Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:22:59 -0700
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: Photo 16

Photo
by:  dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)


16:  Making A Living

"Derek Smyth and I went to graduate school together at North Western, you
must remember him, a tall fellow, blond hair about my age with a big
booming voice, he is always smiling."

"He and his wife," I could not remember her name so I paused to let Plato
remind me.

"Gloria."

"Visited a lot until about three years ago."

"Right, Gloria passed away and Derek has not visited since.  Aphrodite and
Gloria were friends too.  I think her death took a lot out of Derek.
Anyway he wants you to work on a project or two for his consulting company.
His sons John and Robin will fly up and take you back to Vancouver."

"I remember John he is about 4 years older than me but I though he had an
older sister, not a brother?"

"He does, she lives in Seattle, has a Ph.D. in English.  Robin is about 18,
Derek adopted him just last year."

"If I recall Dr. Smyth is a good amateur photographer why does he need me?"

"I guess he recognizes your talent, Derek was always good at spotting
peoples talents and abilities.  I suppose he just does not have the time
either.  At any rate the sons are flying in his 185 and will meet you and
Brad at the airport in the morning.  I will go out with you and John to
advise on some of the subjects.  Derek is also very good at getting friends
to help with his projects.  Oh, one of his new clients is Jason Adonis and
he will need you to accompany him and his crew to Yellowknife in July."

"Yellowknife, NWT, Canada?"

"Yes, I guess Jason is thinking about purchasing a diamond mine and has
hired Derek's firm to evaluate it."

"I would love to visit Yellowknife but they don't need me for that kind of
work and my July is booked kind of solid and....and I suppose Jason
requested Dr. Smyth to add us to the team..."

Plato smiled, "when your good your good and besides you do need to get some
income over the summer, perhaps Jason realizes that.  Derek also wanted my
expertise on his geological team, so I get to work with my son on two
projects," he said with that proud self satisfied smile only fathers know
how to exhibit, especially when they are proud of their children.  "You
know you must keep this diamond mine stuff confidential don't you?"

"Yes, I figured that as soon as Jason Adonis' name was mentioned."

"It gets better son, more convoluted that is, if you think the Adonis
family is complex the Smyth's are as bad or worst."

I was going to say something about being the only normal people around but
I thought better of it.  First, we are not normal by most standards, all
these earth science people seem a bit nuts anyway and it would only prompt
Plato to go off on one of his dialogues; into some deep philosophical
discussion of normal and frankly I am just not in the mood right now.

.............

The 185 taxied up to the flight service center waiting room and two tall
blond and handsome young men climbed out.  I recognized John Smyth more
mature then I remembered but then so am I.  I took it the other young man
was Robin.

John approached my with a broad smile. "Apollo it has been a long time and
you have grown, it must be four years since we played chess.  Robin this is
Apollo Bidis, the photographer I was telling you about."

After embracing me John stepped back and Robin extended his hand.

"Robin Smyth," he announced.  I shook his hand and before I could introduce
Brad.

"Hi, I'm Brad Sumewalt, Apollo's assistant."

While the plane was serviced John filed his flight plan.  Robin, Bard and I
drank coffee and chatted.  I was immediately struck with Robin's outgoing
personality, physical beauty, large blue eyes and clear complexion.  Over
all he was very photogenic.  He and Brad seemed to hit it off and could see
they would be fast friends in no time at all.  Robin was also an amateur
photographer like his dad.  I was hopping someone would fill me in on how
Robin came to be adopted by Dr. Smyth, I just could not bring myself to
ask.

Brad and Robin began trading stories and backgrounds.  After Brad told
Robin about how we met up and how he came to be living with the Bidis' in
Bellingham, Robin related his adventurous story of meeting Derek and being
almost kidnapped and how Derek's friend Sam Snipe, from the FBI, helped
them out.

"Sam and dad grew up in the same small Illinois town."  John informed me.
John just takes all this in stride like doesn't everyone in the whole
country know each other and we are all family anyway.  I like his chutzpah,
I like Robin's too, but John is just so laid back I don't think anything
would phase him.  I wondered just how small a world this is.  Does everyone
know each other.

The flight to Vancouver was filled with chatter on the intercom.  Robin
took the controls and John the right.  Bard and I were behind.  The 185 is
a lovely plane to fly and I hoped to get a chance at it someday.  John
mentioned that his older sister Liz, "you remember her", would be with us
polishing up the text and road log, Robin was stuck in school as was Brad.
The flight seemed all to short but I was glad of that, since we had a
strong onshore breeze that was bouncing us around quite a bit, as we headed
south along the coast.  I also realized that both Brad and I wanted flying
lessons even more than before.

The Smyth household was something short of a madhouse, Brad and I would
both very much like an invitation to return, never the less.  Dr. Smyth,
Derek is a bit older then Plato, but not much.  He is very tall and
graying, with a long rugged face and a killer smile.  I want to do his
portrait some day, that face just exudes character.  John and his wife and
child live not to far away but spend a lot of time with Dad.  Liz and her
partner Alice live in Seattle but were visiting that weekend.  Robin was
attended by his girlfriend Angela, a tall, thin Chinese girl.  Fred and
Freda 13 year old twins that Derek had recently adopted and a house manager
Walter, who is a 60 something gay man, that keeps the place running.  There
were other visitors coming and going the entire time we visited.

I only vaguely remembered the Smyth place as we did not visit Vancouver as
often as the Smyth's visited Bellingham.  It is a very large house with
wonderful gardens. The twins were all over Brad and I, asking about Jonas
and Shelley, I guess word was spreading through the deaf community already.
It turned out some of their class mates attended the State School for the
Deaf, which is just down the street from the campus of St. Andrews' the
privet school they, Robin and Angela attend.  Fred and Freda were learning
to sign so Brad and I were asked to try communicating with them in ASL.
God were these beautiful children and did I want to take their pictures
some day.  Derek had a lot of my work on his walls all LTD's too.  The
twins were even more impressed when the realized this Apollo was the same
one that made those images.

Derek reviewed his photographic needs and showing me pictures and slides he
and others had taken over the years.  We critiqued them and I made notes
about what changes in view or prospective, lighting and so on would be
need.  Between John, Plato and Liz I would have all the direction needed.
We did not have budget for helicopters but John would have the 185 and
between that and my Hummer we should be able to get all the shots needed.
He wanted a good mix of the usual Rainier, St. Helen's, Hood, coast lines,
beaches, road cuts, mines, dam sites and so on.  Liz and Chuck would also
produce a CD and his staff would do a web site.  Plato would reformat the
text and illustrations into a series of lectures to be used at both the
high school and university levels.  I could keep the copyright on the
images.

Robin and Brad became instant buddies just as I predicted.  Brad and Linda
were invited to attend Robin and Angela's wedding which corresponded with
their graduation.  Ronnie and I would be tied up but they would try and
attend along with Plato and Aphrodite.  This was turning out to be a very
busy spring and summer.  Very busy.

This is an interesting family for sure.  I thought I recognized a closer
relationship between Robin and Derek then father and son.  Derek and John
were like Plato and me.  John and Robin were much like I imagined two
brothers would be.  The twins were closer then I thought fraternal twins of
opposite sex would be too.  I examined how I relate to Jonas and how Jason
relates to Ziggy, I have not seen him and Drew together yet.  I get the
feeling men who have boys and boys who have men share something special.
Something that can be recognized only by other men or boys in the same kind
of relationship.  Brad and I are lovers, Bob and I are lovers, the Adonis
brothers are all lovers but this is slightly different.  The dynamics of
sexual tension between men and their boys is different.  I think strong but
different, probably because it is not between equals.  When I watch Brad or
Robin looking at their ladies their eyes tell a story.  When I watch Robin
or Jonas looking at Derek or me I see a different story.

We started taking pictures from the air on our flight back to Bellingham.
Over the course of the next 10 days we covered Washington and most of
Oregon from one end to the other.  Plato gave me the biggest surprise.  He
not only kept up with us young people, he usually set the pace for our 12
to 14 hour days.  Liz wrote and edited on her laptop and I just kept the
film flowing to the lab.  The Digital back for the Hasselblad came in very
handy since the quality is almost as good as film and the results are right
now.  Oh, we had some unfavorable weather but managed to work around that.
I sure learned a lot about geology too, between John and dad, I think
everything I photographed got explained several times over.  I was
beginning to wonder if I should go back to school myself.  John was
thinking about it but with a young family he was not sure.  Plato's advice
was, you can't have enough education but even he admits, it does not all
need to be formal.

After interacting with Derek as a professional not the child of an old
friend and working with dad on a professional level, not as his son, I sure
came away with a different prospective.  I could see why they were friends
and why they had remained friends for so many years.  Never once did either
of them talk down to me, John or Liz.  I could see why they were both
popular professors as they made complex scientific systems understandable
and damn interesting.

The most important thing was their respect for each other and for everyone
else's humanity.  I know Plato has little patients for fools or
incompetence.  I'm sure Derek feels the same way.  Plato always made us
feel like he was along to coach, inspire and just for the ride.  Liz
indicated that was her dad's approach to things too.

"My mom was the one who never let you forget your last screw up or the 10
before that.  With dad you are always starting from a clean slate and as
long as you try the results are, well the results."

My parents are like that too, come to think of it.

I was impressed by John and Liz.  Never once, while we were working, did
they treat each other with anything but respect and understanding.  The
brother-sister bantering was good natured or put aside until after the
day's work was done.  From their view Robin and the Twins were just short
of perfect and Angela was perfect.  I guess I know how they feel because
Brad can do no wrong either.  I know my parents feel the same way about
Brad and Bob both.

I was hoping that we would need some images from the Missoula and Columbia
Falls areas but my catalogue filled the bill.  Liz sure liked my Hummer she
wanted to drive it at every opportunity.  John, let me take the 185
controls when I was not taking pictures out of the open window, that is.
Plato had lots of Derek stories from graduate school days to keep us
entertained, we wondered if Derek had Plato stories to tell, I'll bet he
does.  Over all the 10 days went all to fast.

Things don't just happen in some kind of smooth planed sequence.  within
hours of each other I got calls from three clothing manufactures for Brad's
and my services, ASAP.  Two were repeat customers from Chicago one was a
new client that Gary had shown our samples too.  I just hoped none wanted
exclusives but only the new client wanted me to model.  They All wanted us
at about the same time and in three different places, New York, Chicago and
San Diego.  .............

"But, Mrs. Bidis we not only like Brad's and Apollo's work but we feel that
some continuity in models and photographers will be an important element in
our current and future campaigns.  This would mean a lot of future work for
them.  We are prepared to double our previous fee."

"Yes, Ms. Sanderson I appreciate that but we just can not react on such
short notice.  Apollo has other commitments and Brad must complete his
exams.  Since they will both be in Chicago on other business in two weeks
why can't it wait until then?"

"This campaign must be launched in the next two weeks it is critical from a
competitive point of view."

"Then let me make a suggestion Ms. Sanderson, why not fed-x your materials
here and we can set up a digital link to your Chicago office.  You can have
all the artistic input you need and Apollo can give you digital proofs over
the internet and have the color separations you require, delivered within
24 hrs.  Not only will that meet your time but it will save you money too.
Now if you want to take that saving and enhance their fees I'm sure my boys
would be most appreciative."

"That is highly creative and I guess it is worth talking about, have you
ever done this before, I haven't?"

"Well no not a model shoot but we have done this kind of video conference
and data transfer before for wildlife.  In fact, we regularly send digital
proofs followed up with hard media.  That is exactly how the Apollo's
Golden Eagle series was created.  He controlled the creative process from
the field.  Give me the name and phone number of your technical people and
Chuck will arrange it with them."

.............

"Three jobs in 4 days."

"Yes the hard part will be flying to San Diego in the morning for a
location shoot and returning the next afternoon."

"Three jobs in 4 days, who would a thought.  Can we do it Apollo?"

"Why not, just another challenge and this one does not even require us to
climb any mountains.  We will do it Brad.  We need the money.  If we have a
good plan, I think it will work out."  I sure hoped it would anyway.

Mother got the Chicago and New York groups to go along but the San Diego
company wanted a location shoot on the beaches near by.  All three
companies were rushing out additional summer stuff.  Shorts, tops and swim
ware.  These were limited additions to their current lines.  The Chicago
and New Your people were national the San Diego client is southwest only,
so recognizable locations are important to them.  It makes a kind of sense
when you think about it.

Chuck arranged the video conference type arraignments and we downloaded
directly, to their computers digital proofs using their ftp server.  The
Chicago people wanted color slides so I drove up to Vancouver, BC for rush
processing and after inspecting the results sent them off by Fed-X.  By
using a light blue seamless background in the studio they would be able to
sub in any background the art director wanted.  Brad performed naturally as
the art director told him to stand this way or that look sad, happy, to the
left or right.  I used my medium format and Bob shot over my shoulder using
the digital 35.

Bob had just returned from University.  Was I glad of that.  Both he and
Veronica were now Graduates but since they had hitched their wagons to my
star at least for the summer it would take a while for that to sink in.
Bob did not want to attend his ceremony and Veronica's parents could not
get away from their seasonal business to attend hers.

For the location shoot we went strictly digital using my Hasselblad and our
laptops to edit on the spot.  By the time we boarded the commercial back to
Bellingham we had one very satisfied customer.  I owed one to Gary for the
introduction.  I kind of liked performing for the camera.  This was a new
experience for me.  It was a thrill to know millions of people would be
looking at my body and my, I am told, handsome face, not just my art.  It
was a bit of a thrill to be on the editing side too.  Looking at the images
of Brad, myself and the other models and selecting the best poses and
expressions.  Bob was so good in his role as photo assistant.  He seemed to
know just how to get our attention and give us those subtle instructions
capturing exactly what the art director wanted to see.  For the shots I was
in Bob would stand in while I set up, we would change places and Bob would
make it happen.

Brad was also outstanding being Brad.  He made sure the art director saw
some of the Jonas and Shelley pictures.  Not the ones from the book but
some of the shots that were more appropriate to child's clothing or
advertising modeling.

"They are part of our extended family, and Aphrodite handled their
assignments like she does mine."  The art director noted this client did
not make children's clothing but she did have other clients that could use
child models.  "We will e-mail you a small portfolio of them."

He made sure that was done and I noticed that Linda and Veronica were
included in some of the pictures too.  I don't quite know how he managed to
study, have sex with Bob and I, and write those exams, get top marks and
keep up with everything else in his life but the boy did.

All I know is every time I saw a new shot of Jonas my penis twitched and my
heart felt empty.  I had never considered how wonderful it would make me
feel to know there was a boy, my boy who's presence or absence would be a
meaningful or as powerful in my life as my adult male and female lovers.

Somehow I too found the time I needed to take care of those interpersonal
things one needs to do.  I prepared a pair of large black and white prints
as wedding presents for Robin and Angela, which mom and dad would take with
them.  I also made up large portraits of Bob and Veronica as graduation
gifts for them.  In truth more for their parents as either one had
apartments of their own to hang them in.  I was going almost 24/7 in the
run up to the book launch in Spokane.

June 1 was fast approaching and I was feeling uneasy about the whole thing.
Kind of like stage fright, I think.  I wanted to be with Jonas and Shelley
again.  I sure wanted to be with Veronica again.  I figured I must be in
love.  This was not like any feeling I had experienced before.  I sure knew
what sexual desire was and I had that for her, no question.  I knew what it
was like to miss your object of desire and I sure had that too.  This time
I felt some kind of emptiness deep inside my gut a loneliness in the crowd.
What was most disturbing about it I was not alone.  I was with people who
loved and respected me, people I loved and respected, but something was
still missing.  Bard and Bob were both sleeping with me at every
opportunity.  We fucked and sucked, fondled and kissed at every possible
moment; and my love for them was as strong animated as ever, still
something was missing.  Her touch, her kiss, her head on my shoulder, yes
but more.  I missed her presence.

I missed Jonas too.  I missed my boy.  I longed to hold him and receive his
little boy kisses.  I longed to fondle his little boyhood.  I longed to see
his reaction, his dry orgasms as my fingers worked on his prostrate, my
mouth on his penis.  Most of all I missed his joy at being in our presence,
at being one of the boys.  I know Brad and Bob missed that too.