Text by Tony Ward, Copyright 2023
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Behind The Scenes
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Photographs by Ernest Thomas, Copyright 2023
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The email seemed rather innocuous at first. Yet another person from social media making a query about having me take pictures of them on commission. Most of the time, things don’t pan out for one reason or another, but in this case it did.
Patrick McDougall is chief executive officer of a company he formed 25 years ago that specializes in mass transportation based in London. So why did I hear from a person on Instagram by the name of Alice? That is what piqued my interest about the assignment. Was Alice really a she? Or a he/she?
It’s complicated. The commission involved making portraits of not just one, but three separate personalities contained in one human being . To perform the task of satisfying the clients request, I assembled a great team of creatives who were able to satisfy Patrick McDougall’s wildest dreams.
Patrick arrived in Philadelphia on Friday, September 15, 2023 after a week long business trip to New York City. This would be his first visit to Philly and perhaps not the last since he reported having such a great time during his stay. My creative director, KVaughn and I met with our new client on the eve of the commission in the Gayborhood where he preferred to stay. The question was would we be meeting up with Patrick or Alice? KV and I discussed the matter on the way to meet the subject for an early dinner at Sampan. I was sure it would be Alice, because she seemed to be the most domineering of characters. Sure enough I was right. In a dimly lit street off of Locust walking towards the hotel, I noticed a very tall person with long blond hair, a pink sweater and nothing much else. We first met Alice for sure!
Yet there was a third persona to be revealed during the shoot that was to follow on Saturday. That was Lyra, the alter ego of the more sexually subdued Alice. Lyra was the raging sex queen. All of these challenges of photographing multiple personalities were met during one of the most complex commissions I’ve yet to receive.
Thanks to the crew: KVaughn (creative director) , Anthony Colagreco (lighting assistant, Miss Joy (dominatrix), Ernest Thomas (BTS: stills and video), Octavia Monroe (hair and makeup), for making this amazing shoot possible.
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