Moxie is Amazing in Round Two Too

As a blog publisher and model photographer, I am always on the hunt for new talent to showcase for Cloud Nine Higher.  But it is always cool to hear from current models regarding ideas for new theme photo pictorials.

I am based in downtown Nashville and prefer to stage most of my shoots near home.  At times, I have traveled to World Boss Studios in Goodlettsville and to Hendersonville.  Since 2019, I have featured 16 models in 14 theme photo shoots.  2021 brought a lot of challenges to me both professionally and personally, so only four shoots were accomplished in that year.  Two of those involved Moxie and Whitney Be, respectively.

My project is an amateur one.  An OnlyFans page does not a professional make.  Nor does it mean that one publishes sexually explicit content or pornography.  I would say that Cloud Nine Higher is neither sexually explicit nor porn.  A few female models have dropped their respective tops for my cameras per contract.  Most have not.  Playboy-style nudity may have happened in my history, but it doesn't appear to be prominent in my future.

My work can be edgy, provocative, and (hopefully) thought provoking, as well, considering the themes of Christian faith, downtown Nashville, politics, sex, and sports.  But it is a hobby - a pastime.  And it is meant to be nothing more.

Theme model Moxie is unlike me in some ways but like me in others.  Tenacious, determined, focused, independent, creative, and adventurous.  Much like other attractive Tennessee females in their late twenties.  She posed marvelously in 2021 for the summer solstice at Bicentennial Mall State Park and at The 500 Fifth apartment building.  The sports bra and angel wings both fit fine.  She keeps things simple and works efficiently.

And when she noticed me publishing photos from the Alice in Wonderland winter pop-up bar at the Fairlane Hotel in downtown Nashville, she messaged me about a reprise photo shoot.   

In my experience, pop-up bars are a relatively new trend in downtown Nashville.  Mostly seen during the Christmas holiday season, they are temporary establishments or permanent establishments that are decorated temporarily.  Dream Hotel, just around the corner from the Fairlane, featured a Christmas pop-up bar.  I have yet to visit Dream's spring pop-up bar offering or the Fairlane's.  I am hearing about the Havana theme at Dream and the spring bouquet bar at the Fairlane as I am publishing this post in April of 2022.

But winter can be more of a challenge to attract Nashville locals and tourists.  January and February are known as slow months in the Music City.  "Slow" is a relative term in this day in time, but activity downtown certainly begins to rev up for the year around Saint Patrick's Day.

So Moxie's offer to pose in a very well-decorated pop-up bar in early February was very attractive to me.  When a model comes to me begging for an opportunity, it isn't attractive.  But put an idea and some desire behind your pitch, and I am loving it.

We chose a Wednesday night for the shoot to avoid the big crowds and to decrease the odds of being asked to leave.  Special thanks to the Fairlane for accommodating us from start to finish.  We stayed out of the way of the clientele, ordered drinks of our own, and made some spectacular photos in the entryway, in the bar itself, on the outdoor patio with the Nashville skyline, and downstairs in the lobby with the mushroom.

The Fairlane was spectacular in its own right with its pop-up bar.  The décor was true to life and very well done.  It made us feel as though we really had arrived in Wonderland.

And with this Cloud Nine Higher project, I feel like I am in my own wonderland at times.

James A. Rose

Publisher