Seven degrees of separation w/ Playboy cover model, Gia Genevieve!

If you’ve been following me this week, you’ve surely read the extensive shit buffet the universe has been gracing me with as of late. I don’t want to drudge up previous ranting because it’s all there, on the blockchain. Fortunately, today turned around I’m finally feeling some balance in my life. I made it back to Adezzo coffee shop in Scranton and worked straight through a five hour block. I was able to catch up on photography projects and clients waiting for their edits which always unloads a tremendous amount of stress. I wrapped up the evening meeting my long, long time friend @zachferguson at the same shitty coffee shop we’ve been hanging out at for 15 years […that’s right, he’s on Steemit! Just waiting to get his introduction post made this weekend]!

I’ve been facing big career milestones this year. I’ve mentioned the upcoming book project with Working Class Publishing. Shooting with Holly Madison this past Spring was a big deal. It’s had me reflecting on earlier milestones that were the catalyst for reaching the next level of my career. One of the most significant of those milestones has been shooting with Playboy cover model, Gia Genevieve.

Gia and I were suppose to shoot together years earlier, actually. A mutual friend asked me if I’d be willing to include her on a shoot during my first trip to Los Angeles. I had no idea who she was but trusted the model and said “Of course!”. Gia ended up getting a last minute booking for work in NYC, and we missed one another by less than 48 hours. A year later, I’d become familiar with how exceptional of a model she really was and lamented the missed opportunity to photograph her.

That changed when we finally connected over Instagram and discussed the possibility of our first shoot while I was traveling through NYC. We set a date at the end of 2014 and it finally happened. Our first images were taken at her home in Brooklyn, NY. We shot in the backyard lot and in her room which was decorated in pink, lit only with small end table lamps and a slow shutter. We stayed in touch. I went back to Minneapolis and she continued killing it in the New York fashion scene.

Following that shoot, I’d begun planning a brutal travel schedule for my annual Viva Las Vegas trip, though this time, I’d be making my rounds through 10 days of east coast dates before heading to Vegas and then finally, LA. Gia and I talked about shooting again and set a date. The timing turned out that our shoot was just weeks before her cover with Playboy shot by legendary fashion photographer […and my personal favorite photographer], Ellen Von Unwerth. It was something I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around. It causes me to think of that philosophy, “Seven Degrees Of Separation”, and to think that with Gia’s laundry list of accomplishments, including music videos with Lenny Kravitz, ad campaigns for GUESS and Dita Von Tesse and Playboy with Ellen Von Unwerth, that I was somehow considered at a level worth Gia’s time to collaborate together.

*Photo credit Ellen Von Unwerth for Playboy magazine

I’m don’t say that to be disparaging, but this was on a different level. I grew up admiring Ellen’s work and she’s a huge reason I got in to photography in the first place. I adore the photos I’ve taken with Gia and I’m grateful for the opportunity to know her, but even beyond that, I realize that milestone was something I needed personally. I needed to gain the confidence to believe I was on that level. That the best in the world could see my work and take it seriously.

Thanks for reading and for allowing me to share this insight. I post daily so for more photography, art, illustration and thoughts, follow me @kommienezuspadt!