So... there's this boy...
I think we all knew a Jeremy when we were in school. Friendly, non-threatening and busy. Played a sport, but just one, as he worked. In the grocery store on weekends, and with his dad on cars most of the rest of the time. He was nice to everyone, but although confident and mature, focused more on video games and his friends than he did on girls. At least in public. He was obsessed with girls when alone, but his lack of confidence prevented him from asking one out until grade 12. After the first date, they were in love, and remained together the rest of the school year.
You barely knew him, yet he always said hi when he passed you in the hallway. You didn't think he noticed you, but he grabbed your yearbook and wrote a nice note about your role in the high school musical. When someone called you a 'fag' he didn't cause a scene, but gave you a supportive smile and made it a point to say hello loud enough so that the person who called you the name, could see you were not alone and had back up.
You always thought he was cute, but after getting that girlfriend, his smile was even wider and he walked with a bit more confidence. Most noticeable, he finally grew out that face stubble into a fairly decent and full mustache and goatee. The new facial hair, and new the hair mousse his girlfriend bought him, turned Jeremy from a nice cute guy at school, to a guy who's 'hi's' in the hallways suddenly started to make you both nervous, and excited when you would see him walking towards you in the hallway. All of a sudden when the gym teacher yelled 'shirts and skins' you looked around hopefully that Jeremy was on the skin side of the gym.
My high school Jeremy was actually a 'Todd'. I went to school with Todd from primary on, but we never really had much to do with each other except for school. Yet, we spent hours together in the same classroom year after year, sang in the same Christmas concerts, and often stood next to each other in our class pictures. He was someone I paid little attention to, and it was surprising and sweet to me, that when we talked a few times in high school, he remembered more about some of our common experiences, common friends, and common memorable moments than I did.
When I asked Michal Boothe about Jeremy, he most vivid memory was that Jeremy brought his older brother to the shoot for support, and that Michal ensured to capture Jeremy's smile, something he doesn't do with every model he shoots. Given the limited back story, I was going to do a small intro, and just let Michal's images speak for themselves. But Michal doesn't just capture bodies, he captures people, and when I spent time with Michal's extraordinary portrait shots, staring into Jeremy's kind eyes, and as mentioned, that goatee, his resemblance to Todd was all I could think of.
I then went on to do a facebook search for Todd. The facial hair, and the hair mousse appear to be long gone, His high school girlfriend gone as well, shortly after he graduated if I remember correctly. I remember he went to community college to study mechanics, but his FB page states he is certainly selling, not repairing, cars. His profile image included a new wife, and new baby both of whom seem to be a part of maintaining the spark in his beautiful eyes, and his sweet sweet smile which were as striking as I remember.
