Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
I photographed Jessi June on April 10, 2012 at her hotel in San Jose, California. Jessi is a full time professional model. I paid her a modest sum for this shoot, which I almost never have to do anymore. Yesterday a model I agreed to do a trade with suggested I begin charging models. I don’t want to do that because then I’ll have to worry about insurance and other business related issues I don’t have to concern myself with when I pursue photography just for fun.
Why did I make an exception and pay Jessi?
Because I wanted very much to meet Jessi to ask her about her fascinating life.
I paid her so I could interview her. She’s so busy making money I don’t think she would have agreed to simply meet me for an interview, although I didn’t ask.
The pictures here are just icing on the cake to make this post more interesting to my readers.
What makes Jessi June interesting to me?
Map of the United States showing the travel itinerary of professional model Jessi June, May 16 2012
She travels the United States full time, and models in most of the places she stops. Photographers learn of her travel destinations on Model Mayhem, the large and important website for models, photographers, stylists and Adobe Photoshop experts. She supports herself with her modeling earnings, including buying gas for her blue Toyota Tundra. When I found her profile on Model Mayhem, it included the map above that shows her past and future itinerary.
Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
I find Jessi to be inspiring. I want to tour the United States and photograph people in the cities I visit. It might be more difficult for me to accomplish because I am not a sexy 20 year old woman. But I am getting to be a pretty good photographer, and maybe such photographers are difficult for local women to find in the more remote locations I would like to visit.
Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
Even if I don’t get to photograph beautiful models on my trip, I will get to photograph others, since I have started blogging rather seriously over on my personal blog. I feel like I can walk up to nearly any interesting person and ask to interview them, now that I’ve done it several times with good results. I can see myself interviewing and photographing the owner of a gas station or restaurant that catches my eye.
When I drove across the United States in 2002, I asked a woman running a desolate gas station in the middle of nowhere in Nevada what US Route 50 was like, since the Nevada portion of Route 50 is called “The Loneliest Road in America.” She said she didn’t know because she never traveled and had never been on Route 50.
She was only an hour away from Route 50, and that was the only major road around. She was in her twenties and she must have had an interesting, if perplexing, story, and I wish I had asked her to explain why she was working alone at a deserted filling station with no desire to leave. There was no other business at the exit where her station was located so it really felt like the middle of nowhere. I was driving my MCI bus conversion, so at least I made a big purchase from her.
Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
I am a big fan of the Richard Avedon masterwork book of photographs In The American West. I would like to do a project like that myself, but in my style and with my Canon 5D Mark II, or its successor like the 5D Mark III, which I really want to upgrade to for its superior auto-focus capabilities.
Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
Jessi was very gracious, and told me entertaining stories. I have her permission to write about her online, as well as her permission to publish the photographs that I took of her. Jessi knows a lot about the technology world, so we had things in common to talk about.
Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
The shoot was short, as I only paid for an hour, since my goal was the interview, not the photography. Jessi is talented, as you can see from her portfolio on Model Mayhem that shows her wide range. My pictures here could have been better if we had both been concentrating on the pictures, instead of talking so much. Many of my shots of her I snapped between her sentences. It was an amazing multi-tasking hour. I recommend Jessi June, particularly for inexperienced photographers, as she requires almost no direction to appear photogenic.
Thank you Jessi!
Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
Jessi June photographed by Kevin Warnock, April 10, 2012
Note: I made a couple of small corrections to this post May 16, 2012 at 9:20pm, at the request of Jessi June. I had spelled her name Jessie June rather than Jessi June, which I had to fix asap, and I did. Sorry Jessi — that’s a first for me. I hope that the search engines find the updated version. I also slightly reworded the paragraph that mentions her vehicle, to be more precise, at Jessi’s request. For example, I identify her Toyota Tundra where earlier I simply said late model vehicle. I had intended to provide her more anonymity, but she said her fans know what she drives already. Thanks for the suggestions Jessi!
