The Models
My job as a photographer was to shoot beautiful women. The most important piece of that job, were the models. All different. All beautiful.
Every girl that stepped on the set was different. I had about 2 minutes to assess where their heads were, and what was going to give me good results. My job was to capture these models at their best, most sexy. Most of these girls were not professional models, so I would have to find what it was that would give them the confidence to proudly take off their cloths. I seemed to be able to adapt pretty quickly to each model.
Of the hundreds of girls that have posed in front of my lens, I have 7 that I consider “Point and Shoot.” They were pros. They knew the things to do to show them at their best. All I had to do was push the button. I rarely ever got a bad shot.
I've shot a lot of models over my career. I have memories of virtually every single one. Most of them good, a few bad, but mostly funny.
One girl came in on a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon for a shoot. She brought another girl with her to shoot, and her husband was with them. I had shot her many time before, so she was as much a friend as a model. Because of that; we weren't in any rush, so we were just taking our time getting ready.
While the first girl was in make-up, the other girl mentioned that she needed saline for her contacts. So, the husband was dispatched to the drug store to pick some up.
When model 1 was ready and we stepped onto the set. At that point her phone began incessantly ringing. Initially, she just let it ring. But after a few times I said, “Your husband has been gone quite a while, you might want to pick that up.”
“Ma'am, the is the Wayne Police. We have arrested your husband for Driving Under the Influence.”
Needless to say; that was the end of the shoot.
They got him out on bail Monday morning and thigh-tailed it outta Jersey. Turns out he had given them a fake ID. And one more thing: the other model had left her kid in the van with an illegal alien baby sitter.
Another time; a girl had come in from Florida. That day I had her and another model in the studio. We had alternated models all afternoon and were pretty well finished.
I asked the Florida girl, who had brought her husband, if she'd like to stay and shoot one more set. She said,”OK”, and headed back to the make-up area, which was in the kitchen.
My make-up girl Sarah asked the model if she wanted a drink. Normally, we never had alcohol on the set, but it was the end of the day, and everybody was pretty wiped out. The model replied' “Yes”, she'd like a rum and Coke. At this point I left to get the next set ready.
It couldn't have been 2 minutes latter when I returned. The model was smashed and falling down drunk. I said' “What the hell happened?”
Sarah said, “I took the rum out of the cabinet and turned to get a Coke from the refrigerator.”, which was literally, 1 step. “When I turned back around, she had downed half the bottle of rum.”
Her husband came over and said, “You didn't give her a drink? She has a problem.”
That was the end of the shoot. Her husband and I had to carry her to the car.
Those are only 2 funny examples, but I have a million more. I submitted an idea for a reality show called “Cleavage Kaos”, based on my adventures, but it didn't get picked up.
I'll always have the pictures... and even more importantly... the memories.
