Miss Gay North Carolina America by After Six Photography Studios, DJ Bonet and Monte C.
Last month we introduced to you the work of photographer Carrie Strong. Now, we're back to introduce yet another favorite photographer of girls in the Miss Gay America system. DJ Bonet, together with his brother Monte C., are After Six Photography and based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Not only did they take the absolutely gorgeous photos of our reigning Miss Gay North Carolina America Eden Pardue-Divine (above), but they've been the photographer of choice for numerous queens in the Miss Gay America and other drag pageant systems.
Without further ado, here's our Q&A with DJ along with his top 10 (OK, 11), photos, in no particular order.
Established to aspiring MGA queens looking to up their photo game will appreciate the great advice in DJ's answer to question number 5. Enjoy!
Ariel Nicole Knight Addams
1 Why and when did you pick up the camera?
After Six Photography opened up for business approximately June of 2005 with myself DJ Bonet, and my brother Monte. We started doing photography here in North Carolina, because we saw a need for our local entertainers to have market tools and promotional materials to be able to further their brand. There were no photographers here in NC willing to photography Drag Queens, Male Illusionist, Male Entertainers or Femme Queens. There was no reason for our local entertainers to have to travel out of state in order to get the branding tools the needed. Our very first client was the late Arabia Knight Addams who helped us get our name out into the market.
Chloe Cassidy
2 Why and when did you shoot your first drag queen and who was it?
Our very first queen was Arabia Knight Addams. At the time Arabia was doing several pageants and wanted to be able to place pictures on the table at the competitions. My brother and I had just invested in cameras and were taking pictures of friends and family events and decided hey there is a market. Working in the club scene and behind the scenes for pageants, so many girls were having to use digital camera photos or cell phone pictures for flyers. We began shooting small events at a local club and offering those clubs special deals for their house cast and local entertainers so that they could have photography for flyers and events.
Katrina Kolby
3 How is shooting drag queens different from shooting women?
The biggest different with shooting drag queens/female illusionist versus shooting women is the posing aspect. There are some poses that can cause or reflect a drag queens more manliest features, such as hand size, muscles as well as even chin and forehead. Finding the correct angle for the subject being shot is one of the most important things that we consider. We try not to do major airbrushing or photoshop as we feel it is important for the person in the picture to look like the person that will show up to the booking. We make sure that anything that they client wants to be touched up is done before publishing or releasing. Also the positioning of feet makes a big difference. Men normally have bigger feet than women, so we try to pose them to minimize or cause an illusion of the feet being smaller. Lighting also makes a HUGE difference as in most pictures, men are half lit, especially for editorial photography, where as women are fully lit, so we try to full light the queens but still make sure the appearance is soft.
4 Have you even done drag?
My brother and I both own After Six Photography. I myself have done drag one time but my brother has not, and Im pretty sure his wife would be really upset about that LOL. But yes I have done drag once, it was for a show at a local club where they picked someone out of the audience, shaved them on stage in front of everyone and at the end of the normal show that person had to perform. Needless to say that was my first and LAST time, as I enjoy my facial hair and the comfort of tennis shoes.
5 Best advice for any drag queen heading into a photo shoot?
The best advice for a drag queen heading into a photo shoot, wow, there are so many pieces. I guess I can list them.
1. BE ON TIME, its important so that you can utilize your time shooting, instead of utilizing your time trying to put yourself together
2. Don't paint as hard - the camera is able to pickup whats normally not able to be seen under a spotlight at a club. Less is more alot of times.
3. Bring your wardrobe and lots of hair options - even if you are only doing a set number of outfits or already have things picked out, bring more items than you need. You never know what you may inspire the photographer to do, or where they shoot may go. The more fun you have, the easier it will be to maximize your camera time
4. Do not bring an entourage. You can bring one person to help you, but don't bring everyone you know as they become a distraction and could possibly mess up the flow of the shoot
5. Be open to suggestions and critiques. A photographer would not want to risk their reputation or credibility with releasing horrible images or poses, so be open to listening to what they suggest as far as your poses, outfits and styling. Our job is to make you look your best, because when you look good, we look good too!
6. Know what you want - if you have an image or an idea in mind, bring that with you and discuss it with the photographer and set designer. Let them know your ideas or what you are looking for. The photographer is there to coach you but they should not have to beat excellence out of you.
7. Know your market and your brand, your image is your brand so make sure what you are putting in front of the camera is what you want to be seen.
8. Don't expect every picture in the shoot to be great, and don't expect the photographer to give you unedited pictures or all your pictures from a shoot unless that is discussed before hand. Most photographers are sensitive about their work and their art. Not all photographers edit, but for the ones that do, they don't want to have their images or hard work tarnished by someone else's hands or unskilled editing. •
DJ Bonet
See more from After Six Photography Studios Facebook page and DJ Bonet's Facebook page.
