Ed Fox

7 Questions an interview
with Ed Fox

When did you become interested in photography?
When I was 15, right around when I started to notice feet. Maybe the one thing lead to another.
I would go to the poster shops on Hollywood Blvd. and stare at the posters that had bare feet. Also, I remember walking into a book shop and flipping through the pages of The Black Book – a promotional tool for commercial photographers that was filled with their simple, colorful, well lit and composed images. Like little miniature posters all in one book. I was amazed. But now that I think about it, Ansel Adams posters were the ones that really made me notice photography.

Do you have your own studio or are you working on location?
I had a great big studio when I started shooting for Leg Show but I only seemed to use it for parties so I got rid of it. I wasn’t very good at trying to make the studio look like I was shooting at a location. I prefer to go to garages, restaurants, alleys, the desert or bathrooms to I get the real thing. I don’t find girls against a plain paper or canvas background very interesting erotic or even challenging.

Do you have assistance or are you working alone?
I used to like doing EVERYTHING myself when I was in school and shortly after graduating but quickly learned that by the time I was done running around, carrying and setting up the equipment, I was kind of drained and needed to save that energy for creativity. I definitely like to use assistants and normally ones that have no interest in photography. The few times I have used assistants proficient in photography I noticed I still have to do things myself plus there’s a chance they may copy me down the road. I have seen that happen a few times to other photographers.

Was it easy to find models when you started photographing nudes?
Hell no. I tried and tried and tried to get models to let me shoot them nude but had no luck. I would have to go the mall or parking lots and try to get girls to pose for me. I even remember one time parking in front of the Playboy building waiting for the girls to come out of the casting to see if I could approach one to pose for me. I know, kind of creepy huh? I was desperate. I wanted to prove I could shoot but couldn’t find models to pose. That was before the net and all the experience I gained. Now it’s the easiest thing. I have agents sending me girls daily (email, not to my house : ). I also have girls contacting me now. It took a long time, persistency and dedication to get to that point of being able to shoot high profile models, most of which I get for FREE.
What I have a hard time getting, believe it or not, are LOCATIONS! Since I don’t like shooting in studios I have to do a lot of location scouting and shooting at my friends’ shops or homes. I have pretty much shot at all of my friends’ places so I guess it’s time to look for new friends? : )

What do you prefer: digital or analog?
Definitely digital. I started as a photographer during the film days and was the first one to try to push digital to the adult magazines. I even remember trying to get all of my photographer friends to write letters to the magazines saying we would only shoot digital. They didn’t go for it and the magazines didn’t either when I approached them on my own. When the magazines were finally ready, I got the Canon Mark II 1Ds and fell in love immediately. No more meter readings or waiting for the lab or guessing if maybe I did the whole strobe shoot at 1/250 or faster and getting that annoying camera mirror black line on one side. Yeah, that happened to me once or twice. MOST importantly no more lost transparencies! Yeah, guaranteed everytime I got a set back from a magazine publisher, it was missing 5-25 slides. “Why don’t you just send them a second edit?”, people would ask me. Because that would not be fair to the viewers or to me as an artist if I were to only share the second best images.

Do you have other artist(s) who you admire and inspire you?
The Playboy guys: Arny Freytag, Richard Fegley and Stephen Wayda were THE ones that inspired me to become a photographer. Then I came across Penthouse/Bob Guccione’s work. Wow, that was even better because it was dirtier and had a ‘story’. Once I was studying photography Andrew Blake presented the possibilities that could be done with video. I swear, after I had just finished jacking off, I walked up to the screen, with a wad of cum in one hand and pointing with the other, saying “Genius, JUST genius!”. It’s like everything I wanted the actors to do or next camera angle to see was happening right in front of my eyes, almost as if I were directing it myself!. He is the one the inspired me to become a director.

What is number one on your wishlist?
IF you are talking about technical, I always had two wishes
That there was ONE camera that would shoot everything stills and video so I wouldn’t have to stop and have the assistant hand me different cameras. As we know, there are cameras that already do this.
My other wish is that there was a camera or film that would be as sensitive as the human eye.
If you mean just in general? I wish I could just show up to a shoot with models made up and dressed and someone would hand me a camera ready to shoot. And when it was over I could just say “I’m spent!” and magically all of my work would end up on the net and in magazines without me having to do anything else other than shoot the pictures. Although, I do like being involved in every step of the process from styling the shoot and doing location scouting, to editing and even making the music. I like to take 100% credit for my success and or failure.