I’ve got this freelance artist war chest, and in it are the medals for my accomplishments. Some more dignified than others. I’ve got the first shoot I was ever paid for. My first magazine publication. The first time I was flown some where, and the first time some one flew to me, just to shoot. Granted, the less ostentatious medals are along the lines of “Most Spirit airlines flights under $100”, “Most back injuries w/ a 60lbs bag to avoid carry on fees”. Not to mention, most hours worked for least per hour income earned. Highs and lows, but I have one career milestone that will forever outshine the rest. The day I photographed Gia Genevieve for the first time.
Gia is one of only a couple models that successfully emerged beyond the pinup community I’ve worked in for the last few years. Around 2010 Gia won a big annual pinup pageant in Long Beach called Ink & Iron. From there, Micheline Pitt booked her to shoot with Pinup Girl Clothing and she’s been on a straight trajectory upward ever since. She’s since shot international campaigns for Secrets In Lace, Marilyn Feltz, Playful Promises, GUESS and Dita Von Teese. The crowning achievement for Gia, though, was in March of 2015 when she made the cover of Playboy, photographed by the legendary fashion photographer, Ellen Von Unwerth!
*Photo credit, Ellen Von Unwerth for Playboy magazine
Oddly enough, this is where I show up […still really hard for me to believe I’m even in the same breath as these women] in the story. As it turns out, during Gia’s rapid climb as one of the top pinup models, she developed an affinity for another prominent cheesecake pinup model named Doris Mayday. I broke in to LA after my first shoot with Doris in 2013, and those photos became some of the most recognizable of both of our respective careers. Somewhere along the lines, Gia must have seen my work.
In late 2014, Gia and I got in touch through a mutual friend and tried to set up a shoot […I was sure it wouldn’t happen. Often times, that shoots you’re most excited about inevitably fall through because of schedules or other extraneous circumstances]. I arrived in NYC, made my way to her place in Brooklyn. I felt enormous pressure the entire train ride; it just worked out that her first shoot after this epic Playboy publication would be with me. Once I arrived, I was focused and confident and Gia was completely down to earth. That always helps when you work with chill people.
We got to work after quick run through of her concepts. It was December and chilly in her backyard, but we took some beautiful pictures of her smoking in an elegant evening gown dress from Black Cake Clothing. Making our way downstairs, we shot some incredibly sexy, playful photos in her [very pink] bedroom. We must have wrapped in less than an hour, but similarly to my first shoot with Doris […the shoot that got me to this point in the first place], the images were received with a ton of praise from her [massive] social media following. They hit Instagram and Facebook just a few weeks before and after the launch of Gia’s Playboy cover. To this day, absolutely surreal to see my work standing up next to Ellen Von Unwerth; a photographer that’s influenced me more than any other artist, hands down!
I’m still so proud of these photos of Gia, and grateful for the opportunity to work with her, and become friends. Since this shoot, she’s gone on to dominate the fashion world, and we managed to get two more shoots in the following year […those will be in a future blog]. She’s an incredible woman and her determination is astonishing! While many of my friends overshare the most mundane aspects of their lives, like the organic turkey burger and craft beer they’re having on holiday, Gia casually posts a video of her featured as the Devil in a Lenny Kravitz video! She’s doing incredible things, and remaining impressively humble all the while.
For me personally, this was a right of passage to shake the ever present loom of “imposter syndrome” […I’ve got a whole post about that phenomenon in down the pipe]. I honestly can’t quantify the impact Elle Von Unwerth’s work has had on me, and to know that I was within one degree of separation of her, Dita Von Tesse and other phenomenal photographers like Tatiana Gerusova; it’s just a affirmation that 15 years of determination and sacrifice paid dividends in the end.
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