The next morning was our second photo shoot. This was with a guy named Anthony P. which Kurt located through a site called Model Mayhem (that’s not his name on the site). Kurt picked me up at the San Vicente at 8am and I met Anthony, whom I had seen pictures of, but hadn’t met in person before. He was very handsome, very pleasant, and I was looking forward to shooting photos of him. We drove north to the same general area as the previous day, and again, hiked a while to find a photogenic area.
The area we were in was not as attractive as the one the previous day. Kurt told me that every time he visits one of these locations in and around the LA area, he never knows what to expect, because there’s so much change with the time of year, and sometimes wildfires will burn off all the vegetation in an area that was previously a great location. So the settings were not ideal, but we had driven all that way, so we decided to make the best of it. And we did get some nice shots.
Unfortunately our model was not a nature boy. I was reminded, over and over again, of Woody Allen’s comment, “I am at two with nature.” That was Anthony. He was a trooper, though. He got himself wet in cold, not-very-clean water for us. He let himself be eaten up by ants (well, for a minute anyway). He got muddy. But it was clear he was not happy in the environment. Of course, Kurt and I weren’t that happy with the environment, either. I had an idea. I called my hotel and talked to the day manager and asked him if we could use the area around the pool to shoot some nudes. Since that part of the hotel is clothing-optional anyway, he was pretty agreeable as long as our shoot wasn’t too lengthy. So we hiked back to the car and got on the freeway and headed back down to West Hollywood.
This turned out to be a wonderful idea. When we walked in to the pool area of the San Vicente, I could tell Anthony was much happier. This was an environment he could enjoy working in. Both Kurt and I were much happier with it, too. The San Vicente has been used for a lot of photo and video shoots and it’s actually a great backdrop for this kind of thing. And it was very convenient for me, of course.
The weather was perfect and the setting was perfect. And it was late morning so there was hardly anyone around, so we were able to shoot undisturbed. This was one of those things that so often happens with photo shoots. You plan for one situation and it doesn’t work out and you play it by ear, and you end up in a completely different setting than you planned, but somehow it all works out.
Again, Kurt and I worked really smoothly together, and it was a nice change from a “wilderness” setting where everything is improvised. Nice to have a bathroom handy, access to food and water, etc. Plus the comfort of being able to jump in the pool whenever you get hot—and it was turning into a hot day. Again, we shot for about two hours total and got a lot of great stuff. Another successful photo shoot, and I felt a sense of accomplishment. And I found I was really looking forward to the next morning and our third and final photo shoot with Chadwick. If Chadwick was anything like the photos I’d seen of him, this was going to be exciting!
sammy
damn sexy….