Re:Getting My Kicks On "Route 66"
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Saturday, January 31, 2009 5:05 PM
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#10 )
Saturday, January 31, 2009, Old Navy’s Magazine Photo Shoot
Well, that was really fun!
I arrived in Los Angeles at 3:40 PM on Thursday and was met at the airport by the casting director for the shoot, Megan Foley. This was our first meeting as Megan and I had communicated earlier by cell phone and email. She drove me to my hotel close to the airport so I could check in and then we continued to a Beverly Hills hotel where I met with the French photographer, Gerard Rancinan and his crew. Gerard had met the other subjects of the shoot earlier in the week and he wanted to meet me before we began the next day. Gerard is a very interesting man, full of energy, imagination and passion. I quickly got caught up in his enthusiasm for the upcoming session.
After our meeting, I returned to my hotel, had an early dinner and went to bed. I was picked up in front of the hotel on Friday morning at 7:00 AM so we could be at the studio in Culver City by 8:00, the time we were scheduled to begin.
When we arrived the crew was already hard at work constructing the set for the photograph. We were doing a recreation of a 1600’s painting titled “Maids of Honor,” which had a group of men and women in an assortment of costumes representing various modes of vanity. In the original painting the artist included himself in the scene. Gerard would later do the same thing in his photograph.
Rancinan’s idea for the reproduction was to focus on how various characters handle aging. Included in the “cast” was a mature woman playing a grotesque Marilyn Monroe, a very tall woman wearing a dress made of newspapers, two enhanced female body builders, a male and female dwarf, a lady playing the Angel of Death, two beautiful young models playing Adam and Eve and me, ten models in all. There was also a pit bull in the shot that gave us a lot of trouble because the dog would not stay still for the shoot.
My part was interesting. Originally, I was cast as an old man standing next to the Angel of Death, who was holding an hour glass and was “waiting” for me. After Gerard saw me in person, he changed my character to a man who was defying death. Instead of standing looking distraught, I was to pose and smile, looking defiant, as if to say, “Not me, Angel of Death, not now.” Instead of old man’s clothes, I wore a black posing suit.
The set was completed by 11:30 and we are all asked to stand in our places so we could be moved about and have individual lighting checks performed. At 11:45 Gerard began shooting the first of three sessions. It was intense. While others had to stand perfectly still, I had to hold a front double biceps pose. The first session lasted 20 minutes. My arms ached and my hands cramped, but I did it, all the time smiling as directed.
After the first session, Gerald and his assistants reviewed the shots on a lap top and then discussed the needed changes for the second session, which started after we had a short break.
The second session was longer than the first, because the dog wouldn’t cooperate. We eventually got the dog to settle down enough for the shots and we completed the second session in due time. Again, I was stiff and sore, but happy. Gerald told me I was doing exactly what he needed me to do for the photo.
After a lunch of pizza, sushi and salad, we prepared for our final session, which was to begin at 3:30 PM. We were all tired by that time, but we were all so emotionally involved in the action that we sucked it up and did an outstanding job for the final photograph. We ended the session at 4:15 to much applause and cheering from the cast and crew. It was a fabulous shoot and I’m sure the photo, which will appear in Paris Match magazine, a French publication, in a couple of months will be well received.
I asked Gerard how much it cost to shoot a photo like this. He said he budgeted $70,000 for one photograph. That included studio rental, studio crew, his staff and the cast. Gerard and his staff flew in from Paris. I flew in from Alabama. The rest of the cast was local talent.
Gerard Rancinan is doing a series of ten photos, recreating master works of art. Our shoot was the seventh in the series. After he completes the other three, the entire collection will go on tour in art galleries around the world. His next shoot is in St. Petersburg, Russia. Gerald said he will email each of the cast a copy of the photo in a few weeks. I can’t wait to see the results of our work.
After the shoot, Rancinan asked me if I would like him to take a few shots of me. I said I would and I now have a small personal portfolio of Gerard Rancinan photos.
After the shoot, we signed a model release form and received our payment in cash. I returned to my hotel and after a quick shower to clean off the Pam spray I had applied (at the photographer’s request), I went to the hotel restaurant for a dinner of salmon and salad. I still have a show to prepare for, so this was just another contest diet dinner.
I was as tired after my all day photo session as I am after a contest. That was a surprise.
Thinking about all that had occurred this weekend as I flew home on Saturday morning, I had to wonder what other outrageous things will happen to me in the future, just because I am a 65 year-old master professional bodybuilder. Only time will tell, I guess, but I’m looking forward to the next chapter.