Rachel Davis was a model that reached out to me on Facebook. I told her to come visit me at the Arnold Classic to get a good look at her. This was one of those rare models that come out of nowhere. After meeting her, I told her to come to the studio to shoot a quick 15 minute test to send off to Oxygen. The timing of this test was intentional – I had her come in about 30 minutes before I was scheduled to finish my Oxygen shoot that day. This way, she could meet the editor, art directors, and fitness editors. I wanted to give her a little face-time with the staff. It worked too – They loved her and countless spreads later, she’s become a staple in the fitness community. At 21, this girl is going to be famous. I recommended her to a supplement company I shoot for, and she’s now the spokesmodel for Six Star. I introduced her to Premier Fitness and shot her for their new advertising campaign. She’s now in almost every fitness magazine in North America. On the Oxygen front, I’m still pushing for to get that cover… It’s just a matter of time as I can be persistent. (Update: She finally got her Oxygen Cover) See more of Rachel here.
Kristie Taylor – I shot her very quickly for a spec project. Our images were so good, I called her back, entirely on spec and we have accomplished some spectacular things. I can’t say what magazines we’ve conquered, yes conquered, we literally took them by storm – I still don’t think they knew what hit them. Anyhow, at the time of writing this, (March 29th 2012) looks like she’ll be getting 3 covers in 2 shoots. I can’t say which magazines, but remember 
her name. (Update: Her Cover for Hot Bike Magazine as well as American Curves has come out… and for the Grande Finale the Farewell Cover for Playboy’s Lingerie Special Edition Read more here.)
I had met Emily Pantaleo on a couple of occasions and remember thinking she had a really nice look. I often think models have a really good look but sometimes, in front of a camera, some can freeze up. I was delighted when Emily booked a shoot with me as I was eager to see what we could come up with. I was pleasantly surprised by her ease between poses, her dynamic range of expressions and overall communication with the lens. I had sent some of her images off to the folks at Oxygen and they agreed – So much so, she got an Oxygen cover. I’m certain you can expect to see more of Emily around.
Anissa Holmes came to a Playboy casting call. After working with her for Playboy and loving our chemistry (Playboy SE Cover and Playboy Calendar Cover), I recommended her for American Curves (Cover and a bunch of spreads) I also took her down to the Caribbean with a few other models to shoot for a week.
I have known Rachelle Wilde for quite some time. At the onset of our friendship, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to shoot for.. A few years ago she decided she was ready for American Curves magazine and with very little persuasion on my part to the magazine, she was accepted and got at least two spreads if I remember correctly. After Curves, I shot Rachelle for Allure Lingerie – catalogue work. I had invited her to participate as a runway model in the 2010 overXXXposed show. I’ve recommended her to another commercial client I’ll refer to as AM which, as I understand, paid rather well. Last year, Rachelle came to me saying, “I want to be in Playboy” – We shot a quick test, sent it off and presto, she got approved for a shoot. As I type this, she is on the cover of Playboy’s Lingerie Special Edition and is slated for at least two more spreads. (I have my fingers crossed she’ll also end up with a Playboy Calendar cover – Time will tell). ***Update*** She got another Playboy Lingerie Cover with Ashley Perry, and also got the cover of the 100th anniversary issue of Playboy France! Three Playboy covers from ONE shoot. CRAZY!!! See more of Rachelle Wilde here.
Claudie Auclair and I have been shooting together for a few years after a chance meeting. You can read her story here.
I met Amy Lynn Grover shooting stills for the Naked News One on One feature. At the time, she had never been published and was eager to get into Playboy. I tested her the week after and she got the Playboy Lingerie Special Cover. After that I recommend her to American Curves after a model called in ‘tired’ and again, she got a cover. This time with Lisa MacKay. (To be expanded upon below). At the time, I was shooting the covers of Inside Fitness and although she was not a fitness model, I got her a cover there as well. I brought Amy with me to the Playboy offices in Chicago to meet the publisher and recommend her for another cover to coincide with a Special coming out around the time of the next Toronto Casting and bingo – She got Playboy’s Girlfriend Special cover with Elle Patille. (See Below). I had flown Amy down to the Caribbean for a week to shoot for various magazines which she got published in; UMM, MUSCLEMAG, Playboy Calendar, American Curves, Rockstar, 944 to name a few. Two days after returning we flew to Las Vegas where I hooked her and April Ireland up with some work for a weekend. I got her the Full Throttle campaign, as well as the Extreme Fitness Campaign which I think was a huge success. I know there are a lot more we shot for magazines but I can’t keep track of them all.
April Ireland was working in a bank when she contacted me for setting up a shoot. I had no idea who she was but she was paying for my time. I remember when she showed up at my door. I was amazed at her look. What’s more, I vowed I would make her back more money than she was paying me. A promise I kept within a shoot or two later. I got her into Playboy SE. I got her a cover of Inside Fitness Magazine (Sharing the cover with the man she would later marry). I flew her down to Panama for a week long shoot and the stuff we got was magical. So much so, it landed her a cover of American Curves. To this day her pictures from that trip are appearing in numerous magazines. I also got her the Full Throttle Campaign, Coquette Line and a few others. I’m sure we’ll see more of her down the road.
Lisa MacKay was a popular local model when I was starting out. I remember the day she emailed me telling me she was interested in working with me. When I responded, she quoted back her hourly rate??? lol To this day I remind her of this, and we laugh and laugh. Lisa was interested in being in Playboy but was not having much luck having gone to one of their local castings. Still, I tested her for them and while they weren’t originally interested, upon seeing her images gave her the Playboy VIXENS Special Edition Cover. From there, I had her come in with Amy Lynn Grover for a spread and cover shoot for American Curves Magazine. Because of contractual obligations I couldn’t shoot her for it but had a friend shoot her for the cover of Inside Fitness Magazine. I also got her a few spreads since then and a few advertising campaigns most recently a really cool shot advertising Viper in many of the fitness magazines.
Claudie Auclair came to a Playboy casting a couple of years ago from Montreal. For some reason, Playboy passed her over but she was definitely not lost on me. I got in touch with her and had her come to Toronto to shoot a spread for American Curves. While we were shooting, Lori Fabrizio, whom was working with Coquette that day called me asking if I knew of any good Blondes I could recommend for their catalogue shoot. I immediately sent over the pics we had taken and now she’s a staple in all the Coquette catalogues. With a little persistence, I helped her realize her goal of getting into Playboy shooting her for a few spreads as well as the 2010 calendar. I flew Claudie down to the Caribbean for a one week shoot with Sarah Scotford and Laura Michelle Prestin. You can see the pics from that shoot in my SESSIONS Vol. 79 ***UPDATE*** Claudie Auclaire got the Playboy’s Special Edition Lingerie cover from one of our earlier shoots!!! Not bad huh? From being passed over to the cover – That’s persistence.
Anne-Krystel Goyer is another French beauty that got in touch to hire me for a SESSIONS shoot. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure about her. I think it was the pics she had sent me that weren’t very good. Either way, once she got in front of my camera I knew I had a star on my hands! During the shoot, we tested for Playboy and she ended up with the cover of Playboys VIXENS Special. We also shot her cover for SUMMUM Magazine that day. A little while after, we flew her down to the Caribbean to shoot along with a bunch of other models and wouldn’t you know it, she landed the cover of Playboy’s Girls of Canada Calendar. Shortly after that, we got the green light to shoot her for a spread and cover for American Curves. I made an introduction and she got the Passion Fruit Design Campaign with TV appearance on the Lion’s Den. AND I also shot her for the cover of NEWLOOK Magazine in France. I know, I’ll be shooting with her for some magazine or other again soon.
Maryse Ouellet, yet ANOTHER French beauty that flew in for a Playboy shoot – Landing the VIXENS cover. We also got her the cover of two of Playboy’s calendars for an amazing two years in a row – 2008 and 2009. I shot her for two separate covers over a one year period for SUMMUM Magazine – Since then, we shot her, yet agan, for a record 3rd cover for SUMMUM Magazine. Her star grew so fast, she’s now the WWE Diva Champion! We still chat and the time will come were we’ll shoot for magazines again.
Lana Tailor was chosen to shoot a Natural Beauties Cover for Playboy. It was during that shoot we got to see her real talent in front of the camera. I recommended her to American Curves and sure enough we shot that cover as well. Since then, I’ve shot Lana for quite a few things including the Coquette Catalogue. As I type this, I’m slated to shoot her for another spread in American Curves while the TV crew of E.T. Canada records away. (Yup, that shoot got a cover as well).
Dylan Fitzpatrick is an up and coming model I have put quite some effort in promoting. While new in the industry, she’s already had two spreads in American Curves, a babe feature in MuscleMag and I’m pretty sure she’ll end up in Playboy in no time (She’s actually been approached and turned it down). I got her the Coquette catalogue and have also landed her countless shoots for Allure Lingerie as one of their top models. We shot a nice little ad as the Pool Vixen for Venus pool at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. She’s been the poster child for my pool parties in Las Vegas. We shot the ad for Viper as well. Look out for her – She’s going to be big! You can see some candids of her here.