Selena has had a very meteoric rise in fame lately, and with it of course comes the public scrutiny and judgement of her choices and the way she presents herself. For an ex Disney girl, however, she's kept her reputation pretty clean in spite of a very public relationship with another celebrity, and the breakup of that relationship. Part of her appeal, I think is her down to earth nature and apparent innocence in the public eye. Aside from that, she's darn cute, and rapidly growing into a stunningly beautiful young woman.
I've had numerous opportunities to work with Selena in recent months, as she's promoting new movies and a new album plus an aggressive campaign to sell her line of inexpensive clothing for young women. Being a highly desired and recommended photographer of the Hollywood elite has its privileges, too, apparently. I've worked for a number of years with Tim Burton in his Hollywood Photography Studio's and have since gone independent – but Tim still frequently refers work to me. Through Tim's references, I've worked with Billy Ray Cyrus and his kids, I've worked on set for shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Roswell, and Hannah Montana and concerts and album shoots for Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan and many others. More recently, I've worked on the sets of What I Like About You, Wizards of Waverly Place and The Big Bang Theory and on movie sets like Spring Breakers, Avatar, and a number of others. A number of the celebrities involved in these shows have taken a liking to working with me for promo shoots and other projects like album covers, concerts and promotion of their clothing or perfume lines.
After Selena's quite public breakup with her famous boyfriend, she sought me out for some advice and comfort. A man's point of view on her situation and how to proceed, I guess. I get the sense sometimes that these young girls are looking for an older gentleman that they trust to help give them some perspective on things, and to just relax and get some honest feedback instead of always hearing their agents and staff blowing sunshine up their asses. I like to tell it straight, and they find that a novelty for some reason. What I'd really like to know is why people lie to them so much, and overinflate their ego's to the point where it becomes a disease of narcissism. People need boundaries and to hear the word "No." Every once in a while. You know?
Anyhow, to make a long story and a very long day in the photo studio a little shorter, I'm going to skip ahead a bit. Selena and I have worked a long day catching up on some photo shoots that Selena wanted done, and we were both pretty exhausted. Part of the process of doing such photo shoots involves interaction with the model, touching up makeup, brushing hair aside or into different positions, adjusting clothing and body parts to look better on camera. It's all very intimate and interactive between a good photographer and his subject during such shoots. The lights are hot though, and the routine can get boring unless the photographer and his model have a good rapport between them. With Selena, I find it easiest to get the looks I want if I'm steadily flirting with her, and occasionally making outrageous or dirty suggestions to make her laugh, or look shocked, or flirt with the camera in a natural looking way. I'm often hands on touching her face and arms, or adjusting her dress to increase her cleavage or brushing her hair out of her eyes while joking and flirting with her. I even encourage to expose her leg through a slit in her dress and run my hands down her thigh to her foot adjusting her stance and the angle of her foot. I've done this with hundreds of models, girls mostly, and have always tried to maintain a professional attitude towards them...but Selena. Wow. She has very soft and smooth skin, and she's very malleable and easy to pose so I use a very light touch on her. Yet, being that close, I can smell her, and I can feel the heat coming off her skin, feel a tingle in my fingertips whenever I touch her. She's so beautiful and strong, and petite and gentle that it affects me every time I work with her...in a way that is very difficult to hide from her. In fact, I don't even try to hide my massive hard-on when I'm working with her, because I know she'll see it anyway, pressing against my pants. Some things you just can't hide when you're working that close to someone. We both have the decorum and sense not to mention that part...
Well, I guess I made that part of the story sorta long anyway. After our work was done, we had planned to get together for a decent meal and a relaxing evening with a few friends. A little bit of a party, I guess. I'm not going to mention who was all there, but let's just say it was a few female Hollywood celebs that were in the area at the time, and myself, and a donkey. In a hotel. With alcohol. We all started with a dinner that Selena had thrown together of Mexican food. Selena is an excellent cook and we all ate well. There was some idle chat and a movie was started on the hotel TV, and a few bottles were poured out into glasses (and a bowl for the donkey...) and everyone proceeded to get a little tipsy. I parked myself on a small sofa to relax and joke around with the gang, and shortly, Selena plopped down beside me and snuggled into my side. She slid my left arm over her shoulders and rested her head on my shoulder with a sigh. I also suddenly discovered her hand on my chest, her fingers seeking out the gaps between the buttons of my shirt and gently sliding into my chest hair. I could feel her body against me, her contours, her breasts pressed against my side and chest, the extra weight as she relaxed deeper into me. My awareness of the room, the party around us, focussed inward until the two of us were the whole world.