How Did I Get Here?
Have you ever had that feeling, that mental reality check that’s usually followed by disbelief? You are in the middle of a situation and you stop and actually think about what’s going on and how absurd it is that you are there? Tom Brady probably had it during the Superbowl. One of the jurors must have felt it during the O. J. trial. George W. Bush probably feels that way all the time. Well, that sensation hit me on Sunday afternoon. Now I’m not claiming where I was is comparable to the Superbowl, the White House or a Murder Trial; but standing on a movie lot with 21 gorgeous models and my camera is a pretty cool thing.
But how did I get there? I never took photography in high school or college. I wasn’t like Peter Parker with a camera in my hands everywhere I went. I don’t think I took my first serious picture till I was 25 and that’s only because my friend was lazy. I was trying to get my comic company off the ground (at 25 becoming a publisher seemed like a good idea too) so I pulled in every friend I had to help. One of my victims/studio-mates was my friend Michelle (or ‘ltl m’ as she is called), she had created a comic series call Orion’s Song and based the lead character off of herself. The artist, Jason Margos I believe, asked for some photo reference for the character. Well, ltl m had always wanted photos done so we turned to another of my victims/studio-mates Brian Viers who was also in to photography. This is where the story gets hazy: ltl m says she asked Brian to shoot with her but he never did; Brian says she never asked. Either way I ended up with my mom’s 35mm camera in my back yard taking shots of ltl m in a bikini.
I enjoyed doing the shots with her, though I’m not sure how the couple of implied topless shots we did would help the artist. From there I had another friend that I had based a character on, so I about 2 months later I had another bikini clad woman in front of my borrowed camera. Over the next couple of years I was able to talk most of my female friends into posing for me; the implied topless shots turned into artistic nudes and I even bought a camera. The next big thing to happen was the “ex” collection. These were two girls that I got to shoot with a lot, Lacey and Tiffany. They were ex-girlfriends of two of my friends and both of them were willing to pose for me. Over the next year or so I must have shot thousands of pics of each one. I wouldn’t be taking the pics I am today if it wasn’t for the two of them (but I’m not sure if its a good or bad thing).
So six years later I’m standing in the Arizona desert in a fake western town with this gorgeous young woman in a read dress standing in front of me named Joelee and I’m thinking that this is just so very cool.
Have you ever had that feeling, that mental reality check that’s usually followed by disbelief? You are in the middle of a situation and you stop and actually think about what’s going on and how absurd it is that you are there? Tom Brady probably had it during the Superbowl. One of the jurors must have felt it during the O. J. trial. George W. Bush probably feels that way all the time. Well, that sensation hit me on Sunday afternoon. Now I’m not claiming where I was is comparable to the Superbowl, the White House or a Murder Trial; but standing on a movie lot with 21 gorgeous models and my camera is a pretty cool thing.
But how did I get there? I never took photography in high school or college. I wasn’t like Peter Parker with a camera in my hands everywhere I went. I don’t think I took my first serious picture till I was 25 and that’s only because my friend was lazy. I was trying to get my comic company off the ground (at 25 becoming a publisher seemed like a good idea too) so I pulled in every friend I had to help. One of my victims/studio-mates was my friend Michelle (or ‘ltl m’ as she is called), she had created a comic series call Orion’s Song and based the lead character off of herself. The artist, Jason Margos I believe, asked for some photo reference for the character. Well, ltl m had always wanted photos done so we turned to another of my victims/studio-mates Brian Viers who was also in to photography. This is where the story gets hazy: ltl m says she asked Brian to shoot with her but he never did; Brian says she never asked. Either way I ended up with my mom’s 35mm camera in my back yard taking shots of ltl m in a bikini.
I enjoyed doing the shots with her, though I’m not sure how the couple of implied topless shots we did would help the artist. From there I had another friend that I had based a character on, so I about 2 months later I had another bikini clad woman in front of my borrowed camera. Over the next couple of years I was able to talk most of my female friends into posing for me; the implied topless shots turned into artistic nudes and I even bought a camera. The next big thing to happen was the “ex” collection. These were two girls that I got to shoot with a lot, Lacey and Tiffany. They were ex-girlfriends of two of my friends and both of them were willing to pose for me. Over the next year or so I must have shot thousands of pics of each one. I wouldn’t be taking the pics I am today if it wasn’t for the two of them (but I’m not sure if its a good or bad thing).
So six years later I’m standing in the Arizona desert in a fake western town with this gorgeous young woman in a read dress standing in front of me named Joelee and I’m thinking that this is just so very cool.
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