Marrying The Right Girl

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Well it turns out the girl from Australia turned out to be the one for me. When she visited her family a couple of months later and then saw me before she went back to the land down under, it turns out it was love and meant to be. I had to hire someone to take the pics at our wedding a year later, since obviously I couldn’t take the pics at my own wedding.

Dating beautiful girls from all over the world was wonderful and I have so many photographs to cherish of our times together and all the wonderful places that we saw. My new bride has moved from Australia to be with me and she’s got a job now as a local scuba instructor, which my town didn’t have and it’s turned out to be a hit. We are even thinking of moving to Florida where she can really get more into the ocean and be in her own element. I truly enjoyed the underwater photography and would like to get more into that sort of work, in Florida there is more demand for it and of course I will still be doing my around the world assignments and my new bride will be coming with me and she will be the one I see the world with from now on.

It’s been a fantastic thing to get so many beautiful girls from all over. Photography has afforded me some wonder experiences I wouldn’t trade for anything. For a young man that started out taking pics of neighborhood girls, I’ve done pretty well I’d say. It’s a fantastic hobby for many and can be turned into a career if you are serious enough about it and have the creativity and vision to take it all the way. I can’t imagine being limited to dating only girls in you’re own hometown. If it wasn’t for my photography, I’d never have been down in Australia and met my future wife. It’s been a wonderful ride.

The Land Down Under

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My next photography assignment was one of my favorites ever. I was sent to Australia to do some underwater photography. I actually had to take a few scuba diving lessons beforehand since it was all going to be an underwater shoot. The Great Barrier Reef is absolutely gorgeous and there were several pretty female divers that were on the trip with me as well. Each day we’d get on the little boat and go out to the Reef and each dive in and take the most breathtaking photos you’ve ever seen.

It was such a spectacular trip and the Aussies were such warm, friendly people with such charming accents. I dated one of the other divers when I was there, we couldn’t take pics at night obviously, only during the day, so every late afternoon we’d come back to shore, go clean up and be all fresh for a nice dinner and evenings entertainment at the hotel, which was first class. I actually stayed a few weeks, I took some personal vacation time while I was there to really have a good look around the country and it was incredible. I’d only taken underwater photographs a few times before and not to the depth I was in at the Reef, so it was a learning experience and I’m very pleased with my work.

The lady diver and I saw all over the place, as she did tour guide work as well and was most pleased to escort me all over the place and show me the best of what the country had to offer. We dinned every night and did all kinds of touristy things and had a marvelous time. I’d love to go back and see her one day, she’s coming to the states in a few months to visit family in a state that is next to mine and we hope to connect again when she’s over. The lovely women I’ve dated all over the world have really opened my eyes to different cultures and customs. It’s been fascinating to experience.

Dating Around The Italian Countryside

My next photography assignment took me all the way to Italy. What a beautiful country it is, to say nothing of the food. I’ve never eaten so well as I did there. Delicious. I was taking pics of some models for a travel magazine spread around various famous landmarks all across Italy. I was there for 3 weeks and the same group of models was there for the entire shoot as well. One of them was a local model and very pretty. An olive skinned dark beauty. She was very friendly and spoke fairly good broken English.

Most nights we would share dinner together at whatever hotel we were staying at. The other models hated her, since she was one of the rare, lucky few that could eat whatever she wanted and never gain an ounce, while they were mostly making do on coffee and cigarettes and diet pop. While she was gorging with me on garlic bread and pasta and red wine and pastries. She knew the country well and on our off hours she showed me all sorts of places off the beaten path that normally tourists wouldn’t know about, and I got some excellent photos of and was even also later able to sell to the travel magazine even though they were at different places than the scheduled shoots.

I’d say we dated during the 3 week shoot, since we spent so much time together and all the day trips we took alone and saw so much of the beautiful countryside and vineyards. She said she knew of another shoot coming up she’d mention my name for to possibly come back and do the pics for it. I have no idea if it will pan out or not, but I’d like to hope it will. I’d love to see more of her, I certainly have thought of her many times since the shoot.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

One of the places that hired me to take some before and after pics of work they were having done was a local baseball stadium. Obviously it’s mostly men that work at such a place, so I didn’t even think about the possibility of meeting any ladies there, but the stadium owner’s daughter was actually the one that showed me around the place and told me what exactly needed pics. She was a lovely lady in her late 20’s. She said the renovations would take a couple of months, then to come back once I’d been contacted they were finished and take pics of all the same spots again. Simple enough.

She then said the last game of the season was the next night and would I like to be her guest in one of the VIP viewing boxes and have dinner. It was a very nice date. I hadn’t been to a game in years, and certainly never had dinner or even been in a VIP box. The view was obviously the best in the park and there was a chef that did all the dinners for the VIP clients when they hosted parties in the VIP boxes. We watched the game and talked, she told me how she’d grown up at the park practically and it was like home. After the last game when the stadium was closed for a couple of months was when the improvements were being done and then it was having a grand re opening in the spring with all the improvements and renovations. I was looking forward to seeing how it all came out.

A couple of months later she called me and it was time to go back and take the second lot of pics and we again for the first game had dinner in the VIP box and the next day I returned to do the pics. It was a nice little gig and we saw each other a few times after that. She even recommended I take the team pics of the local team and I got a few other jobs from that, so it was worthwhile doing the job and getting to know her. One of the more down to earth girls I have dated in recent years. Baseball lover and not as shallow as some of the models I’d dated.

River Cruise Date

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This one time the model I was seeing, we went out on a double date with another model and her boyfriend. It was ok, we all went out to dinner and then on little river cruise. It was mostly couples and it was actually a little gambling cruise, they had a full casino on board. We all had some fun at the tables and then drinks and dancing afterwards. Her friend the model knew one of the ships owners and had come on the cruise several times with dates and people always seemed to have fun.

It was one of the more interesting dates I’d been on. I was never a big gambler, but it was fun once in a while I’d been to Vegas before a few times and hadn’t gambled since actually, so it was fun to hit the blackjack tables again and the girls were sitting at the slot machines for a while hoping they’d get lucky. There was a nice cover band playing the ship bar as well and we all enjoyed listening to the music and dancing some. It was quite interactive, as I said before, I’m not one for a passive date like going to the movies, I enjoy ones with some sort of activity involved, it’s much more mentally stimulating I find.

The view from the ship of the lighted shoreline was spectacular and I couldn’t leave the camera at home even for the night. When the others were having their drinks I stepped out for a few minutes to get some shots and they turned out very nicely. My girlfriend later said when we got back home to her place when I was dropping her off she knew I wouldn’t be able to resist taking some pics of the night and the ship as we were out. She knew me too well. I did love my job and was always looking to get some nice pics to add to my portfolio.

Common Ground

This one model I dated, she was a local girl and I shot pics of her often for different catalogs and magazines she was hired for. We had lots of fun, she was interested in photography as well and she liked to take my picture and I helped her with how to light things, how best to do this or that. We’d often scout locations together while on dates, it was always a good opportunity to think of the next shoot and keep some place we were going to as a possible place to take pics of. She was very helpful hat way and she always said when she wasn’t young anymore and getting modeling gigs, she’s like to do stuff behind the scenes and I was happy to teach her.

I taught a photography course one winter at a community college and she acted as my assistant for it and it was fun. Maybe not the traditional stuff ones would do while dating, since it was so business related, but we both enjoyed it and we weren’t really the dinner and movie type, we preferred to do more interactive activities and going around for day trips to shoot landscapes was fun for us. I didn’t always shoot live models, I found the beauty of nature spectacular as well and sunsets and sunrises were favorites of mine I always tended to shoot even if I was on location shooting models, I always found time to shoot landscapes for my own enjoyment and have beautiful shots from all over the world I’ve done when I was there for work.

I always wanted a girlfriend that shared my love of photography and this one certainly did. We could talk about many things other girls would have been bored to tears with, like different lenses and colors and visual effects to jazz the pics up, only another one into the same stuff would want to discuss this. We even discussed opening a studio together someday. It’s always a good thing to date someone with similar interests, if you have nothing in common with someone but a physical attraction, the relationship will not have a long life.

Mixing Business With Pleasure

Dating beautiful women is always a perk to being a photographer. One of my earlier gigs I did was going on assignment with a photographer I was apprenticing under and he had a shoot in the Caribbean for a swimsuit model spread. It was for a print magazine and I got to help him and was around all these lovely girls for the wee of the shoot. There was one girl I dated and we went all over the island exploring and swimming. It was beautiful and I got to take lots of pics myself.

My portfolio is filled with models I dated on different shoots I met on location. I’ve seen many countries taking my pictures and dated women of all nationalities I met on shoots. One thing you learn when dating women from different cultures, is how differently they are wired in how they expect things. Some are very fun and flirty, others more serious. Most of the shoots I’ve been on have been short term, 1-2 weeks, so I’ve not gotten serious with any of the locals I’ve met on jobs.

Ones I’ve met closer to home however did become girlfriends and some have gotten very jealous of the other models I was taking pics of. They know you are around many times scantily clad women in bathing suits or lingerie if you’re shooting catalog or magazine work and they have thoughts going through their minds of things getting carried away after hours. On set, it’s usually all business, the girls are under hot lights, not in the best moods, hungry many times since they didn’t want to eat before a shoot and look bloated, hardly the best circumstances for a romance to develop. They are there to get the pics taken then go home, not date the photographer in most cases. Some have developed into girlfriends, but not huge numbers of them.

Dating My Models

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My photography has taken me around the world. I started as a photo journalism student some years ago and have had a passion for photography my entire life. First using an actual film camera my grandfather left me that he’d used for many years before moving over to a digital one. I used to ask girls in the neighborhood if I could take their pictures for practice and most of them were thrilled to let me do so, it was my first in with girls. Especially when I moved over to digital photography, I could just easily email them the pics I’d taken, so I had no shortage of girls willing.

I started dating some of the girls I was taking pics of, since they loved how beautiful I made them look with different lighting and techniques. It wasn’t long before I realized I should be making photography my career and contacted some local ones to apprentice under. He dated some of the models he shot as well, and we discussed how many women could fall for the man taking their pics since they made them look so beautiful, it was like the photographer saw them in a light they loved and no one else made them feel as special. It wasn’t hard to get dates being a photographer I found.

I have dated some real beauties in my time and many were very patient sitting for me as I tried different poses and shots with them. I love women, and dating my subjects only seemed natural. Some find it not wise to mix business with pleasure, but in some industries it just seems to go together and I’ve had several girlfriends and serious relationships that started out as them modeling for me. Other guys that are into the arts, like actors or singers or dancers also are never at a loss for girlfriends it seems, that creative streak is appealing to women.