Tag: nature

A black fog surrounded me.  I never heard of a black fog.  It wasn’t late in the evening.  But then again, I couldn’t determine the time at all.  Timeless impenetrable black fog…

My name is Jacob.  But everyone just calls me Jake.  Except my mother when I do something wrong.  Speaking of my mother, I have two great parents and I grew up homeschooled in a very rural environment in the Rocky Mountains.  Needless to say, my social skills were somewhat limited.  My Dad taught me how to hunt and fish.  My Mom taught me how to cook and garden.  To me life was normal and I guess some would describe it as quaint. 

Like I said we lived in a very rural area.  We had a log cabin that was located on a lake called Easter Bay.  I loved fishing off the dock.  Watching the sun rise and the wildlife that would meander through.  There was always something to do.  I think I was 8 or 9 when one morning I got up and was making my way down to the dock when I spotted a small wake in our bay.  Obviously, it was some sort of animal, but I couldn’t readily identify it.  It would turn in various directions.  Sometimes disappearing at moments.  I found a place in the grass to observe this watery creature.  At first, I was just curious.  What was it?  It finally emerged close to the dock.  I had never actually seen one, but I knew instantly what it was, a beaver.  I have seen them in photos, but I never realized they were so big.  And very majestic.  I was now fascinated and captivated.  I watched for what seemed like an enormous amount of time while it groomed its wet fur and wandered around the beach area.  I didn’t want to move.  I don’t know why, but I was a little unnerved.  Not necessarily scared.  And yet, I didn’t want to scare it away either.  Strange, but I almost felt a connection. 

After studying this bizarre creature for awhile, I decided to get my Dad and have him acknowledge my discovery.  I slowly made my way to our cabin but unfortunately, by the time we returned the beaver was gone.  He tousled my hair and smiled.  He saw a little disappointment in my demeanor and told me how the locals believed that such sightings could be spirit related.  Maybe the beaver was my spirit animal.  And I believe that my life changed at that moment.  The beaver was my spirit animal.  And from that point on I became obsessed with beavers. 

I studied beavers on the internet.  Yes, even in a very rural Rocky Mountain environment, we had the internet.  We even had a very good printer.  And what did I do?  I printed out photos of beavers.  A lot of them.  I soon had beaver shots all over my room.  My Mom accepted my fascination with beavers and allowed me to order a large beaver shot that I put on my ceiling above my bed so every night I could see a wet glistening beaver staring down at me.  I had great dreams.  I dreamt one day I would be a naturalist studying wild beavers.  One Christmas, my parents bought me a digital camera.  It was one of the best gifts I ever received.  Well, all my gifts I received from parents were great.  But the camera was especially great.  Now, I could capture my own beaver shots!

I didn’t have much luck though.  I never saw that beaver again. 

Time passed.  I grew up or thought I did.  My homeschooling ended and I attended the local high school.  No, we were not completely isolated.  I said I had limited social skills, but that was only in comparison to what kids had in larger cities.  But still, high school was awkward at first.  My grades weren’t great, but they weren’t bad either.  I realized that I adapted well and that my Mom and Dad really did do a good job preparing me for high school. 

I was taking a Biology class, of course I was excited to be taking this class, and our main research project was to choose an animal and present it to the class.  My classmates generally took bears, mountain lions, moose, sharks even, but I was the only one that… yup, you guessed it, took the beaver!  I was so excited to be able to present to my class my knowledge of the beaver!  It was like a dream! 

The day arrived.  Presentation day.  I had posters of beavers doing beaver things.  I had a short video of beavers in their natural habitat.  I talked about all the things beavers were famous for and what they did and how they contributed to the environment and how majestic they were and how I had beaver shots all over my room because the beaver was my spiritual animal and how I was going the be a naturalist and study and photograph wild beavers in the wild and how I loved beavers…

The class really seemed interested.  At the end they even asked great and interesting questions.  One student asked if beavers were always wet which I never thought about before, but I replied that beavers were at home in the water.  Another student asked if I had ever tasted a beaver and I answered no and then I put it to the class if they would like to taste a beaver.  Most of the boys put up their hands and even some of the girls.  Then one student asked if there were actually hairless beavers.  A strange question, but I don’t believe there are hairless beavers.  Again, my classmates seemed very excited by my presentation.  The teacher sent a couple to the principal’s office.  Never understood why though.  I thought everyone had a wonderful, enjoyable time.  I suppose the teacher thought it was good.  She gave me a B.  Which I thought was appropriate.  It was the highlight of my high school career.  After that everyone called me BeaverMan.  I mean the entire school knew who I was.  It was great. 

After high school, I ended up moving to the city.  My Dad had purchased me an early 70s Chevy Nova that was blue in color.  I say blue, but it was original blue so somewhat faded and rusty.  I would have preferred a pickup truck because well, that is what I thought a naturalist would drive.  I enrolled in a 2-year photography course at the local college and received student loans to cover my expenses.  It was the first time I was on my own.  To help out with expenses, I landed a job delivering pizzas.  So that was my life at the time.  Going to school and delivering pizzas.  In the city.  Far away from where my heart really wanted to be.  In nature.  Studying and photographing beavers.  My obsession.  Oh, it wasn’t all dismal and melancholy.  I learned a lot in my courses.  And I also learned a lot about people.  I stayed in contact with my Mom and Dad and they always said how proud they were of me.

My courses were nearing an end.  I had no clear idea of where my life was headed.  Or how I would support myself.  It was just an effort to stay positive.  Everyday the sun would rise and it was another day closer to what I don’t know.  And everyday I became more and more depressed.  A sinking feeling like being lost at sea or just lost.  I wondered if beavers felt this way. 

I decided to put up a flyer advertising my skills as a photographer.  I even advertised on the internet.  I was desperate.  The walls were definitely closing in.  Delivering pizzas helped, but that was not financially sustainable.  Sometimes I wished I was back home on the dock fishing. 

Time passed and nothing.   I was considering moving back home in disgrace and failure.  It was that bad.  Depression, depression, depression.

Then I received a call or message… I can’t remember which.  From an Ivan Jakovski.  He asked if I was interested in doing some photographic work for him.  He was in advertising and marketing and worked for a company called Upper Advertising.  Never heard of it, but who cares!  I couldn’t believe it!  A lifeline!  Of course, I agreed.  I would have agreed to anything.  Ivan said that the first session would be a test run, but if everything went okay, I would be contracted for about a year.  This was like the best ever!  I asked what the project was, but he just said everything would be explained on site and just to bring my equipment.  A little mysterious, but I was desperate. 

I was given instructions to go to a certain hotel, at a certain room number, at a certain time… all of which is irrelevant.  I don’t remember ever being in a hotel.  I think I may have delivered a couple pizzas to motels, but never hotels.  Anyway, the hotel was very ritzy.  The people there were… well, not the kind I think would be at home in the woods.  So, I wandered through them feeling very out of place and made my way to the elevator which took me to the designated floor.  Walked to the room number given to me and knocked. 

A young woman answered.  An attractive young woman.  She asked my what I wanted.  As if, I shouldn’t be there or something.  I said I was told to show up here and that I was to do some photographic work.  She asked if I was Jake.  I said yes and she let me in.  She wasn’t alone.  There were two other women, again, young and very attractive women.  I took off my hiking boots and made my way into the room.  The room was huge.  Huge bed.  Huge couch.  Huge kitchen.  It even had a kitchen!  The bathroom was huge.  Huge glass shower with no curtains.  I never imagined such a place.  So, the room was one thing that blew my mind.  Amazing just being there. 

The ladies, and I know I called them women, but these were definitely ladies or so I assumed at the time, introduced themselves as Josie, Piper, and Aurora.  Interesting names.  Still at a loss as to what I was supposed to be doing or photographing. 

Josie and Piper were wearing dresses and sitting on the sofa.  I should say the dresses were very … um… not there.  Josie had dark brown wavy hair and what I believe was a tattoo of a snake winding around her left leg that disappeared into her dress.  Piper had wavy hair as well, but it was blond.  And Piper was well, of the three very, how should I put this… well built, I guess.  I mean they were all like put together.  Just Piper seemed to be more … gifted.  Aurora seemed out of place.  She had shoulder length sandy coloured hair and was wearing ripped jeans.  A fashion statement, I guess.  Some sort of t-shirt, but what really stood out was she was wearing sunglasses.  I received this overwhelming impression that Aurora was like the defacto leader of this group of young ladies.  There was an assertion about her demeanor.  Although they were all sitting down, I could tell Aurora was shorter and more petite, but that didn’t take away from the allure and strange power that seemed to emanate from her whole persona.  I have never been in the company of such attractive women before. 

Anyway, my assessment was a quick one.  A flash really. 

We talked briefly.  Well, mainly I talked.  It was like I was in an interview or something.  I told them where I came from and how I was interested in photography and how I wanted to photograph wild beavers in the wild, they appeared amused by this, and I told them how the beaver was my spiritual animal and how I had beaver shots all over my room where I grew up with a bit beaver shot on my ceiling that I would stare at before going to sleep.  I think I was rambling a bit, but I also might have been a little unsettled.  I drank a lot of water.  Finally, I asked what I would be shooting.

They said that I would be shooting them.  Okay.  What does that mean?  They explained to me that I would be taking pictures of them in lingerie.  That is how they said it.  In lingerie.  In other words, in their underwear.  Okay… my mental processes were like attempting to what… process this.  I have to say they were very respectful while I was … processing.  I took a deep breath.  I don’t know why I took a deep breath.   Maybe, because I had been unintentionally holding my breath for awhile or longer.  I don’t know.  Okay.  I think I said okay a few times.  I knew I was going to be taking a few deep breaths.  I looked at all of them again and tried not to think about what I was going to do.  Focus.  I need a job.  I was a photographer.  Be professional.   I nodded and said okay again. 

I picked up my camera bag and focused on what lens I was going to use, angles, lighting and general photography stuff.  The ladies got up and began taking off their clothes.  Okay.  I attempted to be nonchalant.  I mean wow.  They were… wow.  They weren’t just taking off their clothes to there like underwear.  They were putting on new underwear!  I remember jumping off the dock into the cold waters of Easter Bay and the first jump was like a shock of cold.  This was like that.  I saw everything.  Deep breath.  And then I got to work.  And they were very professional like this was an everyday thing.  I would soon learn it was, in fact, an everyday thing!

They posed individually on the huge couch, the huge bed, the huge bathroom.  Their poses were well thought out and all I really had to do was take the photos.  I couldn’t do anything else!  I was totally out of my element like in a HUGE way!  They posed individually, in pairs, yes in pairs, and even altogether.  And to be clear, they didn’t just pose in one set of underwear, which they described as lingerie, but multiple sets.  Let me put it this way.  I have never seen so much female flesh.  EVER!  But I was okay.  I stayed safe behind my lens.  Trying to maintain a professional attitude.  They were my subjects.  It wasn’t easy.  But I still wanted to generate or capture nice images. 

So…, Piper is on the bed and Aurora joins her.  I am thinking just another pose, right?  But this time Aurora leans in and kisses Piper.  Like with tongue.  Aurora then put her hand… in Piper’s … panties.  And she is like moving her fingers.  I mean Aurora is moving her fingers in Piper’s panties because I can see them.  At this point I stopped taking photos.  Then Josie is behind Aurora and pulling down Aurora’s panties and sticks her face between … Then Aurora looks at me somewhat annoyed and tells me to keep shooting because clearly, I was stunned by what I was seeing.  I mean underwear photos were one thing, but this was something else.  Was this even legal?  I kept shooting.

I cannot begin to describe what happened next.  There was soon no more underwear or lingerie.  Obviously, these ladies were very, very familiar with each other.  It was a flesh storm.  Tongues, fingers, toes were all over the place and all over their places.  Piper was lying on the bed with her legs spread.  Josie was sitting on Piper’s … like head.  Aurora had her face, and was directing me to photograph her as her face was down between Piper’s legs and she used… her tongue on… oh my god.  It just kept going on and on and THEY were on and on.  Flesh and flesh and wetness.  They started sweating.  Their hair and hairs were all wet.  Like I mean really sweating wet.  Aurora was only wearing sunglasses.  Did I mention that Aurora has armpit hair?  I always thought women shaved their armpits.  And her armpit hair was even wet!  I mean they were all wet and sweating and I don’t know what other fluids were mixed into their sweat.  And spit!  They were like spitting on each other.  There was a smell of sweat and spit and …  How could there not be???  But it wasn’t just sweat.  A smell that I really couldn’t identify.  The moans and shrieks filled my ears and yet I continued filming.  Aurora said some of the most nasty and profane things.  I never heard anyone talk like Aurora.   She was like a heated animal.  They all were really, but Aurora stood out as even more aggressive than Piper or Josie. 

I don’t know how long this went on.  It was all just a blur of flesh and moans and smells…  Finally, though, it subsided and they crashed.  Like a physical and mental exhaustion crash.  Even I was exhausted!  I took advantage of the situation and packed up my things.  The last thing I wanted was for them to wake up.  I felt I did my job.  I grabbed my hiking boots and snuck out of the room.  It was in the elevator where I put my boots on.  I know I got to my car and was able to drive home.  I remember sitting on my couch and just wondering what I had just experienced.  Later, I briefly reviewed the photos before sending them by email to Ivan.  Days later, I was still disconcerted about what I had experienced.  Part of me felt I cannot do that again.  Or even if I did a good job.  It was an absolutely shocking experience.  I thought of my Mom and Dad and came to the conclusion that this may not be for me.  Ivan contacted me and said the photos were incredible and that all the ladies said I was great and respectful.  They said they never had a chance to properly say goodbye and were sorry about that.  They wanted to work with me again.  Still… I was uncertain.  Ivan then sent me an e-transfer for my pay.  Wow.  It was more money than I would make in a whole month!  He then said he was in the process of writing up a contract and that he would send it to me as soon as it was available.

How could I turn this down???