In 2003 I photographed Mike Otto, long time friend and model in fire gear, which he really enjoyed modeling in….we were playing around with some new backdrops and ideas for artistic posing…

                 

…and in 2006, still looking for a new backdrop for fire images, I pulled my old background projection system out and set it up in my studio and had Jeff, a local firefighter who had done some modeling work for me,  return and shoot with me to see if it would work out. It wasn`t bad, but you could tell it wasn`t real looking and really lacked some punch to it, although Jeff did a great job with it…..and the last one shows him at an actual fire, too…..thanks for the help Jeff….

              

              

                

 

…and discovered yet another new model during 06…a young farmboy named Wade, who I was able to help get into several opportunities along the way…

              

                          

…and the following year Wade returned to shoot some poster work with other models as well.

Then in 2007 I made a push to photograph several newer models on location to have some posters made up to market at big events to see if we could make a go of it once again….I have several firefighter friends who own their own fire trucks, some of them are antique trucks and some are not antiques at all….they allow me to photograph models on their trucks using their equipment alot….Jenn was the first female model that I worked with midway through the year…she was a real trooper, and besides her modeling work ethic and sheer beauty, I also admired her for her passion and work in cancer cure research…beauty and brains both…

           

             

I even got her to work with new model Vince that day too and they worked under extreme conditions that day, cooled down by deck gun spray….

             

..and she looked good against my new backdrop in the studio setting as well as swirling smoke…….

                 

 

Tim was the first male model I worked with with a new backdrop that was naturally backlit by sunlight, and a new backdrop called Lava, that a good friend of mine painted for photography work….I started out shooting it with front light only as you see below….

           

…and then decided to backlight it and boy did the colors and ” fire ” pop then….

 

Vince was my next model, from the KC area, one of those hunks thats easy on the eyes and while new to modeling like Tim was…both were naturals at it as well…and Vince produced some nice poster work as well….

 

              

                       

           

                         

                               

 

A few days after Vince came down to shoot with me, I had the pleasure to work with a hot young lady named TyAnn, who hailed from northern Missouri and needed some portfolio work done…I had her try on the fire gear to see what she thought and she instantly fell in love with it….talk about a doll to work with….

                     

                           

 

Dan came to me from the St Louis area to work in some portfolio work and after seeing his look and build, I suggested he give modeling a try…on his second or third trip out to model for me, I suggested he try on some fire gear and the rest is history….

JC was another model that came out to shoot some portolio work with me and liked the idea of shooting in fire gear too….another natural model with a lean swimmers build….

              

 

Nick was another hot guy with a toned build and a flair for modeling as sexily as possible….all very natural for him too…he pulled it off well and was a lot of fun to be around….here is one of his best images….

 

 

Laina was one of the hottest blonde babes I ever had the pleasure of working with…she came to me for some portfolio work, wanting to get into a website organization known as The Firehouse Girls…which unfortunately did not last very long, but because I was shooting alot of fire service themework, she found me online and asked me to shoot some images that she could submit to them with her application and I was more than happy to help her out…she became one of my favorite models to work with back then, returning a few times to work with me on other shoots….another natural at it…

 

              

               

          

                  

 

 

Shane came up and worked with me a few weekends…another hot Oklahoma boy that was nicely built and had a great attitude, needed some portfolio work done….I was able to keep him busy for awhile….

               

…and I met Alex in the Joplin area when I was down there for some shoots…shot him in the waterfall and then he came up to shoot with me up here at my studio and on location as well….

 

…and then photographed yet another Alex on a privately owned fire truck the very next day….

             

 

Ethan was yet another hot guy I found online and worked with a few times afterwards…he then got into some video work on his own and I never heard from him again….

                      

 

In the fall as I was preparing for my annual trip to Arkansas for my fall vacation, I discovered a gorgeous gal modeling in the southern area that I planned to visit, and was able to talk her into modeling for me at one of my favorite waterfalls in that area…Destiny was just starting out in modeling work and was great to work with…..

                 

                          

                  

                

         

 

…and when I returned from my vacation, I found yet another gorgeous gal from central Illinois to work with…her name fit her like a silk glove…Starie….talk about sexy and hott rolled into one fine form of gorgeous and sensuous beauty…..I recall my test session with her lasting a few hours in addition to the couple of hours I had suggested…she was that smokin hott to work with….

               

              

 

A few days later, I found a hot local guy named Chris, that had a very sexy look and defined build as well, in his thirties…unusual to find a guy in his thirties that looks as good as guys in their twenties these days….

             

 

…and then early into 2008 I discovered yet another sexy Illinois guy, Tim…who was into body building and had a great look and build both…and turned out to be yet another natural at modeling….

 

               

About a week after photographing Tim, I met up with a firefighter near the KC area and photographed him as well, some in my studio setting and some with one of his fire trucks…

 

 

…and along the way we took some group shots as well….which became posters later on….

 

 

 

 

During the latter part of the spring of 08 I found three new models, Jae, Jason, and Phil, and worked them into the mix as well…..

 

 

 

 

In May of 08, I had the good fortune of traveling to Kentucky and was able to photograph a beautiful antique pumper down there, with a couple of my models, Jackie and Justin from south central Kentucky, with it…..here are a few images from that shoot, for more, look for the story called Antique Pumper in Kentucky….

 

 

In June, I worked with yet another local model…Jimmie Sue who turned out to be gorgeous and stunning to work with….

              

 

For a few years after the calendar, I occasionally shot a few models with the fire service theme, figuring one of these days I would revive the poster line, and these days, I wish I had done it much sooner, like when the economy was much stronger. Instead, I concentrated on creating portrait work full time and shot the fun stuff in my spare time. I was shooting posters during this time period, but many of them were of jet skiis and motorcycles in one form or another. Fortunately back then, I was able to find some great models that were nice enough to refer me to many of their friends, who also became great models….

Mike, one of my local calendar models, was one such guy, and Chris, one of my other local models, was another who referred several of their friends to me for modeling work for a few years time. Both of these guys worked with me several times and shot with photographer friends of mine across the nation as well. I was able to hook Chris up with some contacts in California who at one time hired him to work for their agency and this afforded him several trips overseas in both directions to work with other photographers as well on various projects and shoots. I had some photographer friends in Texas and Alabama who frequently traveled up here to work with various models of mine as well. One of them, Ray Lewis Payne, shot black and white art print work and we would often team up on shoots at some beautiful local outdoor locations nearby for many years. Chris was one of his favorite models to work with during those years, but most of those images are on one of my other sites. 

During one of my travels to Arkansas in that period of time, I stopped off in Fayetteville one day and checked out another Chris, who turned out to be a very hot model for me and others. He was referred to me by a mutual good friend, who was a successful model out in California and knew of my work. He told me Chris not only had a sexy look and build, but also had a great attitude and would go far in modeling work. He was right all the way around, as Chris turned out to be a great model for me and for photographer friends of mine, seen here….

Another Chris referral to me was Mel, who turned out to be a great model as well back in those days, super nice guy that went on to model for me in other areas as well….

 

             

 

 

 

About the same time, I found another hot female model to work with, Cathy K, and she brought her boyfriend with her to the interview and test shoot…I put her in a fire coat for one of her test shots and armed her with an axe…she was fantastic with it….

….and I shot more of her later on with some jeeps and four wheelers at some neat locations as well…Cathy turned out to be a great art model !! I worked some more with Raye and Emily as well, trying to get some poster shots….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the course of the past several years, I have often photographed models who were also firefighters elsewhere and incorporated them with their gear, into my early works of art as well…such was the case with Justin, a local model….

            

….and Scott, another local boy…..

Scott modeled for us at the St Clair shoot as well since he was a firefighter there….

…and Jodie was a firefighter as well, at the time we shot the calendar and poster work, with the Boles Fire District….

….but for the most part back then, firefighters were a bit on the shy side when it came to modeling work…so we had to improvise and put models into fire gear instead. These days, everywhere you look, there are fire service calendars everywhere, most of them filled with images of beefcake men and some devoted entirely to female firefighters, and then there are some individual departments that incorporated both men and women in their calendars. Most fire departments also recognized the importance of keeping their firefighters fit and so you see the fitness ethics incorporated into fire service themed calendars these days as well. 

Here are a few more of the models from the early days of Raging Sensations that I had the pleasure of working with….

Mike, above and below,  was a local boy who moved out of the area shortly after shooting with me for the calendar and then some other modeling work afterward, he was another athletic sports ethic guy with a nice lean build and pleasant farmboy personality.  

 

Tony was a baseball player that I found at a game one weekend, while I was umpiring in St Louis County, and he turned out to be quite a model for my work, in the calendar as well as quite a few  other shoots, he looked great in fire gear, shot with us at the Washington FD shoot and I shot a few images of him for possible poster sales too….

…it was a rare occasion when you got him to smile, so had to take those and run with it when you got the chance….cause most of the time you were gonna get his serious look only…..

 

 

One of my best friends in the fire service, has many friends across the United States that he stays in contact with regarding antique fire trucks, and he was able to put me in touch with some friends of his in Kentucky ahead of my trip in 2008 there, and after a few emails and phone calls, I was able to set up a shoot with a couple of my Kentucky models along with a beautiful antique ALF pumper in the  state.

I contacted Jackie, who lives in north central Kentucky, and is one of the most beautiful blondes I have ever had the pleasure of photograping and working with, and she agreed to meet me at the garage where the pumper was housed, and the owner arranged for a friend of his to meet us there and help us with anything that we might need, such as moving the truck around or any special lighting needs I might have, and security. I had been told that I could open the garage door or even pull the truck outside of the garage to shoot it if needed, but I figured once I started shooting Jackie in some of her outfits and some of mine, this might cause quite a sensation or even a distraction to anyone driving by…and we didnt want to cause any accidents, so we just stayed inside the garage, which had pretty good lighting and I figured I would photoshop the backdrop later on as well. Justin, one of my southern Kentucky models, was running a little late, so Jackie and I decided to forge ahead and we would work Justin in when he showed up. I started her out in a red cropped t shirt top and a red bikini bottom with red heels. 

 

                

Justin arrived soon after and I worked him in a few shots later….he wasn`t in any hurry, he was enjoying the show….

              

              

Then she looked at Justin and said ” climb aboard “….he had arrived in blue jeans and after he took his shirt off, we added red suspenders so he would look the part and an old helmet as well…

….then she removed her red top and put the jacket back on….

It was about then that I asked Justin if he was having fun working with Jackie and my answer was this big smile from him….

…I think that was a YES…..lol….and afterwards, I had just enough time to shoot a few of Justin alone before we finished up the shoot…Jackie had to return to work and Justin headed home and I headed back to visit with friends again….

 

All in all, a great shoot with a pretty truck and two super models to work with…what more could one ask for….