a collection of ghostly portraiture

Jeremy Dearest

pin-up prince of androgyny

I received a phone number that my room mate had gotten for me one day and they specifically told me " You have to take photos of this person.  He's beautiful. " They explained to me that they spotted him outside smoking on his lunch break from work. They complimented his outfit and mentioned me. Eventually we facebook creeped each other and he quickly became one of the best models I've ever worked with.

The first time you take photos of someone, things are usually kind of awkward for at least the first half hour. Getting someone to loosen up and feel comfortable with themselves enough to pose is usually a process.

During my very first shoot with him, I had brought him around a few public areas and he just busted out the poses left and right. Boom boom boom. I could've had a solid set of golden photos within ten minutes. Fire photos from start to finish.

Jeremy's name on a social media is either Jeremy Dearest (due to his love for Joan Crawford) or Jeremy from Tha Block. He actually had just moved down the block from me, so I biked down with a bag full of clothes and equipment in the basket. The life of an artist with no transportation. 

 Jeremy and I shared warm cups of creamy coffee on his sunny porch. I bummed  several Parliament cigarettes. The recessed paper filters freaked me out.

Jeremy clearly had a love for vintage. Anything from the 30's-50's. Which are, of course, his favorite time periods. " Those eras are included in part of what's considered the olden age. What attracts me to it is quite simple. "

Insert drag of a cigarette here, " Glamour. " 

Insert exhale here. " We don't get to see glamour like that anymore and I think its a shame. "

Jeremy draws a lot of inspiration from past decades, old Hollywood. Some specific and slightly more current inspirations include: Dita Von Tease, Joan Collins in Dynasty, and Raja from RuPaul's drag race.

" While there are aspects of many different eras that I admire, I wouldn't want to be a part of any of them except for the one we are currently in, simply because I couldn't be myself as I am now. "

I asked about his fashion tastes when he was younger and if they were as extravagant. I wish I had an inkling of the attire Jeremy possessed, especially in high school. I probably wouldn't have had such a prolonged awkward goth/emo phase. But once you're goth trash, you never really escape it.

He laughed, " My entire high school existence was an embarrassing fashion phase. While it got slightly better towards the end, chances are you would have seen me wearing a sarcastic saying on a graphic t-shirt that didn't fit, boot cut jeans from Old Navy and sketchers. "  I couldn't even imagine him in anything other than high waisted ruffle shorts or sheer black tights.


 

(seen on the left is Jeremy showing me through his stunning attic space in which he just refers to as his closet. A closet with sequined mannequins, a reading nook, a full blown vanity set and probably a lot of clothes I would permanently borrow in a heart beat. Seen below, details of his beautiful assemble.)

Since he works in quite a few different visual merchandiser jobs, I had to ask him what trends he couldn't stand. " One trend I wish would die is the high-low silhouette. " Shit.  I thought. I just bought a hi-low skirt....I should probably throw it out. " I also have a fiery burning hatred toward denim skirts of all lengths. I recently read an article in Vogue that said they were coming back and I cringed. " At least I'm safe here. I'm still fashionable. I sighed in relief.

Some projects that Jeremy is currently working on? He just finished up doing some volunteer work for the Lansing art gallery in downtown. " I got to help organize the artist exhibition as well as execute the current window display there. In just a few weeks I'll be taking a painting class at LCC so I'm excited to see what comes from that! "

 

 

 

With his shoot in particular in Spectre, I tried to pull inspirations from American Horror Story and Twin Peaks combined into one. Although these shots are all incredibly elegant, don't be fooled. We had a lot of laughs. I had him crouch down at one point for a pose and he exclaimed, " I feel like Lil Kim! "

Even his little kitty Petunia joined. Which of course, I will include.

A few favorite quotes of Jeremy's.

"Aerodynamically speaking, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it... so it goes on flying anyway."

"Be kind to me or treat me mean. I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine." - Fiona Apple

I never go outside unless I look like a movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door. - Joan Crawford