GINGER SNAP, pt. 4

Here are the links to the images:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OxSJnwEPsLNv0oKQgfzB0vk8xNxeyjHk

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GINGER SNAP

Jessamyne and I have been working together for two years now, and though she’s currently thinking of taking a break from most modeling, I still consider her to be in fine form. The window of time for women to be models has never been more open, with women rightfully redefining what is beautiful and sexy in our world constantly. 

It’s difficult to deny Jess and her special characteristics. She’s fun, loves to drink and socialize, and for the most part is incredibly comfortable with her body. Her vanilla skin, constellation of freckles, and her naturally flaming, crimson hair are the physical attributes I dreamed of as a sexually-starved pubescent boy. Plus her Australian, back-woods accent is lush and rich, applying as many Rs to words that don’t require them and dropping that same letter from every word that needs them. Eva becomes “Ever,” and Mark becomes “Mahk.” It’s enough to drive a man into a deep and heavy crush.

The day we shot this was the last morning of a three week tour for her and model Eva Luna. They pulled in the night before, exhausted and emotionally worn down to the nub. We drank, ate ice cream, and just had a relaxing time, which is just what they needed. Both had trouble sleeping in my living room that night due to their own individual, personal reasons, and in the morning, though they wanted to shoot, they just weren’t in great moods. I did everything I could to comfort them, getting coffee for Eva and whiskey for Jess, supplying fresh, warm towels for their showers and heaters near their bed. They both cried on my shoulder individually and I did my best to reassure them that their extreme exhaustion would be over soon.

Jessamyne, who has never been a morning person even in the best of situations, took about two hours to get ready, but eventually she had pulled herself together enough to shoot. Eva, who was actually doing better, decided to take the morning off, sitting in my small pick-up smoking cigarettes she hated and feeling bad for being a spoil sport, which neither Jess nor I minded in the least.

It had just started to rain as we drove to my favorite deserted road, and I positioned Jess under a heavy oak tree so that she wouldn’t get too wet. I began to get a little soaked, throwing a haphazard towel over my camera as I shot to protect it. We didn’t shoot long before I called it quits, knowing how cold and miserable Jess was. Making it back to the truck only a few feet away, we found Eva leaning against the passenger side, looking as sad and lost as I’d ever seen anyone. While Jess climbed inside to get warm, I pulled Eva close to me and she burst into tears against my shoulder, confessing again just how exhausted she was and apologizing for being such a terrible first impression. Since we had shared so many laughs the night before, i assured her our new friendship was solid and I was honored she felt comfortable enough with me to reach out for a steady shoulder to cry on. 

The tears and the weather passed, and we made it back to my place in overall much better spirits. I helped them pack the last fo their belongings into Jess’s PT Cruiser and waved them a fond farewell, calm in the fact that they’d be home in LA before 3pm. However, I’d be wrong.

Apparently during our shoot, unbeknownst to us, a horrific and tragic mudslide that affected the Santa Barbara/Montecito area, which had been ravaged by fires only a few weeks before. The slide had killed many people, wiping out several tracks of homes and in the process blocking an entire stretch of the 101 freeway, thus making it impossible to reach Los Angeles from that direction. Unfortunately, the women didn’t know this, so after an hour of driving to Santa Barbara, they were turned around by police and sheriffs, making them come all the way back to where I am in Santa Maria and taking the long way to eastern California, then down the I-5 freeway into LA. Normally it would be a 4-6 hour trip from Santa Maria to LA via that way, as opposed to the two and a half hours down the 101. But this time it took the women until after 10pm before they each were home, and I couldn’t imagine how much more tired and emotionally drained they were.

The roads still aren’t clear, a week later, though 101 was supposed to have been opened yesterday. Estimates now say that it won’t be open for another week. Since I have a few freelance jobs down in LA this week, I’ll be taking the long way tomorrow, also. Though the loss of life is indeed tragic, and the road outage incredibly inconvenient for thousands of people, I try to keep things in perspective. This is in no way even remotely as bad as the immigration crisis in the Middle East and Europe. We will survive, we will clean up, we will be back to whatever normal is soon.

Art is made in real time, in the real world, and I can’t think of this shoot without thinking of the context in which it was shot. I hope you all aren’t too bummed out by this story.

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What did you think of this new set of Jessamyne and the story told? Please send me your feedback, positive or negative, and feel free to leave comments in the box below or in my DMs! And thank you as always for your continued support, I can’t thank you enough!

Here are those links again: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OxSJnwEPsLNv0oKQgfzB0vk8xNxeyjHk