One Hour With Carter Cruise
On my way to SxSW, I had pretty much had no expectations for the week. I was only there to hang out and photograph some of the Colorado bands for Denver radio station, Area 93.3. As soon as I landed, I opened up my snapchat and started going through my feed. Low and behold, adult film superstar/EDM DJ/writer, Carter Cruise is on camera talking about being in Austin for SxSW. Fully expecting her not to respond, because I am a peon and a nobody, I write her a quick message asking if can have an hour of her time to shoot some pictures, and then include a link to my website. Within ten minutes, my screen is saying "Carter Cruise is typing". At this point I'm fully expecting her to say no or to piss off. But she writes back and says that my work is "dope" and then gives me her number (no you can't have it). She then says to meet her the next day at some club at 4pm.
I text her the next day just to make sure that we're still on, not hearing back from her, but I decide to go anyway. I look around for a minute before I spot her, still thinking that she might send me away at this point, or that she forgot about our shoot. While walking up to her and introducing myself, the first thing that I notice is that she has a million dollar smile, and is rocking an awesome septum ring. She is also one of the most charming individuals that you will ever meet. After confirming that we're still on, she says that she needs one more drink before we go. I offer to buy her one, but she says that she is already comped. We bullshit for a little while with her manager and DJ friends before heading out across the street to start our session.
While taking some test shots, Carter's demeanor immediately changes and she turns into a ball of energy. Whereas most of the people I've worked with have to build up to it, Carter just turned it on and started working it. I honestly didn't have to give her a lot of direction. This girl is just straight fire!
While we're shooting, a lot of guys are walking by and checking her out, some with their girlfriends. All of them would take a quick look at Carter while they walked by, but one actually stops, and then asks "Are you Carter Cruise?" He then tells her that they have a mutual friend, and hands me his phone, asking if I could take a photo of the two of them.
Cellphone pic by yours truly.
We finish at our first location and head to Austin's famous 6th Street. The whole street is crowded with music pouring from every bar. I have a shot in mind that I keep wanting to get, but we need the perfect timing. The main problem was that people kept standing behind her in order to check out the goods. It was funny at first, but then it quickly became annoying. At one point while shooting, some random guy came up behind me with his camera, and started photographing what I was shooting. After I cursed him out and told him to arrange his own photo shoot, he got the hint and quickly left.
The best part about this shoot is how friendly Carter is with people. A random girl sees that we're shooting and comes up to her asking "Who are you?" Carter introduces herself to the girl, who then tells her how pretty she is. Miss Cruise is obviously very flattered, and the two take a picture together.
Chewie loves Carter.
By this time, we have the shots that we want. We try one more location, but both of us are tired of photos at this point. We try to take a few more, but are interrupted by some creep who wants to bum a cigarette off of Carter.
As we make our way back to the bar, Carter gives me a hug and says that she is DJing later that night and to stop by. I tell her that if my schedule allows for it I will, but never do. The next day I send her the pictures, which she posts to her social media. I really didn't know if she liked the pictures or not. But I did hit her up a few months ago and asked if she wanted to shoot again when I head over to Los Angeles. She responded with a "For sure." So I'm assuming that I did well enough the first time. That means it's time to book a flight to L.A. and find an assistant to help me out.
