The date was October 8, 2008 and I was getting prepared for my shoot with Ms. Maeggy!
A few weeks prior her and I had discussed a shoot. I was breaking into High School Senior photography and she was the perfect person to start with. We had found each other on a model portfolio site and decided to shoot. Coming from the glamour world I was ready to apply my glamour photography style to seniors just they keep their clothes on! Maeggy showed up with her Mom and right away I thought this would be a problem. Understand I’m not nervous about Fathers. Being a Father myself I realize that we tend to over react when there’s physical danger involved with our children, other than that, we do what Mom say. Mom’s on the other hand trust no one and glamour photographers even less. They tend to hover around the shoot and cast their over protective and accusing eye watching and waiting for the photographer who is unable to control himself and lust after her daughter. Maeggy’s mom was nothing like that. Nothing at all in fact! She was as hands off as I’ve ever seen anyone before AND after!
They showed up on time and I spent some time talking and getting to know Maeggy. I found out she was a photographer herself and an older sister. I thought she was sweet and cute right away! I knew we’d have fun shooting. Shoot time came and right away Mrs. Melissa said “Well I will leave you guys to it!” In the studio there was a sitting section and artists study (shooting area), she left and went into the sitting area and read her book. I didn’t hear from her until the end of the shoot when she got up to stretch her legs and see how we BOTH were doing!
Images:
I had spent some time talking to her after and she truly was a sweetheart! We talked about the people we knew in common and more shoots and fun. By this time my Senior Portrait business had taken off and I found myself re-shooting a lot of seniors that went to other studios to get photos done. About a year later I had decided to do a Senior Portrait workshop and asked Maeggy to be one of the models. Maeggy agreed and brought her sister Hannah who is just as beautiful! Being it was a workshop I didn’t get many photos but here are some that I did get:
Soon after the senior shoot I was putting together my End of the Year shootout and decided that I wanted to do something special for my members of Club SuperShoot. I had decided that I was going to do a “Sexy Santa’s Helper” shoot and have it be all lingerie all day long. I had made a post on my facebook page to get a good feel for models and I got an email from Mrs. Melissa, Maeggy’s mom saying for some reason unknown to her, Maeggy was interested in being a model! Now I’m usually nervous before every single shoot I do, but knowing Maeggy wanted to come in and shoot lingerie had me on a nervous street I’d never traveled before. A year or so later we were talking and she admitted to being just as nervous as I. The shoot went the same as the very first shoot; Mrs. Melissa showed up and sat in the sitting area reading her book. One of the times Maeggy was changing she confided in me she had no clue as to why Maeggy was interested in this, but she supported her (Mom of the millennial right there!). I had my daughter earlier in the day and was working that evening! This was 11/22/2009, the day before my birthday! Images from the test shoot and workshop:
The End of the Year shootout was a TOTAL success and everyone loved it. Maeggy had a ton of fun and I think she was surprised at how much fun she had with six other women and 9 photogs! After this shoot I had gotten contact for a magazine that I was submitting to regularly. They showed interest in Maeggy but requested more glamour images. I spoke to Maeggy about it and she declined. A few weeks went by and I saw she had shot some glamour images with another photographer. I was upset not because she shot with someone else, but because I thought we had a relationship where if she were going to try something different, it would have been with me. When I talked to her about it, she said it wasn’t a good experience for her and she regretted doing it. I wanted to tell her it wouldn’t have been that way with me, but we all have to learn in our own ways. I had put on a boudoir workshop and Maegan sent me a message stating she was interested in this one! She also said she was thinking about stopping modeling. I told her to give it a long thought because it was fun and a great way of self expression. At the workshop there were four of her high school friends there and another model Kirsten.
About a year had lapsed since I had last saw Maegan. In that time she told me she was done with modeling and really had no desire to do it. I got busy with sponsorship and redefining my style and we lost contact. About a year later and she contacts me and wanted to do a fun shoot. We set it up and do it. While we were shooting I discovered she was going to school an hour away and really into the co-ed life and having fun, good for her! We shot and had a great time and got some awesome images:
Sadly, June 2010 was the last time I saw Maegan. I’ve tried on several different occasions to see her even if it’s just for coffee, she’s moved on and not really shown much interest. I am happy to have had her in my life and watch her grow up. First time I shot her she was 17 and the last time she was almost 21 it was awesome watching her turn into a young woman. I wish her nothing but happiness and success in all she does!