Sunday, November 1, 2009

Behind the scenes with Mike Heron

Mike Heron intimidated me. (I’m easily intimidated; this will be a recurring theme.) I had seen a few of his images on Model Mayhem and quite honestly, I was pretty sure he’d glance at my work, roll his eyes and delete my email without even responding. I was sure that my email would be one from many photographers seeking his attention. Nevertheless, I emailed him and crossed my fingers that he’d at least decline politely.

Mike squashed all that with three simple sentences:

Hey Jimi. I would love to work with you. Your work is amazing.

It did take several weeks for us to actually get together and shoot because of his intense work and school schedule, but we’ve now shot together a couple times and we have another shoot pencilled in.

Let me tell you something about Mike: he’s a big cuddly pussycat. Nowadays we send text messages to each other at 3 o’clock in the morning (he works third shift) and I really appreciate that he listens to me when I have a problem and just need to vent; we’re friends now.

So let this be a lesson to you, dear reader: go out on a limb and take the chance.