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DRAG QUEEN BABY NAME BOOK SHOOT JOURNAL

Hello Darlings and welcome to The Drag Queen Baby Name Book shoot journal! Having never photographed drag queens before, I decided to record my experience as it went along.  This is what I wrote…

Saturday March 31st, 2007

I’m about to start taking photos of drag queens for “The Drag Queen Baby Name Book”
Bizarre how this came about.  I’ve been laughing about drag name puns for some years now with my good friend Greg L, who’s also a writer.  At some point I decided to start recording them and when I had a few hundred, realised I could do something with them.  A baby name book for drags seems to be the most logical construct for them, since it’s in keeping with their camp spirit.

I approached a couple of publishers with the concept.  This is the cover letter I wrote.

Dear xxxx

Over the past few years I've been compiling a book you may be interested in publishing.   It's a "Drag Queen Name Baby Book" - an extensive list of witty, entertaining drag names in alphabetical order.  My idea is to produce it as a parody of those cute baby naming books which parents buy when they're expecting a child (or their friends buy for them!)   "Having a Drag Queen baby and need a name?  Choose from this list!" sort of thing.

At present I have 530 names and the list is still growing.  I've been very choosey with the names, all of which are clever, glamorous or irreverent (as drag queens are themselves!).  Some examples:

Ada Refugee
Betty Vanksoff
Celia Fate
Dee Compose
Emma Roid
Faye Slift
Gaye Abandon
Helena Frock
Ida Slapter
Jewel Airbags
Kirsten Damned
Laura Norder
Maura Less

As well as the alphabetical list, I envisage a page devoted to drag "sisters" -eg:  Petra and Terry Fying, Joyce and Fran Tick.  There's also a page for international drag queen babies - Sum Ting Wong, (Chinese), Kareena Hurry (Indian), Toula Thargic  (Greek)  The list goes on...

Regarding the illustration of the book, I see one pic for every letter of the alphabet -  a drag nurse for Angela Mercy, a drag popping out of a barrel stuffed with toy monkeys for Beryl Fuller-Monkeys, a drag wearing a bikini with three breasts for Cher Noble.  No need to worry about the expense of hiring drag queens - my friends (an outgoing, creative bunch) would be happy to pose for free, just for the honour of being immortalized in print.

I believe the book will have cross-over appeal.  Not only will it sell in every gay bookshop in the English speaking world, it should be available in commercial book stores as a humorous, quirky gift for expectant parents.

I also think the book has cultural significance.  Drag is a world wide phenomenon and this is the first time (to my knowledge, and I've certainly done my homework) such a comprehensive list of names has been compiled for publication, albeit packaged in a fun, flip way.

If you're interested I'd be happy to meet with you to discuss the concept in greater detail.  But if it's not your cup of tea, I'm hoping you can recommend a publishing company that would be interested in taking it on. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time,
Boaz

No publisher wanted to take it on.

Then I thought of Paul Freeman, a photographer who publishes his own books.  I gave him a call, hoping he’d a) be interested in publishing my book and b) take the photos of drag queens for it.  To my delight, he immediately took to the idea of publishing the book, only he wanted me to take the pics for it.  He said it’d be good if they were snap-shot like, unprofessional.  Read: he didn’t have the time/inclination to take that aspect of the book on!  

I was a little thrown by the notion of taking the pics myself.   Back in 1981 I’d studied photography at Art College for a few months but I don’t remember a thing I learnt, and photography has changed so much with the digital revolution it probably wouldn’t matter if I did.  But ultimately I realised I can take as good a snap shot as the next guy and so I may as well give it a go.  Could be fun.

I organised a dinner with Greg L his partner Paul O, and 2 other good friends C Noble and his partner “Fuzz“ Purchase.   Over takeaway Thai we spent an evening going over my list of drag names and talking about which would be the best ones to bring to life in pics.  Some ideas were good, others’ not so, but it was a start – and an entertaining way to spend an evening.  Over the next couple of weeks I continue to think about which names could work as pics and cobbled together a list of possibilities.  And all the while I kept researching drag names and gathering them from lots of different sources.  It was a topic of conversation at pretty much every dinner party I went to.   And my partner and I never ran out of things to talk about - we’d choose a girl’s name at random and spend hours seeing if it worked as a drag moniker.
 
The next stage - finding drag queen talent!  On March 14th 2007 I emailed the list to friends who either do drag, have always wanted to, or know drag queens.  Here’s that email:

Dearest Drag Queen Stars,
 
attached is an excel spreadsheet file of available drag names for the "Drag Queen Baby Name Book".  
 
If you'd like to be photographed for the book (or you know someone who would) please read the names and choose one which excites you. Don't feel locked down to my pic suggestions.  Feel free to let your own imaginations run wild!  And you certainly don't have to be uber-glam - my only prerequisite is that the pics are funny or clever in some way.  Help with make-up /styling is available.  Also, please don't dilly-dally in choosing since it's first in best dressed - once a name has been snaffled by a drag, it's theirs!
 
Ideally I'd like to start photographing you in April/May (2007).  The style of the photography will be informal, like snap shots, although images will be played with a little in photoshop.  
 
Payment:  the glamour of taking part.
 
Looking forward to hearing from you very soon!  Please feel free to pass this on to potential drag stars you suspect will be interested. (Sam K, can you send this on to Mark D?  Pete H, please pass on to Gerry who I think would make a good Mona Lott!)
 
Let me know if you don't have excel and I'll send you the list in another format.
 
xxBoaz

Here’s how my friend Mitchell B responded: :

Boaz!!
So nice to hear from you - these are hilarious! Such a good idea!

So thrilled I'm on your list! I'd love to be involved - my soft spots would
be Robyn Banks, Yolanda Plane or Julie Noted!!!

I'll be back and forth to Canberra in May...but sure we could work something out.

If you haven't got a Mona Lott yet, you should get Simon B - his
nickname is Mona for a multiplicity of reasons.

Hope you're fab.

I'm rehearsing in Syd for next month or so - would love to see you.

Lotsa love,
Mitchell xxx

(Mitchell’s a thespian)

Actually, the response has been very good, with complete strangers who’ve heard about the project emailing me to see if they can take part.  I sent that email out about a week ago and a quarter of the pics have been assigned.  I’ll keep looking for the rest.

This afternoon, armed with my trusty Kodak 7 megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera, no lighting or significant knowledge of photography, I’m flying down to Melbourne to take my first photos…

Sunday April 1st, 2007

The first shoot: Golda Finger.

I’m came down to Melbourne for my family’s Jewish Passover dinner -  and to photograph Sam K (my best friend from school) as his long time fantasy drag persona Golda Finger – a character he’s always talked about but had never brought to life.  We shot in my family home where I grew up, the day before the seder (ceremonial dinner), so my mother was doing lots of cooking.  The house is basically preserved as a shrine to the 1970’s when my parents last decorated and I’d never realised how much gold and brass detailing it features.  We even found a dress of my mother’s, left over from the 80’s – a gold lame extravaganza that we managed to shoe-horn Sam into.  His friend Bill G had made him a very elaborate pair of stilettos too, decorated with loads of big plastic jewels and beads – fabulous.  My sister, Iris, did Sam’s make-up and we started shooting.  Fuck it was hilarious.  I laughed so much my face hurt.  Sam has a comic face even when he’s not trying so it wasn’t hard to get good pics.  We shot him all over the house - at my mother’s piano, at the stove busy with Passover cooking pots, sitting on the chocolate brown velvet couch stuffing his face from a big brass pot of gold wrappered chocolates, dusting the gold bejeweled lamps we’d bought decades ago in Jerusalem. We even shot him outside in the garden but quickly realised Golda Finger is an indoor character.  
We enjoyed ourselves so much during the shoot  and I realised my love for Sam was peaking in these moments – that I had never loved him more and probably never would – and I told him so, which made us laugh harder.

There are pics of him pulling different expressions; some loving, some hard and everything in between.  My favorites are the ones where he looks like a big Jewish “yenta”.  I’d love to photograph Golda at a bar-mitzvah table with a whole lot of other geriatric Jewesses.  Done properly, I suspect it would be hard to pick the drag queen amongst them.  

After the shoot we went into my mother’s bedroom where she was resting in bed with her partner, Howard.  We all took turns being photographed wearing Golda’s foot-high blonde beehive wig, including Howard. who is as “ocker” (Aussie) as they come – hilarious!  A great first shoot.  

Saturday 19th May

I’ve flown back to Melbourne and shot my nephew Ryder today at his home.  He’s already modeling for an agency as well as performing as a singer for his band “The Clack Train”.  On stage he wears dresses his mother Vered (my sister) bought in the 70’s and 80’s and he pulls the gender-bender look off very well - so he was the perfect choice to bring Jen Derfuk to life.  His lovely girlfriend, Sunny, did his make-up – very minimal, not draggy, just how I wanted it.  And Ryder was very comfortable and relaxed  in front of the camera, giving me just the right “come-hither” look I wanted.  We shot for a couple of hours with him doing different poses. Going through the pics on my camera now I already know which one I want to use for book.  It’s perfect.

He’s wearing a red strappy sequined dressed I’d borrowed from my good friend C Noble’s drag bag (aka Cher).  After the shoot,  Ryder asked if he could hang on to the dress for a couple of weeks so he can wear it on stage the next time the “Clack Train” performs.  Cher was happy to let him keep it for a while, so Ryder’s still got the dress.  I can use that story if anyone gives me a hard time for asking my straight 20 year old nephew to pose in drag.

Sunday 20th May, 2007

Still in Melbourne for more shoots.  Today I shot my old friend Corby B as Queenie LaPoof and his partner, Nick H, as Vi Brator.  Nick was first cab off the rank.  I have to say I was a little concerned when I first saw Nick’s outfit.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great drag look – lolly pink plastic mini tunic dress – but for some reason I had it in my mind that he was going to be wearing pink bib-and-brace hotpants, a real drag construction-worker look.  There was nothing “building site” about the tunic dress.  Luckily, I’d found an old pair of 70’s headphones at home and painted them the same pink as his dress, as well as hired a jackhammer (which my mother’s partner Howard had found for me cheaply).  In my mind I justify it like this:  Drag Queen construction workers can wear whatever the hell they want!  

Nick and I went out and shot some Vi Brator pics at a construction site around the corner from their flat, while Corby remained at home getting ready. Nick’s performance took a bit of time to develop - he’s younger than Corby and not as self-assured as a drag performer, so it was harder to get him to emote.  But I took lots of pics until I assumed I must have a good one in there somewhere and finished up, went back to their flat.  While Corby was still getting ready, I went through the pics and decided we didn’t have the right shot, so we went back for another round.  This time Corby came with us which was great because he managed to relax Nick more than I’d done and taught me a valuable lesson at the same time; one which I’m sure to use on many shoots to come:  “Big eyes, darling, Big Eyes!”.  

Recently I started a new job as a copywriter for the “Now” Agency and a colleague there, Petra, has offered to do some Photoshopping for me if it’s required.  Thank God!!  I ended up getting a decent shot of Nick which I’m hoping will pop once Petra’s added some rubble to it in Photoshop.  Not sure about Photoshopping and how it all works.

Next it was Corby’s turn.  His shoot was actually the reason I came to Melbourne - Queenie is only one “Q” name in the book and I wanted it to really pop.  I knew Corby could pull it off – and I wasn’t disappointed . He’d gone to a lot of effort, hiring a jaunty little crown and royal train to go with a cute little red velvet, regal/draggy looking dress from his drag-bag.   We went around to different toilet blocks in St Kilda and shot him sitting on various “thrones” – the idea being that Queenie, despite her delusions of grandeur, was actually a tacky queen. Corby did such an amazing job.  

After the shoot, we were joined by an old friend, Glenby, and all went out for a bite to eat and a drink - with Corby and Nick still in drag.  We caught a tram and provided fellow passengers with entertainment, particularly when Corby started swinging wildly from the support handles.  He’s outrageous.  At the restaurant, he went into the kitchen and I took pics with my phone of Queenie and the staff.  Then we went out to a straight, blokey bar to play pool and caused heads to turn until everyone got used to the drag queens and we just became part of the furniture.  Then it was back to Glenby’s where we all got really trashed.  All in all a very good day.

Meanwhile, I’m still looking for a drag performer to play a recurring character in the book, “Mona Lott”.  Corby suggested I call Ritchie Finger, aka the legendary Cindy Pastel, who has been doing drag for 3 decades and is the original inspiration for Hugo Weaving’s character in “Priscilla Queen of the Desert´. He gave me Ritchie’s number, but I think I’d feel awkward calling him. I’ve met Ritchie but I seriously doubt he’d remember who I am.  And there’s no budget for the book so how can I call him out of the blue and ask him to pose for my book (3 times!) without offering any payment in return?!  Talk about chutzpah!  

Still, Corby insists Ritchie donates his formidable talents for Art so it’s worth calling and seeing if he’s interested in taking part.  Corby also promised to call Ritchie, explain the project and let him know I’d be in touch.

Thursday 24th May

I called Ritchie Finger and, as promised, Corby has forewarned him about my book and the Mona Lott character.  To my amazement, Ritchie is into it!!!!   I’m so grateful to him and the universe it’s embarrassing.   Ritchie also suggested I find a place in the book for young drag queen and make-up artist Venda Machine  (Hmm, I get the joke of the name, but are girls really ever called “Venda”?)  Ultimately though I’m happy for Venda to pose for a pic – it’s the least I can do if Ritchie wants it.

Saturday 2nd June

Shot Tim H as Freda Peeple today.  Such a talented model!  And lovely!  The story of how he came to be in the book is amazing - I met him at a party I’d gate-crashed with Richard F (Uma Toosh Hertz)!   Background: Richard was in town from Byron Bay and agreed to come out with me on a Saturday night to trawl the clubs and bars of Oxford st in search of drag queens to fill gaps in the book.  On the way to meet me, Richard bumped into friends who were going to a party in Darlinghurst.  They gave him the address and so we thought we may as well pop in.  Turns out there were drag queens there, Tim H (aka Miko Fanclub) and Rick V (aka Glace Chase). They did a show together.  Not really drag queens in the strictest sense, more gender bender performers and very entertaining.  I asked them if they wanted to take part in the book and they were both into it.    Rick’s going to play “Nora Narmoff” in a couple of weeks.   Yesterday was Tim’s turn a Freda Peeple.

So I arrived at Tim’s house in Burke st Darlinghurst (where the party was) and he was all decked out as a colourful Statue of Liberty in a costume he’d made from a bed sheet (!)  Very funny and well put together.  He’d also gone to the trouble of making a cardboard torch and covering it with silver foil, along with a book to reproduce the real Statue of Liberty’s props, but the night before while I was in the bath going through the shoot in my head, I’d had a brainwave of Freda holding a mirror ball and a bottle of vodka – after all, Freda Peeple is a party girl at heart.  I brought the props with me and thankfully, Tim was open to the idea.  

Around 2 pm, we got in my car and drove down to the little park on the harbour at the bottom of Ithaka rd in Elizabeth Bay.  It was relatively quiet, which was good, (although Freda caused every available head to turn).   My intention was to shoot Freda standing on a pylon with the harbour and sky behind her like the real Statue of Liberty, but the sun was totally in the wrong spot and she was completely backlit when we tried it.  My Freda was in shadow and I had no plan B location!!   So we traipsed around the park, schlepping the props and equipment with us, taking pics wherever I thought could work.  Internally, I felt guilty, inexperienced and unprofessional, hoping Tim didn’t suspect I actually had no idea what I was doing.  I also discovered I don’t give very elaborate direction to talent.  I just told Tim I wanted his expression to be bright and sunny, as though he was the welcome wagon lady greeting new immigrants as they sailed into New York harbour for the first time.  “Welcome to America! Welcome to America!” I kept chanting with each press of the shutter.   For a few shots I asked him to be sexy and he turned it on like a tap.  I was working with a very talented young man and a lovely one to boot.  He did everything I asked without complaint.  In the end, I took my best pics of him standing on a bench with a cliff face behind him (the light on Freda was ideal there) and I’ll just have to push my luck with Petra to see if she’ll Photoshop the appropriate background in.  That said, at the end of today’s shoot I still wasn’t sure I had the right pic and toyed with the idea of re-shooting in another location with sky behind him.  Tim was open to it, wanting me to get the shot right.  What a honey!  Looking at the pics now though, I see I won’t have to re-shoot (I love these images!).  But it’s gorgeous of Tim to be so generous with his time and talent.  I’d like to work with him again.

Monday 3rd June

Petra spent the time over the weekend Photoshopping Queenie La Poof’s pic, putting the right head on the right body.  It looks great, but then I asked if she could also reduce the size of Queenie’s raised hand, which for some reason looks disproportionately large.  I realised I’m going to have to learn how to use Photoshop.  I’m too much of a perfectionist and will easily drive anyone crazy unless I do it myself.  I asked Petra if she’d give me Photoshopping lessons and she happily agreed (probably to protect her sanity)  Woo hoo!  In the meantime, she’s also going to take a look at putting a new background behind Freda Peeple.  

Also, messaged Jason G (stylist and make-up artist for Cher Noble and Ivana Purchase).  I suggested he use the long black black wig I got from Phil S for Cher Noble and that the red wig I got from Bill G in Melbourne for Ivana Purchase.  Jason has other ideas and I trust him.

Wednesday, 6th June

Last night I attended a Tupperware party at my friend Miriam S’s house in Bondi which I’d organised for drag queen extraordinaire Portia Turbo – an old friend who got into selling Tupperware sales some time ago to bolster her earnings and is now one of the top selling reps in the state.  I’m not surprised – Portia is witty and funny and, as it turns out, knows a shit load about Tupperware.  

There were about 10 guests there and it was a hoot.  The reason I’d organised the party was as a thank you to Portia for agreeing to a) pose for my book, not just as Portia Turbo but as the character “Drag Fairy” too, and b) for agreeing to do hair and make-up for my straight friend Bryce E, who was going to bring “Marsha Larts” to life.  I used to work with Bryce at General Pants head office and even though he’s straight as they come, he’s always up for a bit of camp fun.  He’d been one of my back-up dancers when I performed at my 40th birthday, and had readily agreed to pose in drag for a pic in my book.  Now, I believe that kind of generosity deserves to be rewarded, so I wanted Bryce to have the very best styling I could provide (with no budget!) – hence me scratching Portia Turbo’s back with a Tupperware party so she’d do Bryce’s hair and make-up for Marsha Larts in return.    The shoot is set for the 28thJuly, the day I’ll also be shooting Portia Turbo for her pic.  Meanwhile, I had no intention of buying Tupperware and still managed to leave the party $150 poorer.

Monday 11th June (Queen’s birthday holiday)  

Shot Angela Mercy and Mona Lott today – the very first pic for the book!  Greg L, my good friend and fellow drag name-phile, played nurse Angela.  I’d hired Greg’s nurse’s uniform, teaming it with purple stockings and knee high boots (unseen in the pic I want to use in the book - damn!)  And Ritchie F aka Cindy Pastel - drag ICON – played Mona Lott the patient.   After several phone calls to the P.R. department of St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst, I’d managed to get permission  to shoot in an actual ward.   I found out later that my good friend Miriam S’s sister-in-law’s brother David (!) who works at St Vinnies heard my name mentioned in the P.R. department and pulled some strings to make sure the shoot was approved.  Thank you, David!  Must say the people at St Vincent’s are lovely and I’m very grateful to them.

So I picked Greg up around 1 pm and we went to Ritchie’s apartment together where they were going to get ready.  Ritchie did his own make-up and Venda was there to do Greg’s.  It was the first time I’d been to Ritchie’s apartment.  It’s a good sized bed-sit with no overhead lighting, curtains drawn and pieces of fabric covering the lamps to bring the lighting down low, rather like somewhere a Tennessee Williams heroine would reside.  Not sure how they were going to do their make-up in such low-lit conditions but they managed.   Ritchie did his own, while Greg hired Venda to do his  They both looked very draggy – perfect.  Greg’s wig and costume were sorted.  Mona was going to wear a hospital gown we’d get from the ward. The only decision left was what hair Mona would have.  I always saw her as a dowdy house-wife.  Ritchie had several options and we settled on a red curly number.  I knew that in the 3 pics Mona appeared her costume would change so I wanted her hair, make-up and accessories to be the same for consistency.

Once Angela and Mona were ready, the four of us traipsed up the hill from Ritchie’s apartment to St Vincents – a five minute walk.  We were all in good moods and the conversation was light and frivolous, all the way through the hospital and up in the elevator.  But once we arrived on the ward, we all tacitly felt the grim energy of the place and suppressed our buoyant spirits out of respect.  The female nurse assigned to help us was sweet and accommodating, supplying us with a hospital gown for Mona and a room to shoot in (the drug resting room).   

We closed the door and cut ourselves off from the rest of the hospital - and our light-hearted moods returned.  We ended up having a lot of fun shooting.  It had been my original idea to shoot nurse Angela Mercy on the bed eating chips, bitchily refusing to share them with Mona Lott.   I took lots of shots of them doing this which was hysterical, but then the two drags started playing around using props.  There’s one pic where Angela, in airhead mode, is feeling Mona’s head with a stethoscope, with Mona looking pissed off in her comic way – I love it!!   Will probably end up using that one for the book.

Tomorrow: Ophelia Payne and Mona Lott.

Wednesday 13th June

Yesterday shot Darren P as psychiatrist Ophelia Payne, with Ritchie F reprising his Mona Lott character as her patient.  We shot at my friend Miriam S’s house.  Had a little bit of trouble working out the best way to compose the shot.  After all, psychiatrists don’t normally sit close to their patients - but to separate them too much means I’d have to move the camera back to get the whole scene in and therefore lose intimacy.  Tony T attended the shoot and he came up with the idea of Mona lying on the couch in foetal position –an inspired idea, both from a character and a composition point of view – if she’s scrunched smaller, I can move the camera in closer.

Darren and I both liked the idea that Ophelia was a complete fraud, and we decorated the wall behind her with dodgy diplomas that Darren had whipped up (he’s a very talented graphic designer): Ophelia Payne, Psychiatrist Wagga Wagga Community College; Degree in Astrology; Qualified Faith Healer; Sex Therapist.  They’re very funny and I love what they say about her character.

I supplied the outfit Mona was wearing and Darren turned up in the sexiest zebra print mini caftan and blonde afro wig supplied by his friend and drag star Courtney Act, who also did his make-up.  The idea for Ophelia’s styling was that she is a new-age psychiatrist, somewhat like Barbra Streisand in “Meet the Fockers”, only sexier and draggy and really a charlatan who doesn’t give a fuck about her patients.

During the shoot Darren wanted more direction from me, but in keeping with my newly recognised habit of distilling my direction into one pithy statement, all I could basically tell Darren was that I wanted him to look bored. Bored darling, bored!   He did a great job (and what a fantastic pair of gams!)  I loved Ritchie as Mona too – she looks so forlorn.

After I finished shooting, Tony took a pic of me with the talent.  I’m sitting in between then on the couch , yet for some reason I look half the size of them, as though I’ve been Photoshopped smaller.  Just goes to show drag queens are larger than life.

Friday 15th June

I gave the disc of Ophelia pics to Darren P to Photoshop, agreeing to look over the images myself and then talk on the phone about which pic we should use. When we talked a few hours ago, I was surprised by some of his choices although it’s good to get someone else’s perspective.  We quickly agreed on a likely pic for the book, but then things took an unexpected turn.  Darren wants to Photoshop furniture and framed certificates out and move others around in the pic – fine.  But he also wanted to make his jawline slimmer and remove his adam’s apple, airbrush the blemishes out of his legs – basically turn himself into a stunning woman.  On the phone I didn’t really react to the suggestions because I’d never thought of doing such a thing and was a little thrown.  So is it appropriate?  I needed to think about it.

I smoked a little j and proceeded to mull the situation in a candle lit bath. I’ve decided my book is about drag, not female impersonators, and there is a distinct difference.  The good ones are both Artists, but female impersonators want to pass as women and dragsters aren’t afraid to show their maleness.  I don’t want Darren to disguise his masculinity in his pic because it goes against the absolute essence of the book.   

Monday 18th June

Here’s the email I sent Darren about re: the Ophelia pic:.

Hey Darren, I've had time to go over the pics and mull over your ideas and I keep coming back to (pic number) 590 as the best base pic to work from.  I love the fact that you could be making a "she's cuckoo!" sign with your finger.  

Re your other suggestions:

- I think 583 doesn't show enough of your face to engage the viewer.
- Your face in 586 doesn't tell a clear story.  Something's going on for Ophelia, but it doesn't look like boredom.
- 597 is stronger than 596, and a hot contender.  My only issue is it may not be instantly identifiable that you're looking at your hair (it could be something in your fingers) but that's probably me being nitpicky - it's a great shot, and I love Mona in it too.  

So, given you like 590 as well, why don't we go with that?

I like Mona's face in 590 and it could stay as is - but I think I prefer her face in 618.  Would it be hard to import her face from 618 into 590? (and maybe lighten it a little?) I think it would tell a funnier story - I.e. she's so tragic and you just think she's cuckoo. :-)   Another possibility is to take the foetal position Mona pose from 620 and import it into 590, but that's probably a lot more difficult - and maybe impossible, if the angles are too different.  What do you reckon?  

I've also been thinking about your visual ideas for Photoshopping the background and your face/body and I'm steering away from doing too much.  I'll be specific:

I'd prefer you not to move the basket of seed pods (or whatever they) out of the pic because I find the background less visually interesting without it.  I'm happy, however, for you to take the frame out from behind Ophelia's head and place the "Qualified Faith Healer" pic on the wall in the empty space above the current certificates.  It's less work for you too.  I think you can get the Faith Healer Certificate from the 537 pic I sent u.  

Re: changing your jawline and removing your adam's apple - please don't! You suggestions made me think about what this book is about and I realised its a celebration of drag, not female impersonation.  As such, I want you too look like a drag queen, not pass for a woman.  Truth is, you already look gorgeous and hard to pick as a man - if you remove the subtle masculine traits present in the pic you'll detract from the essence of the book, which is, as I say, about drag.  I'd even prefer you not to airbrush the blemishes off your legs but if you must, you can, as a compromise :-)  

I hope you can understand where I'm coming from, and am happy to discuss it with you further, in person or over the phone.  

xxxB

Darren’s immediate response was this:

Easy peasy japanesey

I’ll get cracking on that tomorrow night.  :)

Saturday 16th June

Today I photographed Rick V as “Nora Narmoff” , with Ata G playing the hairy lug sleeping on her arm.  It’s a rainy day. I shot in my own home’s dining room which has raw, exposed timber house framing and a brick wall that could be made to look seedy under the right circumstances.

I’d spent a few hours preparing the area so that it looked like a warehouse sex den, organising lots of props including empty bottles of a wine, vodka, beer and methylated spirits, a mirror with powder and a videoezy card, amyl, handcuffs, cigarette butts, mull bowl, twisties just strewn about.  The disgustingly filthy-looking sheet covering them is actually an old painting drop sheet of mine. Then there are a few camp touches, like a Pam Ayers album cover (daggy 70’s poet) and a old Jewish jokes record.   I love the idea that part of the sexual debauchery that supposedly took place the previous night included the two listening to Pam Ayers.  Not many people will get it but I don’t care.  I love that these pics often have subtle jokes for anyone who sees them.

I went to pick Rick up just after 3 pm.  He lives in a beautiful old stone house in the back streets of Newtown that I have driven past for 10 years now and always admired. But I wasn’t aware that it had been subdivided into apartments.   Funny how I learned something about that building, out of nowhere.

So Rick appears in the rain outside the car with a red umbrella and climbs in wearing a flimsy leopard skin nightie, fishnets with suspenders, high come-fuck-me heels and a bottle of champagne to break the ice (so sweet!).  His own real hair was all sprayed up and teased and his make-up, although very good, wasn’t “draggy”.  I was a little concerned, just ‘cause it wasn’t a look I was used to, but I’d made a decision before I started shooting to allow participants to express their own creativity in their styling wherever possible.  It stops the pics from looking too “samey”; gives the book a better energy.

We arrived at my house and I showed him the pics I’d taken so far for the book, which he liked (phew!)  He especially liked Corby’s (Queen La Poof).  Ata arrived soon after and met Rick.  I was struck by how crazy the whole thing is, bringing disparate people together for this mad, fun, project.  Ata’s married to an old acquaintance of mine but I don’t know him well at all.  I’d seen him at a dinner party a few weeks ago and asked if he’d play the part of the hairy lug in Nora’s pic and to my surprise (and joy) he agreed.  Now that he was here I sensed he was a little nervous (as you would be), so we gave him a glass of champagne and they both smoked a cigarette outside, the butts of which were donated to the prop ashtray.  When we started shooting, Rick immediately came alive and gave a lot to the camera.  Really turned it on, like a tap.  Brilliant.  And Ata was fantastic too.  It was one of those shoots with lots of laughter between pics.  After half an hour, I know I had a lot of good shots to choose from.   On the drive home, I told Rick I was glad I’d told myself to trust talent who have passion, which he most certainly has.  I hope we can work together again.   Looking at the pics now, I’m probably going to choose one where we can’t see Ata’s face.  He’s got such a friendly, open face, seeing it may take away from the drama of Nora trying to escape the scene.

Sunday 17th June

Went to my good friends Jackie and Phil’s for lunch.  Their son Zak (aged 11) has changed his mind and doesn’t want to appear in Tia Coffey’s pic which is a concern since I now have less than a week to find a replacement kid!   I can’t blame him for backing out but what am I gonna do!!!  That said, I have every confidence I’ll find someone by next week  (please God!)  

I also brought Barby Q to photograph in Jackie and Phil’s pool area.  It’s a good location, lush and leafy.  

When I thought about turning a male doll into a drag queen for Barby Q, I was originally going to use a Mattel Ken doll – until I actually scrutinized a Ken. He’s already so girly and androgynous, he wouldn’t make any impact as a drag!   Then I remembered my old Captain Action doll – originally a 6th birthday present from my parents back in the 60’s.  He originally came with a Batman outfit that was no match for a young boy’s rough-housing over the years.  But the actual doll was still in tact and perfect to “dragify” - ruggedly masculine and handsome, with muscular limbs (hmm I just realised the Captain was my first love).

I have to say, initially I felt a bit guilty painting him, and took a few “before” photos so I could successful transform him back into the masculine action hero he once was.  Of course, now I’ve got used to him in drag and like to think the Captain’s comfortable with it.  After all, real men do whatever the fuck they want (as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone)

After painting the Captain’s face I went out and bought girls’ dolls clothes for him, but nothing seemed suitable.  So my old friend Robert Dias – a former fashion designer and whiz with a sewing machine whipped up Barby’s striped little gingham number.  The pink go-go boots Barby Q wears are the Captain’s old Batman boots painted lolly pink (you try finding drag queen shoes an inch big!). For a wig, I purchased a cheap bigger doll and scalped her.  The barbecue was made out of a pie tin, some metal tubing and metal grill.  The “coals” are peppercorns.  The lamb chops, kebabs and sausages are fashioned from Fimo modelling clay.

In one way, the actual shoot was easier than every other shoot in that talent Barby Q never moved or changed expression.  I just wanted to make sure Barby’s tongs, actually Swiss Army Knife tweezers, could easily be seen.  Turns out plastic is hard to photograph (with my simple camera and limited photographic skills).  Not sure if I got a decent shot in the end.  

Still no luck locating the drag Shelia Blige, who I want to photograph for my “S” pic.  I met her at a dance party about a year ago and she made a huge impression on me.  She had a great look and I’d gone up to her in an altered state just to ask her name.  “Shelia…Sheila Blige” she replied in her gravelly voice – fabulous!  Since then I’ve been looking for her but no one seems to know her – well, the real Sheila Blige anyway.  There’s another  Sheila Blige dragging about Sydney and I was put on to her recently - but  when I checked out a youtube video of her performing, she’s not my Sheila!   I just tried searching for her on My Space and found an Irish drag Sheila Blige – but where is my Sheila?  The search continues…

Tues 19th June

Had the Petra and Terri Fying shoot today.  Jason G played Petra Fying and the English dj Wayne G played Terri.  My original idea was to have the sisters simply threatening each other with knives.  Jason thought to make them co-joined twins getting married – genius.  I organised the knife and the axe they’re holding and Jason did everything else - make-up, wigs, styling, art direction - he even made the costume and breast–plate from fake breasts he bought from some sex shop.  Fuck he’s amazing.  We shot in his apartment, which he made look like a cheap reception hall by closing the curtains and covering the tv table with a cloth and putting the vase of flowers on it.  The “Groom” in the pic is spunky Christophe R, a friend of Jason’s.  I suggested we use an ugly groom, but Jason wanted someone the twins would fight over.  The shoot itself was very funny.  I mean, the scene is so bizarre it put us all in a light mood.  Lots of people were there to help, including lovely Whitney. She was crouching behind the twins holding the dress closed, and in between shots Wayne G was laughing so hard he lost control and farted. Poor Whitney!  I’ll have to remember to thank her in the credits.

The ugly teeth the twins feature is a Jason trademark – he wore them when he came in drag to my 40th birthday performance party.  Love that guy!!!  We actually dated 20 years ago when we were both kids.  He’s developed into a good friend over the years.  

Thursday 21st June

I spoke to my housemate Luc about wanting to swap him out of playing drag dancer Leah Tard and into drag cop Laura Norder.  I can shoot her looking very sexily into the camera holding a piece of chalk behind a chalk outline of a drag corpse   Luckily Luc was open to the change – actually relieved and grateful.  He’s very easy going and I like him.  

My straight friend Bryce E who’s put himself up to play Marsha Larts came over yesterday and saw the pics I’d taken so far.  The first one I showed him was my nephew Ryder as Jen DerFuk.  Bryce was quite disturbed by the pic calling it “crazy out there” - and that image was meant to make him more comfortable about doing drag!   I realised his blokeyness is a barrier to doing a good camp shot and that he’d have to get in touch with his inner drag queen to make his pic work.  I have to do a “My Fair Drag Queen” on him!   Do I dare?  Despite his insistence that he wants to do drag for the book, I can’t quite believe it’ll actually happen.  I worry he’ll back down when he is fully aware of what it entails – and I told him so.  I think I’d better shut up – rather than preparing him, I’m talking him into freaking out!  But I think I’ve just realised the answer for gorgeous, lovable Brycee (my nickname for him) is the same as it is for everyone.  Find the Truth of the moment.  The Drag Truth!

In 2 days time on Saturday I’m doing 4 drag shoots in one day. Jarther’s partner, Stephen C (Holly Woodnt) emailed me tonight.  He’s going for an old Hollywood look, very Marilyn Monroe.  I steered him towards a Pretty Woman look, given the shooting script he’ll be holding in his hands.   He’s open to it but ultimately any glamorous look will work as long as it’s a Hollywood of fine quality – or trashy.  

Waiting for Hungry Jacks to get back to me re: shooting Tia Coffey there.  It was Jarther’s idea who’s playing Tia.  He reckons the kitchy décor will work for the shot.   Maybe I should call them back – only it’s so busy there and therefore logistically difficult.  I’ll probably end up shooting in that café a couple of doors up from Stonewall which will also work although the pic won’t be as stylized.  I suppose I don’t really care where I shoot. I just want to take good crisp shots!

Friday 22nd June

I went to a camera shop on York Street in the city with the intention of buying a better quality digital camera than mine.  The salesman was very helpful but I tested the cameras he showed me and the quality of pics was no better.  So I’m going to keep shooting with my existing camera, only be more aware lighting and compose shots which are tighter (‘cause they tend to work out clearest).  And I’ll use Petra V’s tripod which she lent to me.  Petra is an angel sent by God to help me.  Her generosity in advising me, Photoshopping pics and teaching me the program has been of incalculable value.

Also, called Hungry Jacks head office back and spoke to lovely Elaina who gave me permission to shoot in the Oxford St venue – Jarther will be happy; it’s his first choice.
 

Sunday 24th June

I did the four shoots yesterday! FOUR in one day!!!!   Tia Coffey, Holly Woodnt, Wilma Butthurt and Zanna Doo.  Why?  Because Tia and Holly are a real life couple, as are Wilma and Zanna, and the two couples are friends who all wanted the fun of frocking up together. I don’t blame them – it’s a hoot.  So they all got ready in the morning, having their make-up professionally applied by make-up artists they’d hired through “House of Priscilla”, Sydney’s premier drag shop where they’d also hired their costumes.

The shoots kicked off with Tia Coffey at Hungry Jacks in Oxford st at 1.30.  Actually, Tia Coffey was meant to be an air hostess, who I was going to shoot on the same day as Yolanda Plane, but that would have meant FIVE shoots in one day, including a trip out to Bankstown aviation museum, which would have made the day impossibly long.  So Tia became a waitress.   I must say Hungry Jacks management were very accommodating, allowing us to shoot while they were open for business, but allowing us to manage the traffic so it didn’t interfere with our campery.

So Jarther turns up to Hungry Jacks in the BEST pink waitress’s uniform, blonde wig, impeccable make-up.  That man really understands drag!  And he gives such good face!  His shots are brilliant.  If I wasn’t so slack keeping backgrounds clean we could use pretty much any shot of him.  The kid in the pic who is horrified by the sight of what’s going on under Tia’s skirt is Angel W, Shauna Jenson’s grandson (iconic singer on the gay and lesbian scene which a long history in Australian music)  Angel did a great job too.  Only 11 years old but used to being around Oxford st characters so a drag queen didn’t phase him at all.  His sister Grace, 8, could have been in the shot too – I’d brought along the “Captain Action” doll I’d reworked as a drag queen for “Barby Q” as a prop for her, but she turned out to be quite shy and didn’t want to participate.  It’s probably for the best -  I mean, there’s already so much going on with the décor and the drag queen, you don’t want too much else to look at!

Next pic for the day of Wilma Butthurt, played by James D.  James is a lovely guy and he turned up with fab styling – kind of like Joan Collins in Dynasty.  No wig, just a camp hat. I shot him at the Pleasure Chest sex shop on Oxford st.  The staff there are also very friendly, allowing us to take anything out of its packaging if we wanted to use it in a shot.  I had originally envisaged Wilma looking quizzically at the smallest dildo imaginable.  I’d bought the prop from another sex shop a week earlier, and asked the sales guy who normally bought them.  His response: Chinese women.  Anyway, I took lots of shots of James looking at the little member and his performance was brilliant - the perfect blend of surprise, confusion and reserve.  But then we took a mother-fucker dildo out and had Wilma comparing the two – and I suspect the shots are ever stronger.  There’s a few very good pics to chose from, the best position to be in.

Halfway through the shoot we were joined by the other two drag queens I was shooting that day; Jarther’s partner Stephen C and James’s partner Jeremy S.  Like the two drags I’d already seen that day, they’d also gone to a lot of trouble and looked amazing.  Their efforts humbled me - all for my little book?  I even felt a little guilty for not contributing to the expense, but they weren’t complaining and ultimately they get the glamour of being in the book (I hope!)

Carla D, my director friend, also attended the Pleasure Chest shoot.  Her mother died last week from cancer and I attended the funeral last Thursday.  It occurred to me that Carla may get a kick out of witnessing this drag circus.  During the shoot, she sat quietly at the back on the room but I hope she found some distraction from it, maybe even a little entertainment.  That was my intention and I hope she saw it in that spirit.

So, after I finished Wilma’s shoot, all larger-than-life drag queens piled into my tiny Honda Accord and we sped off to Bondi Beach for Zanna Doo’s shoot.  Jarther wanted to stop off for a drink along  the way, (as was his wish between every shoot!) but it was 4 o’clock by this stage and we didn’t have much light left in the day, this being winter and all.  

I wasn’t sure how things would go shooting Jeremy as Zanna Doo at this point.  He seemed quite reserved and cool towards me but I suppose I have to take into account he’s a complete stranger doing drag for the second time in his life (the first was for a party in Berlin), and we’d only just met.. Still, I wasn’t clicking with him, say, in the same way I felt comfortable with his partner James (Wilma) soon after we met.  Added to this, I was also a little disappointed at the flat black roller-skates he’d hired – not draggy at all.  But then again, are high-heeled roller-skates even available?   What can I say - thank God for Photoshop!  At least Jeremy could roller-skate, which made things easier.

My idea had been to shoot Zanna Doo at the skate rink in Bondi Beach and I’d brought along a heap of release forms for skaters to sign if they were in the shots.  But there was no sunlight left there by the time we arrived, so Zanna and I raced along the promenade to the north side of the beach where there was still sun.  The sight of a drag queen in a shimmery blue dress roller-skating along the promenade was hilarious for many passers-by ,who were all snapping pics of her with their phones.  We arrived as the north side and tried taking pics of Zanna by the elaborate mosaic wall of the kiddies pool (while the other drag queens went for a drink at the Bondi RSL).  The wall looked good and the light was lovely here, but the tide was so high waves kept crashing on to us and we had to keep jumping away from the water.  Also, the sun was  low and my shadow was interfering with shots.  We moved around so I could take pics of Zanna in different locations but nothing was popping for me and I was worried we were wasting our time; that none of the pics would be book worthy.  And this is the last pic of the alphabet so I want it to sparkle.  Luckily I spotted a flat blue wall bathed in good, even light and we took quite a few camp pics of her there.  It helped that she could lean up against the all for balance and hold poses longer.  Earlier I’d taken a pic just of the mosaic wall in case I needed it (I’m learning!) and now I can Photoshop that mosaic behind Zanna for a very colourful, camp, eye-catching composite.  Woo hoo!

After this shot I gathered up the rest of the tipsy talent from the RSL and raced off to Jackie and Phil’s house to shoot Holly Woodnt in one of their bathrooms.  It was funny arriving at their house with this glamour of drags; almost surreal.  Their 5 year old daughter Sabrina had a little friend there and they both found the spectacle fascinating.  At one point, Sabrina arrived with her Ken doll dressed in drag!  Have I scarred her for life?

When I first saw Stephen that day he looked like a 1940’s showgirl; blonde curls, short tutu dress – a great look, but not the one I had in mind for Holly, whom I saw as a Julia Roberts wanna-be - mainly because I wanted the character to be reading a “Pretty Woman” script for irony – ‘cause honey, this drag aint pretty!  Luckily, Stephen had brought along other dresses to be used as alternatives, and we could re-cycle Zanna Doo’s wig which was long and brunette.  The only issue was Stephen had never done drag before and although he looked great, he didn’t feel all that comfortable.  (the antithesis of Jarther, his partner!) and it was challenging getting a relaxed performance out of him.  At first everyone was in the bathroom behind the camera watching and joking around, but Stephen was finding it even harder to concentrate, so I kicked everyone out.  It was a littler easier now but Stephen was still nervous, wanting to chat a lot.  Lovely – but I couldn’t shoot while he was talking and it had already been such a long day. So I just kept rounding off the mini conversations and resuming my instructions on how to pose.  “Look surprised; say oooh – no, really say it!”…  I took lots and lots of shots until the odds were I had something good in the can. The good think about Stephen is he’s such an unattractive drag queen the truth of Holly Woodnt really works.  I like him.

Meanwhile, Jackie and Phil were great, entertaining the other three drag queens while Holly and I worked.  When we were finished, Jackie took pics of us all.  Then on the way out, Jarther slipped on the stairs and both his heels snapped off his shoes.  A most unfortunate dragcident!  We went straight to Fuzz Purchase and C Noble’s apartment (the future Ivana Purchase and Cher Noble) where their housemate, the gorgeous Laftani fixed Jarther’s shoes.  We had a few drinks there and Clay showed me some pics he’d taken that day at Kurnell, which is a great location for Cher Noble.  The plan is to shoot there in 2 weeks.

That night, we all ended up at the Midnight Shift for the Sydney Convicts rugby team  fundraiser - the team Fuzz started.  I donated the tiny dildo used in Wilma Butthurt’s shot as a lucky door prize.  Also, spoke to Peter S who agreed to play Miss Shapen.  Turns out he knows the real Shelia Blige, who I’m desperate to shoot for my book.  He gave me her number – I just called her and she will happily pose for me!!!  I told her how I’d been searching for her for months and that I’d confused her with another Sheila B running around Sydney.   Luckily that confusion will never be repeated.  Some time ago the original, superior Sheila threatened to run the pretend version out of town unless she changed he name (which she has).  Now you know why I love my Sheila.

Monday 25th June

I was walking past the Marrickville RSL Club today and noticed all the neon lights on the ceiling of the large entrance awning – they’re tubes of different colour neon forming squares against a shiny black background– very graphic.  It occurred to me that it could make a good backdrop for Zanna Doo, rather than the mosaic tiles; put her in an edgy, clubby context.  So I lay down on my back right there on the footpath and photographed the ceiling with people walking past me. I’m looking forward to seeing how Zanna looks in front of that background.

Tues June 26th

 
My email correspondence with Carol S today:

From: Carol S
To: Boaz
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 4:08 PM
Subject: hi

Snowed under like a mofo but just had to say:
Salma Soul?
How did the shoot go - the weekend past was the huge shoot weekend ja?
XXXXXXXXXXXX

My reply:
 

What's wrong with "Selma" Soul?  Thank you!!  I love getting gems so late into it. The weekend was the BIG shoot (and thank you for remembering!).  I'm relieved to say it went very well.  I used a tripod for the first time and I'm sure the shots benefited.  There should be a learners plate attached to my camera but I am learning.  And something unexpected has come out of it: Photoshop is going to be my next Everest.  I love the possibilities it opens up!  Photography has always intimidated me, like some foreign language I just didn't have the brain power to decode. But now that Photoshop has some into the equation, I want to understand it and feel it's achievable, because it'll help me to create better base photos to work from - go figure!  Hmm, maybe you can do anything in life if you have the right motivation...
 
Meanwhile, all that's just the tip of the iceberg.  This project is so stimulating and gratifying - a very big project that seems to have come out of nowhere and so much fun.  More than anything I'm grateful for it.  Hey, I had such a pang for you around midday today, I really did. How are you?
 
xxxB
 
PS: Don't feel you have to give me a comprehensive response.  This email can also double as my diary entry for the day :-)

My personal diary entry continues:

Also today: had a meeting with Paul Freeman (book publisher) which lasted a few hours and went well.  He liked most of the pics I took and saw possibilities in the ones he didn’t.  I realised he’s deferring to my creative choices – yay!  He’s agreed to a $500 expense account for me that the book will pay for.  I’ve probably spent that already, but that’s cool.  This project is a labour of love.

After spending the afternoon and early evening with Joah (my son)  at Ray and Max H’s (which I thoroughly enjoyed, Joah’s gorgeous as are my “in-laws”)  I picked up my tupperware from Miriam’s, then picked up Craig B (Yolanda Plane) so he could try on the stewardess outfit I got from Bill G.  We’re shooting next Saturday at the Aviation Museum in Bankstown  The first thing that struck me about him, even before he got into the car, was how attractive he is.  He came here and I showed him the pics I’ve taken so far which he seemed to like (not sure ‘cause he’s hard to read). Then Craig tied on the outfit which fits him well.

Talked to Sam K on the phone who told me our 30 year  friendship was over unless I printed the Golda pic he’s nominated. Such a drama queen.

Friday 29th June

Abe M has dropped out of playing Ivana Purchase’s husband so I asked Joe S to do it and he’s into it (phew!).  Might even ask if I can shoot it at his house, which I think will work better than Jackie and Phil’s.  Not uber stylish but a lovely home and a context I can see Ivana fitting well into.

Saturday 30th June  

Shoot day for “Yolanda Plane”.  Picked up Adam J, (who’s playing the pilot) last night and he stayed at my place.  He was a little stoned so I had a smoke and caught up.  We watched tv and passed out.  The next day we picked up Craig B (Yolanda) and Rick V who had played Nora Narmoff.  He’s good friends with Craig and had done Yolanda’s makeup, and was coming to the shoot for moral support.  Actually, Rick continued to apply make-up to Craig’s face for the entire car trip to Bankstown Aviation Museum, pouncing on it  every time we stopped at traffic lights. The make-up was good, colorful; perhaps not as clean as other drag make-up I’ve seen but worked for the part.  (Yolanda’s very stressed!).  The airhostess outfit Bill G supplied looked fab.

The trip out to the Aviation museum took 40 minutes because we got lost on the way but Adam’s an excellent navigator and worked it out.  I was just relieved we had a plane to shoot in - it had been very difficult getting a location.  I tried finding a cockpit set through Fox studios but there were none available.  Sent an email to Virgin Blue asking if I could shoot in one of their flight simulators for half an hour but they weren’t agreeable. Actually, for an airline that sells itself on its friendly,  funky personality, they were certainly unfriendly and unfunky.  Finally spoke to Ken C from the Aviation Museum who was happy for us to shoot in a plane there for a $50 donation.  Sold!  

So we arrive and it turns out the museum is a big shed next to a field of old planes.  It’s very windy!  Met Ken C, a portly, lovely older man who was very happy to help.  He showed me the DC3 he thought would be the most appropriate for me to shoot in but it’s a real plane with a very small cockpit and partitions behind the pilot seats.  I’d have to be right in that cramped cockpit area with them which wouldn’t work at all.  And the windows are very small so I couldn’t shoot from outside looking in.  Hell!  Luckily inside the hangar shed there were lots of other aircraft, including a 2-seater helicopter with large windows and knobs and dials.  We could shoot in there and I could make it look like a plane later – I hoped!  There were mannequins wearing old airline uniforms.  Ken allowed Adam to wear one of the pilot caps on display for the shoot.

So Craig and Adam clambered into the helicopter and I choreographed them.  Ken offered to slide open the hanger doors for natural light but then I’d have a backlighting issue to contend with, not to mention the wind, so I opted to shoot with the doors closed and Photoshop in some sky later – along with everything else!

I started shooting and it turned out Craig couldn’t quite give me the comic facial panic I wanted.  Rick and I kept giving him direction, reminding him of the mental state Yolanda was in, i.e.  “There are 1000 people’s lives in your hands!”, “You can see the control tower!”, “You have to save all these souls!”  I think I got something in the end and I can see more in his eyes in the pics than I could in the moment, but he’s a film actor and therefore more used to subtlety I suppose.  In hindsight, I should have instructed him to give me over-the-top, camp, funny panic, but I hope I got something usable. Live and learn.

After the shoot I had trouble unscrewing my camera off the tripod and asked Craig for help.  He showed me how to simply unclip the plastic pad – fuck, I’m an amateur!  I know nussink! Nussink!   

Before we left the Museum I took pics of the sky and the DC3 outside for Photoshopping later.  Tonight whilst I lay in the bath, I noticed the toy plane my French friend Christophe gave me a few years ago.  It’s metal and in very good nick. I’ll photograph the nose tomorrow and see if I can use it for the shot.  I cleaned it very carefully with a soft tooth brush.

Craig B is also going to be playing Tanya Hide in the UmaToosh-Hertz pic.  I should get another make-up artist to do do Craig’s face for that shoot to give the character a completely different look from Yolanda.

Sunday 1st July

Tried dropping Zanna Doo in front of the neon lights I photographed from the Marrickville RSL ceiling and it’s not working.  Her lighting is wrong.   Hmm – I shot her at dusk, I need to put her in a sunset setting.  I’m going back to Bondi Beach later to see Joah – will photograph the beach at dusk and see if Zanna works in front of it.  After all, Olivia in the original Xanadu film spent time on the beach, didn’t she?  I seem to have some memory of it…

Monday 2nd July

Looked at some online some tutorials about Photoshop today:  Selecting, using layers, retouching.  Petra’s been great showing me how to do stuff but I want to know more, sooner.   I realise now just how much I missed expressing myself visually and I’m absolutely loving it.

Monday 9th July

Last Saturday (7th) I had a very disorganized shoot for Richard F as Uma Toosh-Hertz and  Adam L  playing Tanya Hyde.  The only costume piece I had was a school uniform (sent up from Melbourne  by my niece Jade), although Richard and I went shopping for school socks and pink undies (not used in the pic).  Craig B who plays Yolanda Plane was originally meant to play Tania Hyde, but had to drop out of ‘cause the shoot ended up being organized very quickly while Richard was in town again from Byron Bay - so it was a mad scramble getting someone to play Tanya at the last minute.  Umpteen phone calls later I just happened to be having a social chat on the phone to my old friend Adam L and it occurred to me he’d be good.- smaller than Richard and thin so would make a funny contrast.  Adam wasn’t sure he wanted to do it, so I reminded him he once told me he loves new experiences, and he came around.  On the morning of the shoot, I met Adam at the House of Priscilla and hired some dominatrix boots for him ($30).  I reused the red wig from Yolanda plane for Uma, just putting it in pigtails. I thought my friend Phil S’s punky “Joan Jet” wig would be an appropriate dominatrix look for Tanya - but Adam took one look at it and couldn’t hide his disappointment.  He said he’d have a go at fixing it and gave it a valiant effort at the flat in Bondi where we went to have both characters’ make-up done by a friend of Richard’s, Claire (“Frou Frou”).  Adam did the best he could with the wig, but it still wasn’t quite right.

When the two drag queens had their make-up applied, we drove to Surry Hills to the warehouse apartment of a real dominatrix, A.W. who’s a friend of Richard’s.  Turns out A.W. had a severe black bob wig for Adam to wear, as well as a complete school marm outfit.  Actually, she has a whole area at the back of her apartment devoted to dominatrix outfits for any occasion - amazing!  She dressed Adam up and he looked very convincing.  We shot in A.W.’s actual dungeon, with authentic props she uses in her line of work.  Hospital scenes, school equipment, jars full of weird looking witchy stuff, torture instruments, whips.  It’s incredible to see what’s going on in this city; the places people live and the things they get up to.  A.W. was very helpful and then left us to it, which I appreciated – having her around made me a little nervous cause she’s so knowledgeable in these matters!  During the shoot I kept slapping Richard’s bare arse ‘cause it was fun to do, although my official excuse was it was so he would stay in character as Uma.  He was already in pain from having to kneel at that wooden prayer pew (or whatever you’d call it – A.W. told us she got it from a Cathedral - St Mary’s?)  Poor Adam was in even more pain than Richard from the uncomfortable boots and the tight corset A.W. put him in.  A.W. told me that the pain a working dominatrix suffers from her get-up can work in the fantasy as well; i.e. she’s in pain, so she inflicts pain; finds an outlet for it.  The pics worked out very well.  I just need to Photoshop Richard’s face so it’s a little darker and his arse a little lighter, perhaps put some whip marks on it!  Despite the disorganization of the shoot, I’m happy with the result.  Deep down I trusted it would work out.  This project seems blessed

That night, I went to Stephen C’s’ 40th birthday party with Richard F, still on a high from the shoot.  Richard and I get along very well – I have a personality crush on him.  People kept coming up to me at the party and asking me about the book, having heard its happening.  I must say (again!) I feel very grateful to the universe for the experience.  Things turned a little sour when Rick M came up to me and told me he’d like to be photographed as “Sarah B Palsey”.  My first reaction was to improve the name to “Sarah Belle Palsey”, but pointed out I already had my “S” drag – Sheila Blige.  Rick insisted his drag pic character was better and took it up with me later, this time trying to whip up a playful boycott against the book because I wasn’t giving in to him.  I walked away with a dismissive “Whatever”. But there’s no way I’m giving up my precious “Sheila Blige” – the drag I’ve been stalking for months– for Sarah B Palsey - a tacky image without wit or charm that would, by definition, make fun of people with an unfortunate affliction.  That’s not what I’m about, or my book!  

The next day, Sunday July 8th, I did two more shoots (fuck I’m busy)  Ivana Purchase and Cher Noble – a couple in real life and dear friends who were part of the first meeting to assign drag names to picture possibilities.  It gave me great pleasure to shoot them, since I gave them both their drag names. Ivana is played by “Fuzz” Purchase, so Ivana seemed a natural fit.   And how Cher came by his drag name is a good story.

I met Cher (aka C Noble) when he gatecrashed my 33rd birthday party.   It was a very special party in itself – my father had died some months earlier and this party, held in a glamorous Surry Hills warehouse decorated with huge metal sculptures that had been commissioned for the Australia Diamond Awards, was a much appreciated show of love and support from my friends (I Love you all!)

Anyways, Greg L (who was single at the time) was driving to the party when he stopped at some traffic lights and noticed a cute young man walking along the street.  They smiled at each other, the lights turned green and Greg kept driving.  But then he thought, hang on, that guy was cute and interested!  So he did a loop of the block, found the cute young man walking along the street again and pulled over.  The dialogue when something like this:

Greg: Hi, I’m Greg.
Cute Young Man: I’m C
Greg:  Hi C, what are you doing?
C:  Just on my way home.
Greg: Want to come to a party?
C:  Sure!

So, he jumped into Greg’s car and accompanied him to my party.

When Greg arrived, he introduced me to C and the conversation went exactly like this:

Greg: Happy birthday Boaz!  This is C.  I just picked him up on the street.
Boaz:  Hi C, welcome.
Greg: He doesn’t have a drag name!
Boaz:  Hmm, what’s your surname, C?
C:  Noble.
Boaz: (ponders)  How about Cher!  As in Cher Noble, a nuclear disaster waiting to happen again!
C:  I like it!

And a drag name was born.

Turns out Cher (which he is now commonly called) had a boyfriend – Fuzz.  The 2 are seemingly physically mismatched, given Fuzz is a strapping 6’4” rugby player and Cher is 5’8”.  But they’re amazing together, loving and committed, and I can only aspire to sharing such a strong bond with my future partner (where are you already?)  Cher and I struck up a friendship that night that really took off when we both participated in the 1995 Mardi Gras Marching Drags parade float – but that’s another story.  When Cher first introduced me to Fuzz, I immediately recognised as the tall, handsome strawberry blonde spunk I’d been ogling in a Belvoir St play audience some years earlier.  Now normally I’m not good at remembering names or faces, particularly those of people I haven’t actually met.  But Fuzz is so distinctive looking he’d made a lasting impression.  

Anyway, back to the shoot day.  Cher, Fuzz and I all met at 9.30 am in Jason G’s apartment.  Jason worked on Fuzz’s hair and make-up, did an impeccable job, then smudged the eye-liner to make it look like Ivana had been crying.  When Fuzz was ready, he and I drove to a house in Rose Bay to do the shot while Jason got to work on Cher Noble’s hair and make-up.  Fuzz and I soon arrived at Joe S’s house – Joe, the brother of a good friend of mine, was playing Ivana’s “husband”.  I set them up and started shooting and Fuzz really got into character as Ivana, crying and bemoaning the fact that she couldn’t purchase – he was so funny!  Really made me laugh – but just looking at him was hysterical.  If there’s one thing I love, it’s a lumbering drag queen in a pink chiffon frock!   And Joe was suitably stern.  I love this shot!   Unfortunately during my hyper-excitement I accidentally broke one of Joe’s glass candle holders– my first shoot breakage.  I’ll replace it, of course.

After the shoot was over, Fuzz and I drove back to Jason’s, where he was putting the finishing touches on Cher’s glamorous, Baltic beauty queen look.  He did a brilliant job (there’s my gratitude again). I’d made the green fur 3-breasted bikini and it looked a treat. We didn’t have a location locked down for Cher’s backdrop but both Cher and Jason were sure we’d find something around the oil refinery at Kurnell (it had to look industrial).  The only potential disaster came from the ominous grey clouds brewing outside – we were shooting outdoors and had to beat that rain.
 
Fuzz defrocked and left to play football, and Jason, Cher and I hopped into my car and sped off to Kurnell, all keeping a nervous eye on those damn clouds.  We stopped at various industrial settings to see if they were suitable for shooting but knew we hadn’t found the right one.  At one point a light rain came down but only lasted a few minutes and then abated  - but with a niggling promise to return with greater density and longevity.  We had to press on, driving around Kurnell in search of the ideal backdrop to Cher’s campery.  And then we found it – a location that perfectly framed a part of the refinery except for a damn chain mail fence that kept out trespassers and blocked our view.  Plucky Jason spied a hole in the fence big enough for a drag queen to fit through and I bit the bullet, despite visions of the 3 off us being sprung trespassing and hauled off to the police (with Cher in a 3 breasted fur bikini and heels so actually worth it, in hindsight!)  

Before we entered the forbidden zone, I asked Cher to remove the underpants he was wearing underneath his bikini bottoms as they’d surely show in the finished pic.  Actually, I had to take his undies off for him cause he had false nails on.  Once he was standing there naked except for a 3-breasted lime green fur bikini top, stilettos, and a full face of drag make-up, I yelled, “Let’s get outta here!” as a cue for Jason and I to jump in the car, speed off and leave Cher stranded.  A joke of course, but imagine!

Cher finished getting dressed and light rain was spitting down.  Thankfully I’d brought an umbrella to protect our star.  When the rain died down a little we started shooting.  Turns out Cher’s pose was difficult because of our conflicting agendas.  He wanted a three quarter body twist to make himself look slimmer in the bikini - but I required his upper chest to be facing me squarely to make the most of the 3-breasted joke.  Added to this, I wanted a bright smile and for him to raise the martini glass high in the air so it would be clearly visible against the grey sky.  I just kept barking instructions at him:  “Twist your body more; hold your glass higher!  Move it to the left!  Smile more!  Energy!  Twist your body more! More!! MORE!!!”   Poor Cher, but let’s face it, beauty - as they say - is pain.

Looking at the pics now, I didn’t get my wish list in one shot.  But it just requires a head swap to make it right.  And maybe a red, graduating sky.  I spoke to Adam L who plays Tanya Hyde and is a whiz at Photoshop, organized to pick him up on Saturday morning and bring him back here so he can do some Photoshopping (it’s all starting to add up and it’s doing my head in!).  He’ll also give me some lessons, so I can become more self sufficient.  Can’t wait!

Meanwhile looking at Cher and Ivana’s shots, I can truly say Jason Gardner is a genius – his styling is world class and he did everything for free.  What a gorgeous friend and human being.

Tuesday 10th July

Today I called Dallas Dellaforce (Daniel C) who’s name keeps coming up to play a character.  Last time I called him I left a message and he didn’t get back to me, but then I heard he was being a “boy” for some photo shoots for the gay press.  I’ve seen them – he’s incredibly versatile!  Turns out he’s doing Peter S’s make-up and wig for “Miss Shapen”, so I called him to see if he was interested in doing “Robyn Banks” (now that Mitchel B has officially dropped out - via email today).  Dallas’s boy shoots are over and he’s interested.  I’ll bring the Clarence Chai gold lurex batwing dress to the Miss Shapen shoot in the hope it’ll clinch the deal.

Wednesday 11th July

Spent all day working on the Yolanda Plane pic, using the pic of the toy plane Christophe gave me to create a context for her.  I thought it looked okay until Adam J who plays the pilot came over and said it looks like shit (well not in so many words but that’s what he meant)  He’s right!  I don’t mind it looking fake, but it has to look good fake.  I have to find the right pic of a real plane nose – it’ll make all the difference.

Saturday 14th July

Computer whiz Charlie K came over today and installed my new widescreen monitor which I purchased to make Photoshopping easier.  I used to work with him and he still helps me out whenever I have computer issues.  Such a generous, cool guy, I love him.   He’s an absolute genius too – I wish I knew a tenth of what he does when it comes to technical stuff.  Then I tested my new screen out on Cher Noble’s pic – makes such a difference!  

Spoke to Carlos S  (my young talented designer friend and Photoshop expert), who advised me on how to do a graduating red sky.  It’s a bit tricky getting the gradient angle and intensity right when you don’t really know what you’re doing but I’m learning.  

Sunday 15th July

Finally photographed Greg S as Sheila Blige!  Got to her apartment in Victoria St Kings Cross and was greeted at the door by an older woman who informed me Sheila was still out having her make-up done by Venda Machine ($30 instead of the $40 she charged Greg L for Angela Mercy’s make-up job) The older woman invited me in to wait with her and another guy in his 20s.  We all sat together in the lounge room but they weren’t very conversational so we just sat in silence watching TV.  Five minutes later Sheila arrived and got dressed very quickly. I wasn’t sure about her look at first - I was worried she wasn’t tarty enough.  But she photographed very well.  We did her pics in the doorway of “Porky’s” in Kings X – I’d got permission from a doorman earlier, but he wasn’t there when we took the pics.  As a model, Sheila was very calm, changing poses effortlessly, using the door frame very well. We got very little reaction from passers-by in the Cross (at 2 pm on a Sunday afternoon).  One young girl asked for a photo with Sheila, which we granted, and then it was back to the shoot.  I’m very happy with the results. I got the whole Porky’s neon sign in – a fantastic graphic look - but when I look at the pics now, I realise it’ll be best to crop it.  Given the small format of the book, Sheila looked too little in the scheme of things.  Also better with all Porky’s signage Photoshopped out, given I only had verbal permission to use the location from some random doorman.  I don’t want their management to see the pic and sue me or something.
 
After Sheila’s pic the two of us went up to Peter S’s apartment up the road, behind the Pallisade apartment that I stayed in when I first moved to Sydney in 1984.   Peter is bringing Miss Shapen to life.   There had been a short period of panic earlier when Peter hadn’t been able to contact Daniel C, his make-up artist and, as I say, an amazing drag queen in his own right.  Daniel was running late and not answering his phone.  Turns out he was helping paint a friends apartment and knew in the back of his mind he was meant to be doing something else…

Eventually he checked his phone and called Peter back and came straight over.  He gave Peter a brilliant look with 2 wigs, one for a fringe and one with a blonde afro which is very funny.  I shot Miss Shapen in Peter’s bed and he was highly entertaining; gave lots of different horrified looks.  I don’t see enough of Peter.  I actually adore him.   I took lots of pics and am sure I’ll be spoilt for choice.  After the shoot I jumped into bed with Peter and Miss Shapen and Daniel took a pic of us.  It’s great!  

Also got to show Daniel the Clarence Chai gold lurex batwing dress I want Robyn Banks to wear and he likes it, but says he wants to think about it some more.  Fingers crossed…   

Friday 20th July

Daniel C called and has agreed to play Robyn Banks.  I gushed with so much gratitude I’m a little embarrassed.  

Sunday 22nd July

Photographed Glenn L aka “Miss 3D” as Xena Phobic in Monique H’s back yard (the mother of my son).  At first I thought it was going to be difficult getting enough lesbians to be in the shot, after Monique suggested it was a lot to ask of people to be there at lunch time on a Sunday.  But the way I see it is this:  If people can make it, great – if not, fine, I’ll organise others.  No matter what time of day a shoot is happening, it’ll be convenient for some and inconvenient for others.  So I got the numbers of her friends and called them, and turns out they were all fine about it. I had my lesbians!

Then this morning, a distressed Glenn called – he was feeling emotionally and physically unprepared (he’s had a bad week, and hadn’t organised hair curlers for the 1950’s inspired look we’d decided upon for the shoot.)  I settled him down, assuring him he could wear a normal wig and gently pointed out it hadn’t been easy organising all the lesbians to be there and that if he could find it in his heart to go ahead…  

Thank God he could, and I picked him up at 1.15.  The shoot went well, with Mon’s friends and (straight)  Aliza, Adam J’s friend from school who has short hair and a very sunny disposition.  I love the shots.  The lesbians are all just relaxing having a laugh, a beer and some pretzels, but Xena still regards them fearfully as she pokes her head over the fence.  Very funny. Just needs a bit of Photoshopping to get all the best lesbian faces into the one pic.

Monday 23rd July

Petra showed me how to make dust in Photoshop and added it to the Vi Brator pic.  Makes it so much better!

Wednesday 25th July

I’ve looked at more tutorial online and now know how to use the dodge tool and appreciate the benefits of creating layers and then playing with their transparency to create effects/desired results.

Thursday 26th July

Ploughed through more online tutes.  Need your colour altered?  Saturated?  Desaturated? Want to know how to use the magic wand most effectively?   Create believable shadows?  Talk to ME!  

Sunday 28th July

Shot 3 pics today – Portia Turbo, Marshal Larts, and Barby Q (again). I realised I hadn’t got the best pic of Barby Q last time I tried and lets face it, she’s easy to shoot. Always ready, available and never complains. I only had limited time with Portia and Marsha since they both had other commitments, so everything had to be organised like a military operation.  We all met at Jackie and Phil’s house in Vaucluse at 1 pm. The plan: Portia would do Marsha’s make up while I shot Barby Q outside by Jackie and Phil’s pool.  Then I’d have 20 minutes to shoot Portia on the street outside their house being “run over” by a Porsche (supplied by Gary H). Then Marsha and I would dash off to Bondi Junction (20 minutes away by car) to shoot in the Trilogy Academy gymnasium.  My old friend Tux who runs it generously opened it up for us specially.

It was very entertaining watching Portia doing hair and make-up for Bryce who’s as straight as they come.  Bryce is such a trouper, I love him.  And Portia did amazing things with the wig I’d bought for Bryce to wear. Portia took one look at the fleuro red bob (also worn by Angela Mercy), guffawed that it was a “’clown wig”, then proceeded to spray and hair-pin it till it looked like an Asian-inspired masterpiece.  I left them to it while I shot Barby Q, then came back to find Jackie, Phil and their 3 kids watching Bryce being transformed from straight bloke to stunning Marsha.  I had made Marsha’s costume by sewing feather boa trims on to a real kung fu wrap-around uniform that belonged to Bryce’s friend.  I then proceeded to stick false nails on Bryce’s fingers while Portia finished making him up.  When we were done, Bryce looked stunning – but despite the heels, still very blokey in the way he moved.  What he needed was a crash course in Drag, and who better to give it to him than Portia Turbo, Drag Queen extraordinaire and winner of numerous DIVAs (Drag Industry Variety Awards) including “Best Show”, “Best Show  Cast”,  “Best Diva Moment” and 5 consecutive “Bitch of the Year” awards.

So we relocated outside to the street.  Portia got under Gary’s Porsche and proceeded to mug for the camera as only a true drag star can – so CAMP!!!!  And after 10 shots, she got out from under the car and announced the shoot was over.  Fair enough – I was bound to have at least one good shot from that lot.  The intention is to Photoshop a whole new urban background behind Portia so it doesn’t look like she’s being mowed down in a leafy suburban street.  I’ll have to scout around for a good backdrop.  Have an idea to put a funeral parlour behind her and called it “Dianne B Buried” funerals – squeeze as many gags into the pics as possible.  And looking at the shots of Portia now, she’s looking a bit static.  I might Photoshop a bag flying through the air and stuff flying out of it so make the pic look more dynamic.  So now there’s a new question:  What’s funny to see flying out of a drag queen’s hand bag?  I’ll have to think about that.  So many decisions; it’s endless.

After Portia’s shoot, she took off leaving Marsha and I to high-taill it over to the Trilogy Academy gym in Bondi.  It’s in the mall in Bondi Junction, so no chance of parking right outside.  I parked 5 minutes walk away and what a sight it was seeing straight Bryce clip clopping in full drag through the busy street. People gawped and I loved it.  Bryce was self conscious but I like to think he secretly enjoyed it too.   Problem was it was very windy and so Marsha’s Asian inspired hair-do was fast becoming a wind-blown hair-don’t, and Portia was no longer around to fix it.  No matter, I thought, we’ll deal with it once we’re indoors.

We arrived at the gym and 11 year old Maui S – the little boy in the pic - was waiting for there for us with a young friend and his father Charlie, along with gym owner Tux.  It had been very difficult finding a little Asian boy to appear in the pic.  I asked every groovy Asian friend I have if they have a young family member or friend who would do it, but no one came up with the goods.  Then luckily I spoke to Tux, who not only provided me with a gym to shoot in (complete with Asian imagery on the walls), but also knew Maui.  Life saver!  

So we set the shot up and I start taking pics and soon realised it’s hard getting  a camp performance out of blokey Bryce.  And it’s exacerbated by the fact that he had to look camp and kick (in heels) at the same time.  Lighting wasn’t brilliant either.  In between set ups, Maui and his friend played around doing karate kicks like typical kids.  But when we we shooting, Maui was fantastic, giving great ‘shocked” face in reaction to the split wood block.  We shot for about an hour before Bryce had to go.   I took a lot of pics hoping at least one would shine, but looking at them now I can see we didn’t get it.  The lighting was too dark (must learn how to light!)  and Bryce, God love him, can’t kick and look camp at the same time.  The solution:  I’ll reshoot Bryce as Marsha at home and then photoshop him into the pic – if only Bryce will agree to frocking up again… Hopefully he’ll be like Cindy pastel and do it for Art.  

Wednesday 1st  August

Spoke to lovely Rachel from the Art & Technology of Make-Up College cause I need a make-up artist to help out with shoots.  She recommended a talented young ex-student called Samantha Nowiczewski, and I left my details for Samantha to call me.  She did and I’ve booked her for Eunice Icle’s shoot this Sunday.  She’ll do it for the experience and she sounds great.  Someone up there’s looking after me.

Sunday 5th August

Shot Eunice Icle today, at the Colombian hotel in Darlinghurst.  The staff there were very accommodating, opening up the cocktail bar for us so we could shoot in peace away from the patrons downstairs.  The concept for the shot was a drag queen on a unicycle in a bar surrounded by admirers – so camp!  Now, the only person I know who can ride a unicycle is Guy G – an old friend, brilliant composer and music producer.  He did the score for Stephan Elliot’s film “Priscilla Queen of The Desert”.  Even though Guy is straight, (and married with 3 kids) he was happy to frock up and bring Eunice Icle to life – I just had to organise his costume, hair and make-up and he’d bring the unicycle.  

I picked make-up artist Samantha up from Fox Studios and immediately felt comfortable with her. She’s a cool chick.  We drove to the Colombian, met Guy there and she got to work on him while I set the shot up, organising the drink props and chatting with the extras in the pic – brothers David and Arieh E and J D, a guy who was drinking downstairs in the public bar, noticed that some activity was happening upstairs, went to investigate and offered to be in the pic too.  I was also meant to be in this pic as one of Eunice’s admirers – but another extra, Richard L,  didn’t bring a dress shirt to wear as I’d asked (I wanted Eunice’s admirers to be up-market)  so I lent him my shirt.  Ironically, looking at the shots now I don’t think Richard’s placement is working so I’ll most probably end up Photoshopping him out.  

The “clown dress” Guy wore came from my sister Iris’s closet.  She’d bought it from the shop Clarence Chai in Melbourne in the 1970’s and it was perfect for Eunice. In fact, I’ll be using several of Iris’s dresses from Clarence Chai – I’m going to have to thank Clarence in my credits.  The wig and shoes were hired from House of Priscilla.  Hmm, you’d think they’d be giving me a discount by now.

The shoot itself was fun.  For a straight man, Guy certainly understands camp and is comfortable enough in his own skin to go for it.  I’d invited a good mutual friend, Alex S, to come to the shoot and he used his shmick expensive camera to take action shots of Guy unicycling around the room.  They’re funny.

Monday 20th August

Went to Ritchie F’s (aka Cindy Pastel, aka Mona Lott) 50th birthday party last night at Slide nightclub.  Ritchie was dressed up like a sexy cowgirl in a mini skirt and high shoes.  Very glamorous and kinda strange!   Lately I’m used to seeing Ritchie as Mona Lott, dowdy whinging housewife – so to see him all glammed up and confident was disconcerting – like Mona had had a make-over and it had gone to her head!  He’s so talented. There were a lot of faces there I hadn’t seen for a while, like Kieren, the mother of Ritchie’s son Adam, who is in his mid 20’s now.  She’s always lovely. I’m going to give Ritchie a framed print of him as Mona with Angela Mercy for his birthday present.

Also checked out Slide as a location to shoot Robyn Banks in.  It used to be a bank and there’s still a safe there.  It’s not an ideal location cause space is tight where the safe is, but the management is very friendly (managed by Claire De Lune, French drag icon), and gave permission for me to shoot during the day when the place is closed.  Hopefully Daniel C will be available to do it next Saturday.

Tuesday 21st August

Spoke to Daniel who is available next Saturday for the Robyn Banks shoot – woo hoo!  I’m already doing a couple of shoots on the Sunday but I don’t care.  Very excited to see Daniel as Robyn, he’s such a genius.  Just have to call him later in the week so he can tell me what time on Saturday he’s available.

Friday 24th August

Called Daniel yesterday to lock down a time we can shoot at Slide tomorrow – he still hasn’t called back.  Tried calling again now and left another message.  It’s a very disconcerting feeling.  I wanna lock this down!

Saturday 25th August

Well, it’s Saturday afternoon and Daniel still hasn’t got back to me.  Fuck him.   He knows how much this shoot means to me and he treats me like shit.

Sunday, 26th August

Re-shot Bryce E as Marsha Larts today, to Photoshop into the original pic ( as well as shooting my housemate Luc C as Laura Norder).  Under MUCH SUFFERANCE (or so he said) Brycee finally agreed to frock up again. When he resisted, I just pointed out it was his pic and he should want it to look as good as poss, and if he really didn’t want to do it again, I’d have to recast – so he crumbled)  Portia was unavailable to do his hair and make-up again, so make-up artist Samantha Nowiczewski took over, and my hairdresser friend Adam L (who plays Tanya Hyde in the Uma Toosh-Hertz pic) restyled the wig.  Both of them did an amazing job. I hung a dark green sheet against a wall in my tv room and propped Bryce up against it.  His instruction: look camp while Luc held up Marsha’s kicking leg by the foot.  That way, Bryce didn’t have to worry about kicking or balancing, and just give good face.  (I’ll Photoshop Luc out of the image of course)  Looking at the new pics of Bryce now, I’m sure I have something usable.

Also, I had trouble sticking Bryce’s false nails on this time, but I can Photoshop fingernails from the last shoot on to his hands in the pic I choose from today.

After Bryce was done, I shot Luc as Laura Norder out in the back alley behind my house.  Samantha did his make-up too, and I just used a blonde wig from my friend Phil’s collection.  His policewoman’s costume was cobbled together from things I’d hired and had in the house from other shoots (his skirt is the same one worn by air stewardess Yolanda Plane) Luc had never done drag before either but was naturally camper than Bryce, being gay, and a dancer/theatre performer.  You should have seen how he showed Bryce how to look camp during a karate kick!  Actually, Luc was originally going to play a drag dancer called Leah Tard, but we couldn’t find a camp enough leotard for him to wear so we ended up going with Laura.

Earlier I’d gone out and drawn the chalk outline on the asphalt but by the time we got to shooting, the outline was half in shadow, What can I say? Photoshop!  The police tape is real, supplied by the NSW police force, who were very helpful.  I picked it up from the police station in my street and it adds a realistic touch.  Took lots of pics of Laura, the main issue being the sun in her eyes.  I kept giving her one direction over and over again: Sexy!  I think I got it.  

Tomorrow; Sum Ting Wong!

Monday 27th August

Had my last Mona Lott shoot today with complaints clerk Sum Ting Wong, played by Teerasak G, better known around town as drag queen Miss Tiffany.  It took me some time to find an Asian drag queen to bring Sum Ting Wong to life.  Originally I had conscripted Robert D to play her (who made Barby Q’s dress).  Robert said he was into it, but of course when it came to nailing him down to an actual shoot date he was nowhere to be found and wouldn’t return my messages.  He’s like that so I half expected it.  Then I happened to be in House of Priscilla and asked Chelsea Bun if she knew any Asian drags.  She put me on to Teerasak who happened to work there too.  Luckily Teerasak was into it.  He’s Filipino and doesn’t speak English very well, but enough to get by.  Since booking him I often see Miss Tiffany on drag show posters and advertisements around town.  I haven’t seen him perform but he’s certainly getting work.

I’d been scouting around for an office to shoot the 2 characters in.  I wanted it to have an old fashioned, 1960’s or70’s kinda feel.  Then a few weeks ago I had reason to go down to the loading dock at work and saw a random little office space down there in a corner, with exactly the right kind of desk. The walls were bare but I knew I could fix that later by Photoshopping some wallpaper in or something.  After sorting out a little bit of corporate red tape, I got permission from the building managers to shoot there and my bosses at work said it was okay for the drags to come into our office and get ready.  I could also use our production company’s lighting.  It was all working out nicely.  

Before the shoot, I walked to Ritchie F’s place in Darlinghurst (a 5 minute stroll from my office) and picked him, walked back with him.  Teerasak had arrived in the interim and was waiting for us in full drag.  How funny to have these two over-the-top drag queens in my work space in the middle of the day.  

Chelsea Bun told me Teerasak was a genius with make-up and he wasn’t wrong - Teerasak’s make-up was so perfect his face looked like an airbrushed painting.  He’d even painted in eyelid shadows which looked amazing, but detracted from his Asian appearance which was a worry, especially when combined with the blonde wig he was wearing.  Sum Ting Wong wasn’t looking as Asian as I’d hoped!   But it was too late to do anything about it and she was still Asian so we went downstairs and started shooting.  The concept:  Mona has come to complain (again!) and Sum Ting Wong couldn’t give a fuck.  As usual, Ritchie was great as Mona, but Sum Ting had a little more trouble looking bored.  I think she was more concerned about photographing prettily.  But I’m sure I got something in the end.  Looking at the pics now, I can see the one I like most.  I can swivel Sum Ting Wong’s eyes a little to make them look more Asian.  Her skin looks so perfect and airbrushed, I’ll have to airbrush Mona’s skin too so it looks like the two characters exist in the same world.  There’s nothing on the desk at present – I like the idea of Sum Ting Wong’s desk being very tidy, as though she does absolutely no work whatsoever.  

Wednesday 29th August

I still haven’t heard from Daniel about why he didn’t call about last Saturday’s shoot.  I’m over my anger and am now concerned.  Is something wrong?  Is he sick?  I just called him and left another message saying I hope he’s okay.

Thursday 30th August

I walked to Sydenham station this morning and saw a beautiful, stormy sky.  Luckily I had my camera on me and photographed it to drop into the background for Kirsten Damned and Yolanda Plane’s pics.  That’s if I ever find a plane to put Yolanda in!

Sunday 2nd September

Did quite a bit of Photoshopping on Sum Ting Wong and Mona Lott’s pic.  Introduced kitch 70’s wallpaper, a clock, old fashioned push button phone, coloured pencils, and a  portrait of the queen (very government office). Also decided to change the “complaints dept” sign to “compraints dept” – something else wrong!.  Then I had an idea to put Bubby and Peter in the shot, the stuffed toys I slept with as a child – like Sum Ting is still just a little girl and not at all interested in anyone’s problems.  Poor Mona!  The pics looks good; kinda surreal.  I suspect I’m going to have to bump up other pics to match it more stylistically, like saturate colours or something.

Tuesday 4th September

Today I went with an old friend and work colleague Tracey T to the Billabong store in George st in the city, owned by my friends Jackie and Phil.  A few days ago I’d been talking to Phil about needing a good location to shoot Robyn Banks in (the Slide location really isn’t ideal) and he reminded me his Billabong store used to be an old bank with vaults still down in the basement.  So he let the staff know I’d be going in there today to photograph the vaults as a test, with Trace coming along to fill in for Robyn.  The location is great – what luck!  

Then tonight I worked on Miss Shapen’s pic, making the walls and lamp pink, saturating the colours a bit more.  Also noticed she didn’t look like she was looking down inside the doona cover enough which is a worry ‘cause the whole gag revolves around her being horrified by what she sees in there.  So I stretched open her eyes and put some white above the irises to make it look like she’s looking down more.  It’s working now – phew!

Thursday 13th September

Flew to Byron Bay last Saturday to attend Roger M’s 50th birthday party.   As luck would have it, the local airport in Ballina is old fashioned and you have to exit the plane on to the tarmac via one of those movable staircases.  When I emerged from the plane at the top of the staircase, I saw I was very close to the cockpit so I whipped my camera out and took photos of it, hoping I’d finally found my plane for Yolanda.  Just downloaded the pics now.  They could work.  

Saturday 16th September

The pics I took of the plane last weekend aren’t working for Yolanda – angle is slightly wrong.  Hell!

Monday 17th September

 
Shot Robyn Banks yesterday, brought to life by my old friend Trevor T. (Daniel C still hasn’t got back to me although I know he’s alive and seen around town - hmmph!)  Back to Trevor - this book has reconnected us.  We were good friends for years but drifted apart when I moved to the Inner West and I hadn’t spoken to him properly in a few years.  Then I called him a couple of months ago out of the blue to see if he was interested in playing Tanya Hyde.  He wasn’t available for the shoot but liked the idea of doing a character, so when Daniel dropped out of Robyn Banks without warning, Trevor took her on. One of the things I love about Trev is that he’s so easy going, doesn’t hold grudges, sweet natured and generous as a human being. It didn’t matter that wee hadn’t spoken in ages.  We just resumed up our friendship as though no time had passed at all.

I picked Trev up from make-up artist David Cranson’s house.  He’d made Trev up like a model which I liked cause it was good make-up and different to the drag make-up worn by other characters.  Once Robyn was ready we piled into my car and drove to the Billabong store I tested out a couple of weeks ago with Trace.  I brought lighting (which I’d borrowed from my production agency Nowscreen – thank you!) and it made such a difference.  My distilled direction: sexy!  Sexy!  SEXY!!  Trev seemed a little self –conscious and it didn’t help that it was an uncomfortable pose to hold with his legs crouching like that (and I only wanted that pose!)  Looking at the pics now, I can see a body pose I want to use, and a face pic from an outtake snap shot of Trev where he’s just relaxing and looking sexily into the camera.  

David had organised brunette and blonde wigs for Robyn.  Although I preferred the blonde, I shot with both to see how they looked on “film”.   Looking at the pics now, blonde Robyn definitely works best.

When we finished shooting and I went home and Trev went back to David’s house, took the drag off and went out for a drink.  Several hours and schooners later he went out to move his car and got done by the cops for DYI, ended up in a Kings Cross lock up cell for several hours.  Seems Robyn just can’t stay out of trouble!

Thursday 4th October

Last Sunday I showed Katie V the pics I’ve taken so far and she commented that the Holly Woodnt image was a little lacking in panache.   She’s right!  So today I went to House of Priscilla and photographed a clothes rack of colourful costumes.  And now I’ve just Photoshopped them into the background of Holly’s pic.  I placed a shadow on the floor of the actual rack and then placed a reflection of the rack in the mirror to make it look as though its really there.  Now the setting looks more show-bizzy and colourful – much improved.

Saturday 6th October

Shot Kirsten Damned today.  Amazing!  I got her number from Peter S who plays Miss Shapen.  How fortuitous it was bumping into Peter at the Midnight Shift (the night after I shot the 4 drags in one day).  Not only does he know everyone even remotely connected to drag, he has their contact numbers!!  I always liked the idea of shooting Kirsten and given there was real drag here in Sydney by that name, of course I wanted to offer her the opportunity of posing.  If she’d said no, I would have chosen another K name to bring to life.  If a drag queen has already claimed a name, no other drag can (knowingly) use it.  Case in point: Sheila Blige threatening to run her impostor out of town.

Luckily, Kirsten agreed to pose, and brought great ideas to the concept.  My original idea had been to shoot a wigless Kirsten outside a closed wig shop with her nose pressed up against the window, looking distressed.  But telling that story visually posed lots of problems.  How would I shoot it?  Where would I position the camera?  What time of day?  Would the reflective glass be a problem?  All too hard!  

Then I had the idea of a wigless Kirsten in a park with a cockatoo flying off with her hair.  When I discussed this with Kirsten, she liked the idea but suggested we shoot in a cemetery.  It made sense, so the cockatoo became a crow!  

The next thing I had to do was find a suitable location.  I wanted the cemetery to be old, on a slope, and quiet – some people visiting graves may not take kindly to seeing a drag queen and photographer traipsing about!  Eventually I settled on a small cemetery in the eastern suburbs and went to check out the light around 2 pm to see what direction it was coming from and whether I could shoot Kirsten with graves in the background.   I decided the best time to shoot her was around 11 am, so I’d get a good shadow and booked Kirsten accordingly.

Went to pick Kirsten up at 10 this morning.  It was so sunny!  Far too bright for the dark image I wanted to create.  But, like every other photographic issue, I knew I’d have to deal with it in Photoshop.  

Kirsten lives in an old worker’s cottage in a tiny lane in Redfern.  Her home is decorated with very beautifully crafted head-dresses she’s made for different events - they’re too elaborate to be called wigs. One such head-dress was large and featured a racing track weaving in and out of mountains – with moving toy racing cars.  Genius!  I realised I was in the presence of a very talented, unsung creative – so often the case with these people who design and make their own costumes, wigs, do their own choreography - and all with little or no budget/payment.

Kirsten was wearing an absolutely beautiful Gothic, floor length gown she’d made with lots of elaborage lace work – stunning.  I soon started feeling a little intimidated as I do when I first realise I’m in the presence of immense talent – I feel like such a fraud!  Kirsten herself was low key but friendly and I decided I liked her.  I asked her what her real name was and she repled “Kirsten Damned”.  “No, I mean your boy’s name”,  I replied.  Kirsten said it was irrelevant.  She’s changed her name to Kirsten Damned by deed poll and that’s what she’s called now.  Love it!  

We drove to pick up Adam J from a café.  (Adam is an ex of mine who posed as the pilot in the Yolanda Plane pic).  Adam’s job was to stand next to Kirsten and hold up a pole with a crow made from cardboard and a water bottle suspended from it, to cast a shadow for the crow I’ll Photoshop in later.  My fave outtakes from the shoot are the pics featuring a relaxed looking Adam holding the makeshift crow over Kirsten’s head while she acts shocked that her wig has just been spirited away –classic.  Problem was when we got to the cemetery the sky had clouded over and there was no shadow cast.  Oh well.

Encountered another problem there – the sun wasn’t in the position I’d assumed it would be in at that time, and in order to get the graves in the background, I’d have to shoot Kirsten so she was back lit – never good for me and my simple camera.  Luckily the sky was somewhat cloudy which diffused the light but the sun was weaving in and out of clouds making consistent shooting time difficult.  I ended up getting a good shot of her with a cross visible inside the space created by her raised sleeve.  I lose a lot of dress detail though which is a shame cause it’s so elaborate.  On the drive home I chatted to Kirsten and got to know him a little, a bit of family background, etc.  Apparently they have always been very supportive of him and open to letting him express himself openly – but Kirsten resented the lack of structure.  So interesting.  

Sunday 7th October

Shot Dee Pressing, who was brought to life by Paul O - after a small hiccup.  He was my original fantasy casting but he was busy doing other things and not all that excited by the prospect.  Paul used to do drag in Tokyo some years ago but hasn’t frocked up in ages; probably a been-there-done-that attitude and who can blame him. That said, he agreed to do it if I couldn’t find anyone else.  Some weeks ago I actually did do a shoot with another drag queen playing the role, and even though the pics were interesting and edgy, they weren’t how I saw my Dee – not tragic enough!!  So I called Paul again and, true to his word, he agreed to bring the character to life.  The make-up artist for this shot was Lisa McManus, who I heard about from Samantha Nowiczewski.  My brief to Lisa was to use Bette Davis from ‘Whatever happened to Baby Jane?” as inspiration for Dee’s look and I think she captured that perfectly.  I’d bought the shocking paisley dress from an opportunity shop for a few dollars and the shoes were recycled from the ‘Laura Norder” shoot (lent to me by Bill G from Melbourne  as part of the Yolanda Plane Air hostess uniform but unseen in that shot).  Lisa also helped with the styling, making Dee’s headscarf look appropriate.

My intention was to shoot in a dark, dingy and dowdy old Laundromat around the corner from where I live but discovered this morning, to my horror, that it isn’t open on Sundays!  Thus began a frantic ring-around to find a Laundromat nearby that would allow us to shoot, while Lisa worked on Paul’s make-up.  I didn’t want the location to be modern with new equipment, which made it harder, and I only had Paul for a few hours.  Eventually I spoke to a very friendly laundress from “My Beautiful Laundrette” in Newtown who was happy for us to shoot there – Phew!!  

When we arrived, the 2 Asian laundresses greeted us with open arms.  I suppose when you work in a Laundromat, a drag queen will spice things up a little.  They gave us any props we needed, and one giggled like a school girl as she watched us setting up while the other got on with her work.  Turned out the machines there were quite new, but it was too late to go anywhere else and I figured I could always Photoshop in older equipment into the pic later.  I started shooting and Paul was terrific, mugging for the camera in perfect a Dee Pressing manner.  I basically shot him from the knees up, but looking at the shots now I’m going to use the one and only shot where we can see Dee’s shoes – classic.

When we left, Paul discovered he’d got a parking ticket .  I offered to pay half but he won’t let me.

Wednesday 10th October

Today I went back to the local Laundromat to shoot the old washing machines/dryers to Photoshop into Dee’s pic, replacing the new equipment.  The Chinese woman who worked there couldn’t speak English well and refused to let me photograph her equipment, despite my insistence it was for an “art project” (why she’d have a problem with me shotting that crappy equipment, I’ll never know).  I left in a huff, did some shopping, and ended up passing her half an hour later in the street.  She noticed me and steadfastly ignored me – but I thought, Aha!  She’s not in the Laundromat now and perhaps the next shift worker would be more open to me taking pics inside.  So I high-tailed it back there and sure enough, her successor had no issue with me taking a few pics of those shitty old dryers.  I can’t wait to Photoshop them into Dee’s pic.

Tues 16th October

Finally got around to placing Zanna Doo in front of the beach shot I took at Bondi months ago.  I’ve been putting it off cause I suspected it was going to be difficult to make it work and I was worried it wouldn’t.  But…(drum roll)  I love it!  I replaced the sky with one I took on Tel Aviv beach a few years ago at sunset, with God-like sunbeams bursting through clouds.  I spent ages working out exactly where to position the sky and coloured the beams ever so slightly in pastel shades.  With the sun behind Zanna like that, I realised the shadows would have to be coming forward, so I moved all the shadows of the figures on the beach, and Zanna’s as well, not that you see much of hers which is a shame – I love shadows, but I’ve always been interested in them, even as a kid.  The last thing I did was put a slight motion blur on Zanna, as though she was actually skating.  It’s doesn’t quite make sense with the angle of her feet but that’s cool.  I think the pic looks beautiful.  Thank God!  I was so worried about it.

Tues 6th November

Photoshopped dark brooding clouds I’d photographed of the bridge at Sydneham Station into the Kirsten Damned pic, as well as the crow and “Eliza Corpse” on to a gravestone in the foreground of the shot (who died in my birthday!)  There was another grave in the background which was so plain it pulled focus, so I Photoshopped “Boaz Stark R.I.P” on to it.  Adam J saw it and freaked out, saying I was tempting fate with such a ghoulish image.  I suggested I was definitely going to die at some point, but he insisted it was asking for trouble.  My solution: to add a year of death to the inscription: 2072, which means I ‘died” at the age of 110!  If that’s tempting fate, let it happen!  Adam was happy with this outcome.  Phew. I adore Adam, he’s such a character.

Saturday 17th November

I went to Bondi and photographed paving to Photoshop into Barby Q’s pic. She’s standing on grass at the moment and the whole pic is just too green. So I’ll put the reddish paving in to counteract the green, as well as some rocks, moss and a few flowers -one of which I photographed by the beach in Tel Aviv some years ago.  I love the way these pics are benefiting from photos I’ve taken on my travels, never suspecting they’d come in handy for this kind of project.  And – proud to say – believe I’ve mastered the art of creating shadows in Photoshop.  I LOVE that program!!!  

Wednesday 21st November

Hmm have decided Eunice Ice’s beehive hairdo isn’t quite camp enough. I still have Phil S’s long blonde wig as worn by Laura Norder. I can photograph is as a pigtail and Photoshop it on to either side of Eunice’s beehive – now that’s camp!    

Later that day:

Eunice is now sporting those pigtails and the image is much camper!

Sunday 25th November

I’ve been working on Yolanda Plane’s pic for 2 solid days – I’ve been saving it til last ‘cause I’ve had several goes on it and nothing’s worked.  Until now.  The designer at work has access to online photo libraries and she purchased a high res image of a plane nose for me.  I changed the shape of the side-window slightly, and dropped in the image of Yolanda flying.  Also darkened the sky that I’d photographed ages ago over Sydenham station, created rain and lightening with Photoshop’s drawing tools.  It had been raining lightly for real outside, so I went out and photographed the rain drops on my car window, then overlaid them on the pic’s plane window, reducing the opacity so they were very subtle (but didn’t use the rain over Yolanda’s face because it made her look too blotchy.  Then I “stole” rivets from the plane pic I shot when I arrived in Ballina for Roger M’s birthday and stamped them all around the window of Yolanda’s plane for detail.  Just goes to show, nothing goes to waste.
 
Because I had to crop so much of the plane out to get close enough to Yolanda to get the necessary drama, I decided to created a little box on the corner that shows the whole plane in the midst of a storm to give Yolanda a context.  That was easy in itself, but I had to rethink the lightning I’d created for the big picture since it had to also make sense in the small insert box.   I’m happy wit the result now – it’s cartoony and fun and “good fake”.

More significantly…I’ve finished all the major work on the pics!  I’m sure there will be little adjustments here and there but the bulk of the work it over and I’m basically happy with everything.  I’ve learnt so much and ultimately I’m grateful to all the talented people who participated in this project, and taught me so much – you know who you are.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you!