I’ve been a naughty photographer traveling around the country, taking photos, and failing to update the blog after posting the galleries. I also re-learned how to do photo captions since WordPress likes to update its authoring platform in massive increments in a non-intuitive manner. So here’s a quick recap.
XRCO Awards
I hadn’t been to a XRCO Awards in eleven years. Jeff actually flew in to join me wearing a cheeky “Hall of Famer” shirt. He is indeed inducted in two industry HoF. If there was an XBIZ Hall, he’d probably be in it also with Peter van Aarle in recognition of the role IAFD has with obsessive fans.
Kira Noir, Ophelia Fae, Charlotte Stokely, Mark Spiegler, Scarlett Alexis, Ava Amira, and Gal Ritchie
A lot has changed in eleven years. The Awards are still rowdy as ever but due to the venue and center position of the stage, most people actually pay attention to the announcements of the winners this time even though the audio system can be improved. Gone are the days when Bill Margold would scream at us to shut up. There weren’t really any surprises though even though some of the winners deviated from AVN/XMAs.
Austin King throws great parties, but he also hosts a media day to spotlight newer performers. Frankly, I would prioritise to go to this day over others if I had a limited budget because of the industry-only vibe and the chance to actually talk to the people I photograph. Some of the performers were shocked at the turnaround time that they got their photos. The MVPs of this day were definitely Ophelia Fae and Cheerleader Kait. I rarely watch lesbian porn unless it was voting season, but I found exclusively g/g Ophelia to be fun and engaging. I’ve championed Kait ever since I first met her in 2025 and am not surprised that she earned two Best New Starlet nods.
The traveling convention stopped in Minneapolis for the first time. I’m a big fan of the city, and I had been looking forward to this event for months. The turnout was nowhere as big as Chicago or New Jersey as can be expected of the smaller metro area. Many local attendees did not know what to expect given their first time, but I also saw some traveling fans that show up in cities across the United States. If you want to have conversations with your favourite performers without rushing, these smaller shows offer that opportunity.
Went to XBIZ Miami for the first time and had an incredible fun-filled three days. It was a novel experience in general since this show was a creator-focused industry event rather than webmaster-focused like XBIZ LA or fan-focused like X3. I didn’t know 90% of the people because many attendees were not only independent creators but also very new. This caused me some anxiety in approaching new people to photograph since many are not used to this type of attention in person. I know the purpose of this event is for networking, but my social awkwardness exacerbates what I’ve previously called the porn convention paradox.
Kennedy Monroe
Security was pretty tight screening everyone that that tried to get into the event or one of the parties, which created a safer environment without fans creeping around. I wasn’t even sure I could get in because there was a registration snafu, but the right people vouched for me. The energy was electric as many focused on having a good time without worry. There were a lot of giveaways, and the people that did recognise me were happy to see me.
French Ava
I also didn’t know Miami could get that hot in May. I knew about the humidity but had mostly stayed indoors in my previous summer trips to the area. Just spending an hour by poolside gave me bouts of dizziness that was probably caused by dehydration, but the venue was well stocked with free cold water to prevent disaster.
Banksie
I’ve mentioned many times previously how much I hate doing red carpets even though the photos can come out decent. Not only is it a stressful experience behind the carpet, many of the people who walked the carpet at the XMA Creator Awards are doing this for the first time and need explicit instruction on what to do. I don’t know if it was the heat from the earlier day, but I found myself waning in the middle of the procession. I couldn’t stay to watch the awards due to exhaustion. When I started in my career, I would see old men with walkers, scooters, and oxygen tanks shooting the carpet so I feel sheepish about complaining about its physical toll, but I am closer to them in age than most of my current peers. This was a smaller event so I may never be able to shoot another red carpet again.
Exxxotica returned to Chicago for its 15th show, and it was a banger. Crowds came in droves for Ladies Free Friday, attendance stayed steady throughout the nine hours on Saturday, and even Sunday seemed busier than in past years. I always love coming to this particular location because of the energy and the convenience of the show being next to the airport.
Blake Blossom
Loyalfans which is the booth that spotlights popular performers for the show welcomed Blake Blossom and Best New Starlet Cheerleader Kait for the first time.
Cheerleader Kait
The Chicago area is also the home of pro-am producer Tad Pole who had the busiest booth at the show. He also did his annual orgy on one of the nights.
Tad Pole with Anna Cummings, Rebel Ryder, Dutch Coco, Victoria Peach, Ashley Ace, Sunny Daze, Lauren Smith, Madison Wilde, and Tiny Khloe
Oh and Millie Morgan, thank you for being magical.
Another January Awards season has passed with the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo and AVN Awards returning to the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Similar to the Hard Rock in 2013, the Virgin staff and security made some adjustments to hosting after several common complaints in the first year, and the expo ran more smoothly this year.
Adult Entertainment Expo
The Expo was divided into three rooms. One room had large booths featuring studios like Brazzers and Sex Like Real and platforms like Loyalfans and MyFreeCams. One focused mostly on adult novelty companies. The third and largest room had a mix of studios, platforms, talent agencies, and other random vendors. Brazzers had the largest booth with lines that you had to cut through just to navigate in that area. Angela White and Abella Danger had the longest lines of fans waiting at the convention.
Angela WhiteAbella Danger
Sabrina Bishop interviewed performers on the floor for IAFD, but random fans kept trying to get her attention and talk to her even though they did not know who she was. Sabrina is a great interviewer showing natural rapport with whoever she was talking to although there were a couple fangirl moments that surprised me.
Sabrina with Girthmaster, Sara Loverays, and Mikayela Miller
The best part about AVN week is meeting friends that you only really see on an annual basis, often in an informal setting like at a party. One person, Mia Rose, I hadn’t seen in 17 years.
Dorcel threw a great party to promote their movie, Strip. I was happy to see Riley Reid there after an absence of three years. She again greeted me with, “It’s been so long!”, and I reacted again in confusion because years become a blur when you’re old like me.
Riley Reid & Anna Claire Clouds
Photographers were being kicked out of the AVN White Party, but I was too busy drinking and recording Anna Claire Clouds‘s new boobs with my brain for anyone to complain about my camera.
I had attended 6 or 7 AVN Awards in person mostly working behind the scenes. My first was in 2006 when I accompanied Ariana Jollee along with several other members of AdultDVDTalk down the red carpet at the Sands. Twenty years later, I had the privilege of the lovely Emma Sirus taking me to the Awards. The red carpet went smoothly for me as a guest compared to when I photographed it in 2023. The Awards production crew was surprised and delighted to see us. Everything was a blur, and Emma fed me ice cream afterwards.
Olivia Would and Emma Sirus
Several performers came up to me and asked me where my camera was. Some even asked me when they could see their red carpet photos while the red carpet was still going. Maybe adrenaline caused these conversations to be on autopilot.
Right before the Awards started, people like to take their photos on stage. As I led Emma to the stage for a photo with her co-nominee, other people stopped me to ask me to take their photo for them with their phones. After I finished taking this photo for Olivia Jay, I tried to compose a shot for Emma. Realising that Olivia Jay was in the frame taking selfies, I asked Olivia to move slightly to her left. Olivia petulantly screamed at me that she was there first. When she was finished with her selfies, she walked by and bumped Emma for good measure in front of everybody else.
Can’t have an AVN week without some drama.
The Awards themselves started earlier than usual and ended reasonably before midnight. Wiz Khalifa threw an inspired set, and the winners were all deserving. An ad by Joi promoting AI elicited boos from the crowd, and its placement at an awards celebrating performers was curious.
On a Closing Note
After finishing up my 22nd AVN week, I don’t know how long I can keep doing this. AVN is the most grueling event on the adult industry calendar and is geared for the young or the young at heart. I am neither. Most of the pornorazzi that I knew when I first started are dead, and the ones that are still around are jaded or bat shit crazy in their resilience. Even though I have made adjustments to my approach, I am plenty jaded and my resilience is waning.
I have met thousands of performers and made lifelong friends in and around the industry through these events. Many that I don’t view from a perspective of a fan so it always confuses me when people ask me for an introduction. I will miss them when I am done.
Like multiple winners at the AVN Awards, I would like to thank Mark & George for their hospitality the whole week, Dorcel for letting me crash an awesome party, and Sabrina for patiently keeping my short fuse in check with the idiotic attendees around. Shout out to my boys, Bono, Jeff, Danny, Shawn, Sammy, and Swine and my muse, Lily Labeau.
Thank you, Emma, for being one of the kindest people I know and being a great Awards date.
This month, the fan-centric X3 Expo returned to the Hollywood Palladium with its 5th and biggest show on January 16-17 following the XBIZ LA conference. With the weather reaching 80 degrees that weekend, attendance was at an all-time high with more involvement from companies and performers signing. Agency booths made a return with ATMLA, InvisionModels, and OCModeling after an absence since the initial show.
Romi Rain, Violet Brandini, Anna Claire Clouds, Cherie Deville, Aubrey Kate, and Hailey Rose
The layout for the booths changed again with AdultEmpire and Elegant Angel sharing the only booth set upstairs. Ricky’s Room, Fleshlight, and Brazzers were the most popular booths downstairs.
Kendra SunderlandBlake BlossomOctavia Red
That Saturday included a musical performance by The Game. Hate It or Love It, the crowd ate it up. I didn’t attend the XMAs on the following Sunday, but everyone looked beautiful from the red carpet shots I’ve seen.
