Page 15 of Party Animal
“What about processing?”
He waved at a computer set up in a corner of the room.“Digital photography revolutionized things but I still like to fool around in a dark room.”
“Personally, I like the lights on.”
Lee smiled.“I love a man with a sense of humor.”
“You make a good straight man.”
“We work well together.Hopefully, we’ll do as well on the photo shoot.”
“Do you actually have a dark room?”
Lee nodded.“I set one up in one of the bathrooms.I like processing and printing my own black-and-white photos.”
“But have you ever photographed porn?”
“I know what I’m doing.”Lee paused for a moment.“What do you want out of this photo session, Casey?”
“Sexy, sensual, sultry.Stuff the studio can use on their website and magazines.”
“Gotcha.But let me ease into the shoot.I’d like to start with something different, something more genuine.I want to photograph the real you.”
“You got it.”I started to take my clothes off.
“Leave your clothes on.I’m doing head shots first.”
“I don’t get it.What could be more real than my bare ass?”
“I want to focus on what’s inside, not on what’s outside.”
“Maybe you should take an x-ray.”
Lee giggled.I smiled too.It made me happy to make him laugh.
“Humor me, Casey.You’re a larger than life personality, but it’s play-acting.I want to see what’s really underneath it all.”
His words irritated me.“I am a real person.”
“Yes, and you have authentic qualities -- humor, spirit and a lust for life -- but I want to see what you’re feeling.”
I wasn’t ready to unmask myself, but it didn’t matter, because I didn’t believe he could see anything like that in a photo.“Okay, let’s get started.”
“Put a stool in front of the backdrop.Get comfortable.Don’t think about the camera.Talk to me.”
I did as Lee asked.“Is this okay?Am I in the right spot?”
“You’re perfect.”Lee fiddled with the camera.“Did I ever tell you how my love affair with cameras started?”
“You’ve never told me anything about yourself.”
“You’re right.That’s my fault.I have trust issues that go way back.Ironically, it all started with cameras.”
I was more than curious about his life, but I kept my mouth shut and let him talk.
“My uncle Bob and I were always close.He was my dad’s brother, but they were very different.My father was a jock, a gym teacher and a coach.My uncle took school portraits, mostly traditional head and shoulder shots of the students.I had more in common with my uncle than my father, and whenever he came to visit, I’d bug him to let me use his camera.He started teaching me about photography and on my seventh birthday, he bought me a camera.”
“You were lucky,” I told him.“My father hated me.I wish I’d had an uncle to take me under his wing.”
