When I'd first moved to LA I thought it was going to be such a wonderful adventure! I was from a small town in the San Joaquin Valley south of Fresno called Visalia and was bored out of my mind as a kid. The chance to move to LA came up and I found myself living with a friend in Santa Clarita not far from Magic Mountain.
The first year kind of sucked with working as a temp and then working at a fast food place to make ends meet. It seemed I was working all the time and at the end of every month I was lucky to have beer money.
Then Mike came into the fast food place one night and ordered a hamburger. I felt the distinct sensation of being stared at and caught him looking at me several times. I thought he was really creepy. I turned around and went to clean up the shake machine and tried to put him out of my mind.
"You ought to be a model."
I turned to see him on the other side of the counter.
"Yeah, I hear that all the time. Nice pick up line."
He chuckled and then started digging into his pocket.
"I'm a photographer, for real..." he handed me his card, "...and I'd like to get you in for a shoot sometime."
I just kind of rolled my eyes.
"The pay starts at $50 per hour."
What did he say?
"I'm sorry, how much did you say?"
He laughed and then went into explaining the details and how it was all on the 'up and up' and in my excitement at the thought of having my bills caught up I agreed to do an eight hour shoot with him.
That Saturday I met him at his studio and there was a guy on lighting, a makeup girl who worked on me for a while, another girl handling the clothes and helping me change between sets, and Mike had an assistant helping him with the cameras. It was all very exciting and very impressive.
And I made $400 in one day.
The next Wednesday when he called and asked me to meet him that night I was really looking forward to making more money. Sure enough, he asked me if I was willing to take the next week off from my jobs to do a week of full-time work with him.
I couldn't say 'Yes!' fast enough.
I made the arrangements with my two jobs and they understood they really had no choice but to go along with me on this.
After all, I was going to make $2,000 in one week!!!
The week went by in a blur of locations, studios, backdrops, clothes, and makeup and I was exhausted by Friday night.
Saturday I was back in uniform and slinging hamburgers.
It was a whole month before I heard from Mike again and my bank account was getting low after paying off all my bills and catching up on rent I owed to my roomie.
"I have a different project for you and it'll pay $500 for the day, do you want it?"
Of course I did.
It wasn't the usual though. This shoot had me in lingerie and Mike spent the day taking me through taking piece after piece of my clothing off as we shot the sets. It was after lunch when he pulled me aside for a moment.
"Emmy, do you trust me?"
A lot of thoughts went through my mind and my better judgment told me it was time to leave. I was about to tell Mike I needed to go when he saw my hesitation.
"Emmy, what I'd like you to do will pay another $500 for the day."
And thus I started my first nude photo session.
I heard back from Mike in a week and he said I needed to come back in for some more shots. I made the arrangements with work and was there the next day after he called.
The new deal was $1,000 per day for posing nude and undressing and doing whatever Mike needed me to do. Mike explained that my previous pictures were posted on the internet and that I was a hit and the website where the pictures were posted was getting more subscriptions than ever. Mike promised me that I'd be guaranteed at least one day a week of work at $1,000 a day if agreed to sign a contract for exclusive rights.
I quit my day jobs that night as I reluctantly became a nude internet model.
For the next several months everything went along fine and I got my own apartment and even had enough money to buy a newer used car. I got used to my lifestyle and I guess that was the bad thing.
I came to the studio one day and there was this cute guy waiting in the studio in a robe and the makeup girl was working on him.