I’ll have to start from the beginning…
I attended the Folsom Street Fair with a friend back in 2015. Camera in hand, I walked the streets asking permission for pictures. Then I saw this girl’s bright blue wig in the crowd. Blue is my favorite color, so naturally I was drawn to it. When I tapped her to turn around, she had this naked guy next to her who also turned around. And there it was… a giant, half-cocked dick ; it pointed right at me (at an angle). I quickly forced myself to look away and asked about the girl’s wig. She was a beautiful, cinnamon brown girl with tattoos and glasses. We talked for a quick second and I turned my attention to her butt-naked companion. The guy was a little taller, tanned skin, and bleach blonde hair with dark-haired scruff on his face. His name was “Jasper Stone” and the blue-haired girl was his girlfriend Aarthi. I asked about his line of work and he told me about his career in the porn industry. So, of course, I asked about doing a photo shoot with him and we exchanged numbers.
Some time rolls by and I’m in Sacramento on the phone discussing details about the shoot with Jasper. Since he was a porn star, Jasper was used to getting paid for his time in front of the camera. Being a broke-ass artist, I asked him if he wanted to do a shoot of HIS choice in exchange for my artistic idea. He agreed. So we start talking about the shoot I wanted to do, the other model, the ideas I had and what I needed for effects etc. THEN we came to HIS idea for a photo shoot. I had an inclination as to what he may have wanted, but I really had no idea what I was getting into. In exchange for a free session, he wanted me to photograph him and his girlfriend in a couple’s shoot. I was like “Sure! Sounds cool!”. Never did a couple’s shoot before but there’s a first time for everything. Then we get into detail… “I want you to photograph us having sex. I want some POV shots too.” I’m in the kitchen stuck in momentary silence; he’s on the phone waiting for an answer (I think I just coughed).
I think he sensed my hesitation cause he started back tracking a little bit. But I told him no, if that’s what he wanted, then THAT’S what he’s going to get; fair trade. To be honest, I wasn’t very confident about doing the shoot. The whole “POV” thing threw me off; actually ALL of it threw me off. I’ve seen porn before, I’ve stumbled into the wrong room at a party, but I never turned it into a shoot. As the shoot date came closer, I became more and more nervous. I wanted to do a good job, but I wasn’t sure how to go about doing that. The day of the shoot comes and I’m a little excited (STILL nervous). I’ve never shot any couples but I was willing to give it a try.
I arrived at Jasper’s studio and we just sit down on a couch and just chill. His co-star started smoking out of a cute little bong as I played with a riding crop I found on the glass table. Jasper sits down next to Aarthi with a bottle of vodka and offers me some. I politely declined “maybe after the shoot, I don’t wanna do it crossfaded haha!” They started drinking as I pulled out my pipe and smoked (I wanted to steady my nerves). The shoot was supposed to take place at a motorcycle club a few blocks away. We were about to head over there when Jasper started playing with the lights, and changing their colors. I asked to give it a try and started messing with the lights mixing pinks, purples, and reds. Finally I got it to where it looked amazing, so much so that we decided to do the shoot in his studio instead.
At first we started out with some solo shots of Aarthi in lingerie. Despite my initial nervousness it was going well… too well. I started to pose her on the couch and Jasper said he wanted her spread a part a bit. I’m playing with the camera settings and I start to hear her moan so I look up. Jasper is eating out Aarthi on the couch. For a second I just stood there; for some reason I thought he would stop. After I came out of my “what the fuck is happening?!” brain-freeze, I realized that there was no way he was going to stop with her moaning like that. They started to fuck; I started to shoot.
They were all over the place; that couch is ruined. I’m not sure how many positions they were in, but it was a lot to work with post-shoot. It wasn’t really weird at all to be perfectly honest. Utilizing the zoom was key for some detailed POV close-ups. I would compare it to the time I shot this MMA fight at Thunder Valley in Lincoln. Practically the same; all of the grappling and grunting. However, the only difference was the smell and the fear of being hit with a much DIFFERENT bodily fluid. About five minutes in they were just moving shapes at different angles with light and shadows. Near the end of the session, Jasper hits me with one last (RANDOM) request.
“Can you make a video of the creampie and send it to me?” (I think I coughed again).
“Uhhh sure!”
They went at it pretty hard for a few more minutes and he finished. Aarthi held the “cream” while I adjusted my camera. I got it at a perfect angle with the video mode on and said “alright, now push it out!” It was an interesting moment. As I was shooting this, I realized… that I was ACTUALLY shooting this. It was a little surreal, and I wondered if I could get a career in the porn industry as a cinematographer or a videographer. After she finished, we wrapped up the shoot and cleaned everything up (it’s all still ruined). I hit the vodka and chilled with them for a bit while going through the footage. For having shot my first (unconventional) couple’s shoot, it turned out great. I went home happy that I did the shoot; I felt more accomplished as a photographic artist.
I usually don’t have a challenge when it comes to photography, so this was a good thing in my book. To anyone who’s nervous about a shoot, not sure if they can accomplish it, just go for it. You’d be surprised at what you can do when you throw yourself out of your comfort zone.
