Chapter 64

As Andrew walked up the hill from the station a lot of things played through his mind. He had no idea which, if any of them, was the most important. He was edging towards a very adult situation while still not yet being 16 years old. Now he knew the shoot itself was not going to be an issue but he would be there with three male photographers and Maggie, or rather Monica the model. She had asked Andrew to make sure and call her Monica while they were there, as if she was two separate people. When Andrew had been around older people, especially in a situation new to him, he would say nothing and observe. In a lot of ways that would be the best way to watch this shoot. Have the equivalent of the two-way mirrors seen in TV shows and movies, and just stand and watch. How to behave, what to say, and just as importantly what not to say. Even stupid things like a group of photographers all moving around a small space trying to shoot one person in the middle. How do you deal with another bloke jostling you? What was the etiquette of such a shoot. And this was without Monica taking her clothes off.

Oddly, Andrew was much less concerned about that. The last 15 months had given him experience of a woman’s body, up close and personal. Yes Monica was considerably more developed than any of the three women he had been with, she didn’t have an hourglass figure so much as a two-hourglass figure. And then there was the solid friendship between Maggie, the person behind the Monica persona, and himself. So for 99 teenage boys out of 100 they would be sprinting up the hill to get to Tony’s shop, desperate to see Monica, to photograph her. Andrew was looking forward to the shoot but different parts were just as important to him. He was a competent photographer but with very limited experience of photographing people. So part of his brain was going to be thinking ‘good lord that is a hell of an arse, and it looks great in those jeans’ while at the same time another part was going to be focused on the technical act of the shot, particularly around lighting, emphasising different parts of Monica, playing with depth of field. The scientist in him was excited at the chance to experiment, it was one of the big reasons he liked the hobby so much.

All these thoughts occupied his mind for the 15 minutes from the station to Tony’s shop. It was barely 4.00 so Andrew was early but there was nothing he could do about that. He was looking forward to dumping his bag, heavy with the clothes from the two days in Glasgow as well as all his camera gear.

“Hey, someone’s keen.”

“Just got off the train from Glasgow, too late to go home and dump my bag so here I am. How’s things?”

“Business is good. Stacey’s youngest is getting older so she can work a few more hours for me. It lets me spend more time in the darkroom developing and printing. All the guys that I do that for buy their film and any additional supplies from me. The studio is being used more often, things are going really well. So are you excited about this evening?”

“Sure, of course I am. But this will be my first time in a studio, never mind in a studio with a model. So I am going to stand and observe for at least the first few minutes.”

Andrew talked about his concerns about just acting normally, not saying or doing something wrong.

“That is probably a good idea. But Malc and Gus are good blokes to learn from. I know it is a terrible pun but they are very focused when they are in the studio. Some of the other blokes will goof around. These two are talented photographers, and could probably get some of their work published if they tried to, but they are skinflints as well. So they like to get their money’s worth when working with a model. So they are two good guys to mimic in that sense. The other thing they are very good at is being incredibly matter of fact with the models when they are talking about their bodies.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well tonight is clothed but don’t be surprised to hear them say things ‘put your hands on your arse’ or ‘pull your shoulders back so that your tits really pop’, stuff like that. They want to get good shots, sometimes pretty racy shots, and they are clear in their instructions to the models. But they also have lots of experience with the models. They wouldn’t treat a new model like that, at least at the start. For someone with a lot of experience like Monica they will be more blunt. And Monica is a model who will go so far but no further. One or two of the other models we use occasionally are prepared to be much more explicit, lying on their backs, legs spread wide.”

Andrew’s face was a picture at this revelation.

“Exactly, you can see where you have to work with the model to get to know her personality. I will chat to you some more about this stuff in the run up to your birthday. But the key one before any shoot is for you and the model to be on the same page as to what the limit of the shoot is. Like tonight is clothed, but then it could be swimwear or lingerie, what they call implied nude where it is clear the model is naked but nothing is showing, and from their it goes on through topless, naked, and then the more explicit stuff. When you book a model, if you keep doing this, all of that has to be discussed.”

Tony had just thrown a lot more information at Andrew. He needed to forget about some of this for the evening and work on just focusing the camera. The way things were going he was going to forget to load the film if he wasn’t careful.

“Like I said let’s worry about that later. You actually seem surprisingly calm. We have had a couple of younger blokes join the group but normally they are either too aggressive or like a fucking Labrador on candy floss. You seem calmer.”

“I think I have to try and be low key about this. Not pretend to be cool but just recognise it is a shoot in a studio with a model who will remain clothed. Sure it is Monica and she has been teasing me for years about my birthday in June. But I need to push that into the background and as you say just try and stay calm and learn. She is not a stripper where I can just stand here or sit here and watch her take off her clothes. I am here to photograph her, so I want to learn. I am sure she will give me a hard time all night and I will blush like a fool, but I also want to practice techniques, play around with lighting, all that stuff. That is the odd thing about tonight. It would probably have been better to have found an older model and just wasted a bunch of rolls of film while I figure out the dos and don’ts of being in studio. Seen some washed out shots, too much light, not enough, badly composed. You know all the usual things that you have to worry about. That it is Monica is an extra distraction.”

“Too smart for your own good sometimes kid. Fuck listen to me calling you kid. You are taller and heavier than me. We should talk during the spring and you should book the studio and do exactly that. When I think about it, Monica is more excited about June than you seem to be.”

Andrew had already had that thought, and more than once.

“Remember when she came barging into the shop saying it wasn’t right that I was developing the film?”

Tony laughed.

“She was ready to call the Bill I think. You showed her what the negative looked like and she got all sheepish. One of the few times she didn’t have a lot to say. But ever since then.”

Tony paused.

“I don’t know how close her family member was that had cancer, but it must have been close family. When she found out you were battling skin cancer she was really upset. But ever since you recovered she has been going on about June and your 16^th birthday present.”

They were saved from any more introspection by the lady herself.

“There he is. I was worried you were going to miss the train.”

“For you, never.”

“Ha, save your flattery for June. Then you talk me out of my clothes.”

The first blush of the night appeared on Andrew’s face. Monica laughed.

“There’s the first one. Won’t be the last. What time are Gus and Malc getting her.”

Tony checked his watch.

“They will be here by five.”

“Okay. Are the lights on in the studio?”

Tony nodded.

“I am off to get changed then, so that we can get started as soon as these two show up.”