When Maxim reached out to Wonderful Machine for recommendations, we immediately called Washington-based portrait photographer, Jason Hornick. The Maxim team was heading from coast-to-coast looking for “real” sexy women to feature in the magazine. Having already shot in New York City and Miami, they were on their way to our nation’s capital to do an open-casting-type model shoot for one of their “Beautify America” features.
For Jason, this wasn’t a very typical shoot. Yes, he mainly shoots portraits, but not necessarily those of young women in lingerie.
Maxim felt confident I could work with some of the women that weren’t necessarily professional models. It’s bold to only be wearing lingerie in front of a camera. I was hoping to make them feel comfortable and come out with some fun images.
When asked what Jason found appealing about this assignment, he replies,
Honestly, working with girls in lingerie is not exactly another bad day at the office. But I also really liked the challenge of attempting a shoot out of my most typical range.
Even if he may have slightly been out of his photography comfort zone, Jason’s shooting instincts kicked in and the day went smoothly. To keep the shoot light and the images fun, Stacey Pittman, a Maxim associate photo editor, was on set to add props and check in on the photos as they were shot.
In the end, not only was this an atypical shoot for Jason, it was also the first time he’s been featured in a magazine himself,
I had my assistant, Shamus Fatzinger, shoot some behind-the-scenes images since Maxim ran a couple with the previous features. He snagged a shot of me showing one of the girls, Ariana Serrano, some of her pictures while she was still enjoying her lollipop. I laughed when he sent me it and figured Maxim would use that one. My pictures have run in many magazines but this is the first time I’ve literally been in a publication.
Maxim liked Jason’s images and he hopes to work with them again in the future. The experience also opened his eyes to some different styles of shooting that he’s now continuing to pursue through personal projects. He’s hoping to develop a second portfolio with similar images.