Girl Models Go Wild During Florida Photo Shoot

Shooting a college girl pin-up calendar in St. Petersburg, Florida was fun for the cast of 9 models and hell for the production crew from Ohio.

We were very new at the pin-up calendar business in those days and didn't anticipate the hassles we would encounter.

Swimsuit malfunction

 A store in Ohio had agreed to provide swimsuits for the shoot in exchange for advertising in the finished calendar. However, when we stopped to pick up the suits, the store demanded a $900 deposit. Who would believe that such tiny little swimsuits could be worth so much!!

We told the clerk this was bogus! We needed the swimsuits for the shoot and he needed to stick to our original agreement. We yelled; the clerk yelled back. The models tried sweet talk. It didn't work. He wanted the cash.

Moon 'em

 After an exchange of colorful language, about half the female models decided to drop drawers and "moon" the store, clerk and other customers. This just added to the stress of producing our calendar - stress that we were already feeling.

As we drove away in disgust, the clerk recorded our license plate number. We spent our first day on the road to Florida looking over our shoulders for cop cars. Fortunately, none pursued.

Problems in St. Petersburg

 We chose St. Petersburg, Florida as our shooting location because it had a glamorous name and a spacious beach. Big mistake! What we didn't know was that the area is very conservative - a haven for elderly retirees. It wasn't exactly the best place for semi-clad beauties to be romping on the sand.

Then, there was the condo problem. We'd rented a large condo as our base of operations for the week. We didn't realize how difficult it would be for 10 women to get along in one small condo. Not enough bathrooms. Not enough space.

"Hell" Tuesday

 Three days into the shoot, we suffered "Hell Tuesday." The models had several fights with the photographer and all 9 decided to go home. Some went so far as to call the airlines for reservations. One girl had memorized the Greyhound bus schedule. It was a chaotic scene, but everyone finally calmed down and decided to stick it out.

A week of good photos

 Despite his difficult personality and explosive disposition, the photographer was very talented. The photographs produced over the seven days were superb. The calendar was a success and all the models were glad they completed the assignment. Moral of the story: You hire photographers for their artistic ability, not for their organizational and people skills.

Popular pin-ups

 The finished calendar was a huge success and drew many compliments and fans once it was published. Seeing people enjoy the pin-up calendar made all the hassle and stress associated with shooting it worthwhile.