I only had two small clients but was hoping to attract old school adult companies ready to start advertising online.

 

I wasn’t seeing much opportunity for Internet advertising. I was making very little money. I kept my night job.

One of my clients tipped me off to something new that was happening on the web. There were “Adult Webmaster resource boards”. Huh? What’s a Webmaster? He told me there were crops of adult websites starting up on the Internet and they needed legal licensed photo content. He suggested because of my contacts with the magazine photographers in Los Angeles that I start selling adult photos.

All the industry photographers were still shooting on 35mm film. Digital cameras and content were not even in the pipeline yet. Digital photos at this point in time all had to be scanned somehow from film. I would later end up taking all my 35mm film to professional labs where everything was drum scanned. It was time consuming and expensive.

I called Men’s magazine shooter Stephen Hicks and asked if he had any digital content available for Internet use? He said they were working on it and would let me know when it would be available.

In the meantime I posted a small free advertisement on one webmaster board. I was immediately contacted by three of the new burgeoning crop of adult sites. All were “Amateur” in niche. ATK, Karups PC and another I care not to mention.

Stephen called me back and said he had a CD with one thousand images ready for licensing. To give you an idea how much the price of internet porn has changed since since 1997: The price of this CD was $3.00 per image. $3,000. No partial licensing, clients had to purchase all images. He offered me a commission deal on any CD’s I sold.

I immediately received orders. In addition to using the traditional mode of physically shipping the CD I used FTP (File Transfer Program) to transfer the files to my client who was on the East Coast. I’d had some previous experience using FTP to transfer artwork files to magazines. On my computer monitor, I dragged a folder of the images to another folder (my clients server). Then I opened up my merchant account software and banged my clients credit card for $3,000. It was a light-bulb-going-on moment. In a few clicks of my mouse I had billed, delivered and collected on my product. Oh I see! So THAT’S how you make money! I didn’t have to spend hours working in a bar or office or sit in traffic to and from work. I could stay at home and move shit around on my computer. OK that works.

Right away the same clients needed custom and exclusive photo shoots. I knew nothing about photography so I looked for a photographer. I didn’t want to approach the established magazine shooters for fear of them stealing my clients. I remembered good old Hal Guthu from CHN.

Hal referred me to a guy named Cory who was a stills shooter for Porn movies. Cory was a salty but handsome guy in his 50’s with a full head of silver grey hair and a quiet voice with a slight drawl. I remember his throat sounded like it had smoking damage. He was a failed actor who came out to Hollywood from the Midwest and ended up in pornography; a vestige from the sets of early porn movies. He used to work on sets with John Holmes. Being a young fan of some vintage porn I asked him a lot of questions about the brick and mortar porn biz: “Wow, what was John Holmes like?” He thought about it for a moment and said: “He didn’t bathe much”. Well the girls probably loved that! Being new to the industry he offered me some advice: “In this business, everybody hates everybody else.” something that I inevitably found to be mainly true. He also told me doing hard-core pornography changes women. He said “You can see it in their eyes” I’ll never forget it, also something that I believe holds truth.

In addition to producing custom shoots I was still on the lookout for more photos from different photographers which I could re-license for non-exclusive use. Cory introduced me to a porn producer. I still don’t remember what company or who this guy was but he was scary. I drove up to Porn Valley and met him at his large porno warehouse.

He was middle aged, Italian, unkempt and overweight  – very much your stereotypical sleazy porn producer, with an East coast Mafioso dialect. He showed me around his facility which was lined with aisles full of VHS movies, then we went to his office to discuss business. I told him I was looking to buy 35mm chromes which I could scan and license on the Internet. I mentioned a price – he went silent. Then with a disappointed look on his face he said in his thick wise guy accent: “You know Matt…(pause) The only reason you’re here is because Cory speaks very highly of you. So why do you insult me with such a low offer?” – Right out of a Scorsese movie. I thought: “Maybe I really don’t want to be in this industry?” I diplomatically and respectfully navigated my way out of the meeting and never went back.

To track down some more models Cory led me to the infamous World Modeling and Pretty Girls agencies. The porn agents of those days ran their businesses out of some pretty funky little offices up in the valley. I remember walking into World Modeling and recognizing a few old 8mm Porn Stars hanging around the office – waiting for their next gig.

I must admit navigating through some of these places and characters made feel a little dirty.  Should I be doing this?  Internet porn was essentially unheard of and hadn’t become mainstream and ubiquitous as it is now, so for all intents and purposes I was in the old underground 70’s VHS and sleazy X-Rated theater world. I had some moral doubts, my family didn’t know what I was up to and I was creeping around in dank offices with photos of girls giving blowjobs on the wall.  Was it even safe? I’d heard the mafia was involved in porn and armed guards walked John Holmes movies sets in the 70’s.

The first girl I hired was Nikki Nova. I don’t remember much about the actual shoot and I don’t have the photos  because it was for a client but I do remember the moments leading up to the shoot.  Cory and Nicky drove down separately to my place in South Orange County. Nikki was late so Cory and I waited  for her to show up. I was feeling a little nervous, hoping I didn’t come off as an amateur to the  already working model and hoping I would get a good shoot for my client. I looked out the window and saw a giant dually  pickup truck roll up. Out from the cab strolled a magnificent looking Nikki Nova in a short dress and heels. “Hmmm I wonder what my neighbors are thinking?” I answered the door and walked her upstairs into my living room. We exchanged introductions and niceties, then I stuttered: “Um. you look beautiful! Let’s get started”.

I continued to acquire more models for more shoots but my clients needs were expanding. I needed new locations with more shooting opportunities. I booked some hotels in L.A. and Hollywood and Cory found me some porn friendly houses.

Almost every week for about a year, my average shoot day consisted of me hanging in a nice Los Angeles hotel suite in or in a beautiful home in Hollywood Hills by a pool and watching Cory shoot two or three nude models. When I was shooting in a hotel I would  stay overnight which allowed me time to enjoy and get to know L.A. and Hollywood. It could be worse?

It was in these months that I not only developed a reputation as a solid professional client for the agents,  I also started to understand all the elements of shooting nude women. Even though we were shooting amateur style photos I learned about the booking of talent and locations, what types of poses were needed (I used to bring a cheat sheet of photos from Hustler for example) lighting, wardrobe, hair, makeup and I suppose possibly the most fascinating element: the girls themselves.

I was no different than any other fan of beautiful girls in men’s magazines or porn. There is some innate mystery conjured up in our heads about these women. Not to mention they allow us to see their awesome bodies naked, something the real girl next door just doesn’t offer up to everybody. Nudity and porn provides another level of mystery:

• Why are they doing this?
• Are they horny sluts?
• Are they hookers?
• Would they ever date a guy like me?
• Are they really “nasty” in their private life?

Now I found myself standing next to these pretty naked girls.

Being a recently separated male, I had those fascinations with the models, but quickly sensed they weren’t interested in fucking around figuratively or literally. They were there to pick up a check and go back to their secret lair. I didn’t want to blow a good thing and the bottom line was I was there on my clients money to do a job for them so I kept it strictly business. I also had it in my limited idea of a business plan that by being professional I could keep the flow of girls coming from agents or model referrals.

While still learning the ropes of boundaries while shooting, I remember on one of my early video shoots I was filming a masturbation scene. The model was saying some enticing things to my camera like “Oh yeah play with my pussy”. I wasn’t sure if she meant it or was acting. So I asked her: “Do you really want me to play with your pussy?”

She abruptly stopped with an annoyed look on her face and said firmly “No!”. There was always a fine line between the reality and the performing. So on all counts it was best to keep it on the up and up. With that said as time went on I discovered there were definitely girls who were less “professional” and there was plenty of room for both business and fun.

Corey and I shot for a year and a half together. It’s amazing that from one little free internet classified ad I was able to launch and fund a new career for myself for the next 15 years.