaps of us. The digital artist Tucker Cullinan would later work his magic and make us into zombies for the final product, a decidedly non-holiday soundtrack in December.

from l to r, Logan Lynn, Michael James Schneider

Tucker also worked his magic when Wayne Bund and I traipsed around Mt. Tabor Park one freezing morning, eventually turning the shoot into a photo essay about gay Ewoks evading the Empire.

“Comin’ In Hot” (from l. to r., Wayne Bund, Michael James Schneider), photo by Wayne Bund, digital by Tucker Cullinan

In addition to the cover photo for this post, Chase also recently shot last month’s soundtrack collaboration with Michelle Lesniak. Along with makeup artist Jill Greenseth, we snuck around the Pittock Mansion for a surreptitious photo shoot. The results were stunning:

Michelle models her own designs (photo by Chase Person, makeup by Jill Greenseth)

So what the hell is this blog, anyway? I started it to catalog my creative projects, and it was a little dry. But then I started revealing more about my journey, and it became more and more personal. Yeah, I’ll always write about how weird it is being single, but this is more than that, this blog has become something quite more than the sum of its parts. Everyone has taken a chance and done something that frightens them. We are all vulnerable, but we are braver than some people think. We have been through breakups, we have been through health scares. We have loved and lost, and loved again despite our fear. We have been through difficulties enough to know to laugh in the face of what scares us. You, reading this, have been to hell and back with us, and we took selfies while we were there. We, like alloys, become better with our imperfections, better when combined with each other. We are all forged in tough times and come out the other end stronger.

We, all of us, you and I, are iron. Let’s see what we forge next.