Chapter 6: First Session – January and February

The next two weeks seemed to just fly by. At my conference with Topham and Willis, they approved my suggestions for the different months and Willis was intrigued with my suggestion about having more than one model per calendar page. My idea would involve several of the women in different scenes that might reflect on what was going on that month, set in little vignettes around the outside of the page with the focus on the model-of-the-month. They even liked the idea of a caption on each month. As Topham put it: “The old pin-up calendars had them, ours should, too!”

I also broached the idea that maybe a set fee, rather than a per-hour fee, might be more affordable. I had done some figuring, and I thought a fee of $1,000 or $1,200 might be reasonable, especially if we did all of the photographs in one night. Topham said he’d think it over and get back with me later in the day. He eventually approved the higher amount.

Once I had his approval, I emailed each model with what our thoughts were on the calendar and asked each if they could provide some of the clothing or costuming required for their particular month. I also told them that they would all be involved in the January photo, so they should all bring a club-party dress, the more outrageous, the better. I informed them of the new fee and asked that they all acknowledge the information I had given them by return email. By Tuesday morning, every model had responded positively, and a few even gave suggestions.

I also stopped in to see Diamond and recruit her help with makeup and hair. She had already been informed by Jordan that she (Jordan) would be a part of this extravaganza. Diamond said she would do whatever she could to help out. She said she was kind of excited and wanted to see what something like that would entail. She arranged that she and two more of her people would be there to help out. We negotiated a fee, and it was well within the ballpark Topham had authorized.

I continued my regular schedule, including photographing a wedding on the Saturday before the big photo session. It was pretty run-of-the-mill, and certainly not as involved as the Tralmark-Harper wedding earlier in the month. In fact, I don’t think anything will ever top that one!

I even managed an appointment with my lawyer. Once he saw the documents Lou had uncovered in my files, he about had apoplexy. He had handled my side of my divorce from my former wife, Cindy. Lou had discovered, in my files, that she had a tubal ligation done so that she could not have children. She, of course, had done this without my knowledge. She tried to blame not having children on my supposed infertility.

The lawyer said he knew of a civil judge who did not take kindly to lies and deception in divorces and he would probably be all over Cindy and her deceit. He predicted that she would owe almost all of the money I had paid her over the years as a penalty, as well as his fees and court costs. It might not happen right away, but he said, and I quote, “The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.” I’m not sure what he was quoting, but I took heart from his positivity.

The one sour note in the entire two weeks was that I didn’t get to see Lou. We spoke each evening, telling each other about our days, but the fact was that she was a few hours away working for Mr. Tralmark, trying to nail his stupid embezzler. I missed her tremendously, and even when she was home, I wasn’t (remember the wedding!). I had to consciously work on not being in a bad mood, especially as the second week ground on. I know it seems contradictory that first I say the two weeks flew by and the second week was a grind, but human perceptions of time are like that: two contradictory things can be true at the same time!

Finally, October 7^th arrived and I closed the studio at noon. I went home and made sure everything was all right with Jenny watching Jake. She’d be there, she said, and we spoke a little about what she expected to happen when her parents left for their extended holiday in January. Just as Jenny was about to go back home, Lou called. As soon as I knew who it was, Jenny demanded that she be allowed to talk to Lou. I shrugged and handed her the phone and Jenny walked off into another room for her conversation with Lou. About five minutes later, Jenny returned and handed me the phone with a distinctly miffed look: “Lou says she needs to talk to you right now! Make sure she calls me tomorrow!” she said as she stomped out of my house.

“Hmmm,” I said to Lou. “Looks like some of the hero-worship is fading”

“Maybe,” Lou said. “And, maybe she likes to monopolize you. I think there’s a little jealousy on her part.”

“Really?” I asked. “Well, you may be right. She sure was acting the way I’ve seen other women act when they feel another woman has stepped on their rights. Something to think about, I guess. Are you home yet?”

“Yes, and I think I need your help getting things ready. Can you come over in about an hour and get me?”

“Sure, no problem” I said. “I need to go back to the studio and finish things up there, but I can pick you up, say 3 o’clock?”

“That would be perfect,” she replied, and so we made it a date. I just hoped she didn’t have a lot of stuff to cart over to the studio!

I went back to the studio and got some of the last-minute things done. I made sure that the lights were set for the first couple of groups of photographs. I also made sure that libations and finger foods were in the refrigerator, and that glasses, paper plates and plastic flatware were set out, enough for everyone who’d be there. I had a space in the corner of the studio where I set up a couple of tables for food and drink. Thankfully, my studio space was quite large, with a number of scenes already set up around the outside edges. There were also separate rooms for some scenes (like the bedroom for the boudoir photography I did sometimes) and I had lighting setups ready to turn on when we went to them. I tried to make it all very efficient, and so I thought that even though I’d be photographing a dozen women that night, it shouldn’t take more than about eight to ten hours, at most.

I figured I wouldn’t be able to really start photography for about an hour or two after our start time due to makeup and hair. After that, with my sets all ready to go, about six to eight hours of actual photography would be needed. I just hoped that everyone could keep up their energy for the duration. I worried particularly about Faith, the pregnant model: would she be able to hold up? And, if she didn’t, would I lose her two friends? Questions to worry about, surely.

I showed up at Lou’s about 2:30 and found she wasn’t quite ready. In fact, she was running around nude trying to put things in a suitcase and a garment bag. After I let myself in, I watched her for a minute or two as she whizzed by me a couple of times. She hadn’t even given me a kiss yet!

I grabbed her on one of her passes and held her to me. “Slow down,” I said. “You’re either going to have a heart attack or give me one watching you!” She squirmed, but I wouldn’t let her go. Finally, she kind of collapsed against me with a sigh.

“Oh, Jonny,” she said. “I don’t have anything for that party shot you were telling me about!”

“Hmm,” I said. “What about that little black number you wore to the New Year’s Eve party last year?”

She pushed away from me and I let her go. She reached up and gave me a nice kiss, then stepped back, and with a little turn, she raised her left hand towards her chin and declared, “That’s a good idea. I can add some little accessories and it will be just right!” She ran and got the dress, a handful of chains and other things and put them in the garment bag. “Ready to go!” she said and started for the door.

“Uh,” I stammered, “don’t you think you might want to put on some clothes to go outside?”

She looked down at herself. “You might be right, Jonny. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for someone having a stroke!” She laughed and turned toward her bedroom with me following closely behind her. In fact, I was so close I almost knocked her over when she stopped and turned.

“Forgot something,” she said, and darted into the bathroom. When she came back out, I couldn’t see what she had and she went into the living room and put her little treasure away. When she came back, I was sitting on the bed waiting for her.

“Why aren’t you getting the bags in the car?” she asked, a little grouchily, I thought.

“I haven’t even had a hug,” I shot back. “You’ve been gone two weeks, and I haven’t even gotten a hug!”

She stepped up to me, pushing my legs apart. “I’m sorry,” she said and wrapped her arms around me. She reached down and gave me a kiss as I put my hands on her hips. “That better?”

“A little,” I said and I pulled her in a little tighter. Her breasts were even with my mouth, so I kissed one nipple and then the other. I moved back to the first one and I sucked it in, nipping it and laving it with my tongue.

“Oooh,” she sighed. “Do we have time for this?”

“A quicky,” I said and rolled her onto her back. I kissed her breasts some more, knowing that if I started there, it wouldn’t take much to make Lou wet enough to take me. That proved to be the point, as I rubbed her pussy, tweaking her pearl of a clit. She moaned and held my head to her tits, moving my head from one nipple to the other. For my part, I was working my belt loose and unbuttoning my pants. I had to have two hands to undo the zipper, and when I did, my pants fell to my feet.

I pushed her further up the bed and knee walked up to her spread legs. “Hurry, Jonny! I’ve missed you so much,” she said. I didn’t waste any time and put myself into her in short little stabs until I was completely seated in her. I gave her some rolls of my hips that I knew would rub her clit and shortly she was chanting for me to pound her.

I reared back and almost pulled myself out of her, then plunged right back to the limits of our bodies. I couldn’t get any deeper and I rolled my hips again. I leaned in close to her ear and said, “Do you want a baby, little girl? Do you want me to make your tummy swell up until you look like Faith?”

She groaned and locked her heels around my legs. She then started bucking against me insistently. “Yes,” she hissed, “yes, you bastard, I want a baby! Give me so much jizz that I swell up with twins! Fuck me. Fuck me, you, you, you...” she trailed off and started to whine and then the pitch changed and I knew that she was getting ready to climax, so I let myself go and just pounded into her, my discharge climbing up my cock and suddenly spraying all over her womb. No one would ever say we weren’t trying to make a baby!

We lay there, me sprawled on top of her for a couple of minutes. I felt a tapping on my shoulder, so I got up on my elbows. Lou drew in a huge breath. “You bastard,” she said. “I was suffocating there! Now, look at me,” she continued. “I need another shower!”

“I’ll join you!”

“Oh, no you won’t!” she said as she shoved me off. “We get in there together and we’ll forget all about that big session you have planned for tonight!”

“What session?” I asked as innocently as I could.

“Oh, you, you, you you you!” She huffed her way into the bathroom. As she was showering, I took the liberty of going into the bathroom and getting a washcloth to clean myself up with. I didn’t think it would be a good thing for the other models to smell sex on me in the studio.

Lou got out of the shower. I refrained from any more hanky-panky let her dress in peace. I asked her if she needed anything more, and when she said ‘no’, I went and put her stuff in the car. About 3:45, she was ready and we went to the studio.

Naomi, my assistant, was there unlocking the door when we arrived. She and Lou exchanged greetings and we all went in. Naomi and I had discussed what we might expect and she knew that she wouldn’t be getting home until late, so she had shipped her children off to the grandparents for the overnight. Her husband, when he found out he would have the house to himself, had organized a little poker night. Naomi wasn’t happy about that because he and his friends would leave the house a mess, but an extra night’s wages offset that concern. She was a good kid. I just wish her husband would be a little more helpful around the house, but it was what it was.

Shortly after we got there, Diamond and Michelle, one of her assistants arrived, followed closely by her other assistant. They asked where they could set up, and I showed them a room just off the main studio where as many as four people could change and do makeup. They loved the set up and started unpacking their paraphernalia. Soon, they were set up and asked Lou to come in so they could work on her.

Lou really didn’t want that, but I explained that the lights would often be brighter than her normal makeup, so she needed something that wouldn’t wash her out. She accepted that and let Diamond work on her. I left them gabbing about what was happening in their lives.

As I reached the reception area, Naomi was greeting more of our models. She showed them where to put their gear and told them to head into the makeup area where Diamond would enhance their already beautiful faces. The women, Zila and Tori, went right in, but Jordan hung back for a moment.

“Can I talk to you, Jonny?” she asked. I nodded and we stepped into the main studio.

“I’m not sure I can do this, Jonny,” she said with a tremble in her voice.

“Why not? You were so eager the other night,” I said.

“I know, but I look at these other women and I just know I won’t be as pretty as they are. They’ve all got such figures and I’m just a stick!” she wailed.

“Enough of that!” I growled. “There were other women we could have chosen, you know. But I chose you because I wanted you in the pictures. I don’t want to hear any more about how ugly and flat and unwomanly you are, because you’re not! I chose you because you’re beautiful and lively and you have just the right attitude, usually, for what I want in my leprechaun!”

Just then, Lou came in and said, “Jordan, you don’t have anything to be ashamed of. Jonny’s right! I know what he wants in his March pictures and you have the right look and attitude. So, how about it? Will you help us out tonight? It’s a little late to get someone else, you know.”

Jordan was almost crying. “I don’t know what you see in me, but OK. I’ll do it. Where do I go?”

Lou took her by the elbow and steered her towards where the other women were starting to make some noise. I mean, you get more than two women together, and the noise levels just go up and up and up! Lou looked over her shoulder at me and I got the feeling I’d get the full story later.

I had a nice sound system in the studio and I tuned it to a local “oldies” station. That would give the place some atmosphere, maybe, and give the women something to dance to when we started. After all, the first part was supposed to be a party, right?

The hubbub in the makeup room was quite something. I barely noticed when Jane and Jim Willis arrived. I jumped when Willis tapped me on the shoulder, leaned in and said, “We’re here. What should we do?” I directed his wife over to the crowd in the makeup room, and then took Willis into the camera room where things were distinctly quieter.

“Just relax,” I said. “It’s going to be a little while before we’re ready to begin, I think.” I gave him his choice of a beer or a glass of wine and gave him the beer he’d indicated. I told him, again, to just relax and be patient. I went back out to the reception area.

Just then, Topham and Ginger came in. Topham, since the dinner, had seemed to have mellowed out a bit. I wondered to myself if Ginger hadn’t yanked his chain to get him to chill out. Whatever; it made him a nicer person, and I was gradually warming up to him. I directed Ginger to the makeup room and then steered Topham to the camera room and did for him that I had done for Willis. The two of them were soon talking and speculating as to what the night might bring.

Once again, I stepped into the reception room to find Naomi directing Faith, Naomi, and Ruth back to the makeup room. Faith seemed even bigger than she had before, but she was bright-eyed and keeping up a stream of conversation with the other ladies. I just hoped I would not tire her out too much this evening.

I followed them back to the makeup room where, by a head count, I saw that all of the women had arrived and were awaiting their turn at being made even more beautiful. I had explained to Diamond to not do too much with the makeup at first, as I wanted them all looking natural for these first pictures. All I wanted was for the makeup to be just a little bolder so that the bright lights would not wash the ladies faces out.

Most of the women already had their party dresses on and those that didn’t weren’t being shy about getting them on! A couple of ladies were just in underwear without bras, slipping their dresses over their heads. It was a good thing that Lou had drained me earlier or I might have embarrassed myself. As it was, an adjustment of my cock was necessary for me to talk to the ladies.

Once I had their attention, it was amazing how quiet it got. “Hi,” I said, “I’m your photographer tonight and my name is Jon, or you can call me Jonny if you like.” I got a couple sniggers from Diamond and Gina, and a bright smile from Jordan and Lou. “This is going to be a very unusual session tonight and we may be here quite a while. Most of you do not live too far away, but if you feel like you shouldn’t drive home, let my assistant, Naomi, know and we’ll make some arrangements for you.

“I know some of you know each other, but I think some introductions would be nice. For example, the beautiful black woman directing your makeup is Diamond, the owner of the spa down the street. I’m sure you’ve heard of it and may even recognize her assistants from the pictures that advertised the spa. Her assistants are Portia,” (Portia raised her hand) “and Michelle.” (Michelle gave a little wave).

“Naomi, here, is my assistant and she’ll be moving around getting lights where I want them, etc. There are also two men who will be in some of the pictures: Jim Willis, whose wife, Jane, is our October Witch. Jim is also the art director for this project. The other gentleman is Alex Topham, who will be our Santa with our December model, Ginger. He is also the owner of the distribution company sponsoring the calendar.”

I paused and the women all looked at each other. “I think I’ll let each of you introduce yourselves and tell us in which month you’ll be featured. Why don’t you go first, Jamie?”

Jamie raised her hand. “I’m Jamie, and I’ll be Miss January.”

Miyuki raised her hand next: “I’m Miyuki, and I’ll be the Valentine’s Day girl,” she said.

Jordan stepped up: “I’m Jordan, and I’m the March Leprechaun,” she said, sounding like she’d defy anyone who dared to say she didn’t belong there!

Interesting; they were putting themselves in the order in which they’d appear. That meant that Naomi, the woman with the black, curly hair was next and she said, “Hi, I’m Naomi and I’m the April showers girl!” She giggled as she said it.

Ruth raised her hand. “My name is Ruth,” she said. “I’m the May graduate.”

Faith stepped up. “I’m Faith. I think I’m the June bride model. I just hope my water doesn’t break!” All of the women laughed nervously. “I don’t think it will happen, but I’m just so excited and it won’t be long until I do have the baby.” More nervous laughter followed.

Zila, the African-American, spoke up next. “I’m Zila, and I’m here for the 4^th of July! Believe me, you’ll all see fireworks when I pose!”

Lou stepped up and said, “We’ll see about those fireworks! I’m Lou, and I’ll be August with camping and cookouts.”

“I’m Gina, and I’m going to be the September model, for back-to-school and cheerleading!” exclaimed Gina. She was either very excited or very nervous, I couldn’t tell which.

Jane was next, and she was very diffident when she spoke. “I’m Jane,” she said, “and I’ll be doing a witch for Halloween, if Jonny says so.” She was looking at her feet, not at all like the woman we’d seen in the interviews. The dichotomy in her personas was striking.

“I’m Tori,” said the next woman. She had long, black hair and she added, “I’m part Cherokee and I’ll be doing November with, of course, a Thanksgiving theme. A little cliché, I think.” She stepped back a little, almost glaring at me. I’d address her concerns when it was her turn to be photographed.

The final woman stood up from the makeup table. “I’m Ginger, and I’ll be doing the December. I’m going to sit on Santa’s lap!” She giggled and the rest of the women laughed with her.

“OK,” I said to the crowd, “That’s everybody, and you all get an idea of what we’re going to be doing. We’ll have drinks and some food out for everybody to snack on as we go through the evening, so be sure to help yourselves. I don’t want anyone getting faint for lack of food or drink, but I will ask you not to get drunk. A little bit will help you all relax, but getting drunk will make for lousy photography.

Also, as we go along, we will probably be doing each month in sequence. Once you’re done with your month, feel free to leave, but you are also welcome to stick around and watch. We may use in more than one photospread. For example, I needed you all in your party dresses so that we can photograph a party scene for the January calendar page. We have some other clothing for use in different pictures for different months. But, as I said, you’re free to go once your primary month is done. Any questions?”

Either I explained things really well, or else they were so confused that they didn’t have anything they could ask. All that really mattered was that those who were not yet dressed for a party started changing right then and there. Oh, this was going to be fun!

The clothing they were wearing was, as I suggested, outrageous! The skirts were more like really wide belts than skirts and tops were just as skimpy. There certainly was a lot of skin on display, and I would have been surprised if any of the women were wearing bras.

Once all of them were in the camera room, I had my assistant, Naomi, hand out champagne flutes to everyone and we put a little watered-down white wine in the glasses. I didn’t want them drunk, and more serious libations were for later; right now, I just wanted something for the pictures. I had decided earlier that we would not try to pose them all together, as that would take up too much room. Instead, I had them gather in groups of two, three or four, just like they would if they were at a club.

A few years before all of this, I had purchased a small mirror ball for a prom I was photographing. It was on a small stand that was set on a piece of plywood. The mirror ball had a motor that rotated it and there were some colored lights aimed at the mirror ball as it rotated. It photographed well in low light, which is what I was going to use. I just upped the ISO on the camera so that it would photograph properly. I didn’t necessarily want a lot of detail because these photos would just be background to the main picture.

When the ladies came out, we three guys were flabbergasted. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a dance club. Strip club, yes, but not a dance club. And the outfits the ladies were wearing certainly rivaled anything you’d seen in a strip club. Luckily, Willis and Topham were smart enough to just sit and watch.