Return of the Queen, pt. 4

Here’s the link to the images:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12a5wq50YtTmDCqaveovLkWibbe6wLOeZ
 

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RETURN OF THE QUEEN

In 2015 I arranged to meet up with a model on a Saturday morning in the older part of Hollywood. She was one of the first really special beauties I had discovered purely through Instagram and had already fallen in love with her image, but I didn’t know what to expect in person.

Of course, I was half an hour early, and she was over half an hour late, so our meeting didn’t get off to a great start with my waiting out in my small pick-up truck for over an hour waiting for her to arrive home, even though it was only 10am. As it turned out, she’d spent the night at her on-again-off-again boyfriend’s house and had a difficult time getting out of bed.

When she finally arrived, she snuck upstairs to freshen up slightly before calling me in, and when I finally saw her I was dumbstruck. Her photos had shown her to be a stunning, magazine beauty that you assume is a trick of the camera or the work of a talented make-up artist. But standing there, exhausted and fresh-faced, barefoot and unassuming, her red hair a mess, she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. This was McKenzie Eckels. She was polite and professional, and the more sarcastic and dorky I acted, the more she let her guard down. Things went well that morning, and we became fast friends.

Fast forward to a year later when I had arranged for a pool to become available at a home near LAX, belonging to a woman I had only met once at a party. I picked up McKenzie, now living at that same boyfriend’s house near Van Nuys, and we headed south on the 405. She was as radiant as ever, and this time was a brunette. Never fully happy with her appearance, she constantly is changing her hair style, and I’ve learned to just accept it.

The owner of the home, whose name I can no longer remember, had originally said I could come and go as I pleased, to do whatever I wanted. But as soon as we arrived she suddenly had restrictions about how long I could shoot, where we could and couldn’t go, where we could park, not having any of the many gates she had as a maze in her backyard open, and more. It was frustrating to say the least, but I had to maintain my composure and be professional to keep the model relaxed and happy. Thankfully, the home owner did provide some alcohol, as promised, and McKenzie, never one to turn down a drink, appreciated the gesture. 

The water was frigid, but since the day was already heating up, we didn’t mind too much getting in. At first we tried a few above water, which McKenzie posing in various bikinis she had brought. We wanted to get as many shots in as possible before she got her hair wet, but finally, knowing we under a time crunch, we couldn’t put it off any longer and she took the plunge. I had brought my underwater rubber bag to put my camera in and we captured a few decent shots under the water, but eventually the best images were above the waves. With the direct sun unrelenting and bright, her pale skin was radiant. I couldn’t help myself, I just clicked away almost non-stop.

Since McKenzie is a talented actress, she easily personified her vampy, femme fatale character and milked it for all it was worth, laughing and being dorky in-between takes of being “sexy and serious.”

Though we had only be allotted an hour and a half, we ended up pushing it to beyond two hours, having needed to take breaks for McKenzie to pee, drink more, and get warm above the water from time to time. The home owner was pissed at me, refusing to leave us alone in the back yard instead of running the errands she desperately said she needed to get done, but I shrugged it off. As long as we had achieved the images we wanted, I don’t care if someone hates me.

Wrapped in a towel and wet clothes, McKenzie decided not to change in order for us to leave the house faster, and as a thank you for all her hard work I stopped at a local In–N-Out to get her some well-earned lunch. She happily munched away while we fought the traffic on the freeway back to her house, and thankfully she let me steal a French fry now and again.

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 Have you missed McKenzie?? Would you like me to revisit other past shoots of her? Please let me know! You can always send me your feedback, positive or negative! And thank you as always for your continued support, it means the world to me!
 

Here’s that link again:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12a5wq50YtTmDCqaveovLkWibbe6wLOeZ