1. What is your first name: Geanmarie, aka “Johny Boy”
2. What city are you from: Marseilles
3. What country are you from: France
4. What do you do: Creative visual artist and adult film star/director
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Russia because he loves the women there. It’s the Russian effect that the women have on him. What is the Russian effect you ask? “It’s their accent, look and body that make me become in love with them!“
6. What’s your dream and why: “I’m living my dream now because I get to create shows and perform for people.“

FOGG Notes:

I was sitting on the beach in Arambol, India waiting for the sun to set, surrounded by hippie backpackers, and a man walks up to me and hands me a business card for a live free show that night. I had visited Arambol before and got to see a visual artistic show and loved it, so I made a quick mental note to attend that night.

I brought my light kit to the show in hopes of doing some photos of the performers off the side. I watched for two hours as he and a friend (Te Touze) did a visual show of dance, music and improv. I couldn’t wait to shoot photographs of Johny Boy, as he did three different acts through the show. After the performance was over I had my light set-up and asked if they would come over for a few photographs and questions.

They really didn’t know what to think of me until they saw the large Westcott 28″ softbox set-up and my camera ready. Once I explained the kind of photographs I wanted to take, then took a test shot for them to see, Johny Boy was all up for it. Best part of shooting photographs of actors or models is they knew what to do. I shot photos of them for about 15 minutes, then asked if it would be possible to asks some questions for this series. He agreed and and was surprised I wanted to.

Of all the people I have interviewed I always try and ask the question of “Tell me something about you that most people wouldn’t know about you from meeting you the first time.” Because of language barriers this is hard sometimes but when I asked Johny Boy this, he thought for a moment and nonchalantly replied “I shoot my own porn videos, directing them and sometimes staring in them.” This was a first and I have to admit this wasn’t how I imagined it would go when meeting my first porn star, but nonetheless it was my first porn star encounter. I had a lot of questions to ask him on this but I didn’t want to go to much on it, so my only question back was “So does porn really pay well at all or not?” As feared, his response was “No, there is no money in it. You only do it for love.” Love, porn… didn’t think those two words were associated with each other??? He said not love love, but love for sex! Ahh, now it all makes sense now. Porn = no money but you get laid a lot! That’s better!

He’s been performing since he was 13 years old (street performing and not the porn… just to be clear) and started out playing with fire. He travels Europe for six months of the year going from town to town doing his act, then will spend the rest of the time in places like India where he comes up with new material and perfects it there for the coming year in Europe, where he really makes the money.

I could make a whole 10-part blog post about Johny Boy, as he wasn’t bashful in anyway and was open about most subjects. In the short time I got to meet him I learned a lot about him. Without-a-doubt he was a ladies man. Even during the show he must have hit on at least 3-4 girls (during his performance) telling wide-eyed girls in aww that he was going to make love to them after the show. A true Frenchman in many ways!

1. What is your first name: Chris
2. What city are you from: Englewood, New Jersey
3. What country are you from: USA
4. What do you do: Full time student
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: “Right now I’d say Brazil tops my wish list of countries because the people have such a great energy about them. They’re really fun people!“
6. What’s your dream and why: His dream is to open his own business and live abroad as an expat. Either a language or dive school of some sort. He said if that didn’t work, then a bar or club would be a fun try as well.

FOGG Notes:

1. What is your first name: Isabel
2. What city are you from: Medellin
3. What country are you from: Colombia
4. What do you do: Model and works for a clothing business
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: South Africa because I want to go on a safari and see all the animals.
6. What’s your dream and why: To travel around the world and backpack it all.

FOGG Notes: Every year Medellin hosts a fashion show and convention.  Designers from Colombia and the world show off their newest lines of clothing, lingerie, shoes to apparels, as it’s marketed as Colombia’s biggest fashion event.  A friend and I decided we wanted in on the show and showed up on the opening day to register.  It’s not a cheap event either because a three day pass will set you back $80!

On the opening day, we walked into the large convention center with a goal of photographing as many models as we could.  We didn’t care about fashion, we were just there for the photos (ok, to be honest maybe a little drooling to).  Isabel was one of the first models we seen the first day.  She was sitting alone in her booth, actually looking a little bored, so we strolled up and asked if it would be possible to get a photo and asks her a few questions.  She was real happy about it but to be honest I think it had more to do with the large Orbis ring flash I had mounted to the front of my big camera more then anything else.  I assumed she thought I was some model scout or something… but hey, whatever gets you into the door is cool by yo!

My friend asked her the standard questions while I started snapping away.  Was actually pretty nice to shoot photographs or her because I didn’t have to tell her a thing, she just knew what to do when the camera was up.  Shooting fashion is hard enough and if you have a model that doesn’t know what she is doing or has to be told what to do every sec, life is hell for the photographer.  Needless to say I didn’t have that issue the 2 days I spent at the fashion show (yeah we skipped out on the last day because we found out the models never changed from day to day).

So yes, this might be the lamest Faces Interview I have done yet because I didn’t really get to know her story (as much as I would have loved to) and just asked the basic questions.  I was to busy shooting photos and had to rely on someone to translate.  Sorry about that but I do bet it will get the most traffic hits for my Faces Series, to date.  So to make up for a lack of in-depthness(?) I’ll just post a bunch of photos instead.  Besides I know the guy readers would applicate that more anyways!

1. What is your first name: Roger
2. What city are you from: Caye Caulker
3. What country are you from: Belize
4. What do you do: 16 Years Restaurant
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: To the North Pole because I have always been fascinated with polar bears and would like to see them in the wild, learn more about them.
6. What’s your dream and why: Expand out the restaurant and make it bigger.  This would allow me to take care of my family more and watch out for them.  First place I would build a new restaurant would be San Ignacio.

FOGG Notes: Everyone on Caye Caulker knows Roger as “Jolly Roger” as I don’t think I found a person the whole time who didn’t know him on the island.  He has the best lobster meal dinner on the island and I found myself eating there every night because so.  For $10 USD you get:

• 2 Fresh Lobster Tails (caught that day)
  
• Mashed Potatoes
• Garlic bread
• Rice
• Cake for Dessert
• and 3 Rum & Punches

Now if you eat there the next night, the price is only $7.50.  If you eat again the 3rd the night, it’s only $6.00 and he said if you came back after that, he’d make you a better deal.  I got my lobster meal down to $6.00 and loved it every time.  So much that I didn’t even eat lunch during the day and would just eat his meal at night instead, as it was enough to keep me going until the next day.  Note: his prices do vary from the high tourist season and the low, so don’t hold him to what I print here but either way it shouldn’t be that big of a difference and is well worth more than what I paid.

Roger was a real interesting guy and after I ate there the first night, I knew that I wanted to do a Faces interview with him, so on the last day I found him and fired away with questions.

He’s always been an independent person, when he was 17 he left his fiancé at the alter in her wedding dress (and yeah she never spoke to him again after that).  He has now settled down and is married with 3 kids.  His wife, Olivia, helps with the restaurant by serving people while he cooks.  Before he started the restaurant he was working security as a night watchmen.  It was this job that got him wanting to do something more.  His father used to be in the restaurant business and this gave him the idea to start his own set-up.  So he started with a tricycle selling snacks off of it and after a few weeks he knew he had something.  So he found a place on the beach with one table and started from there.  Soon he out grew that one table so he moved locations and added another.  He now has 4 large tables and on a good night can serve up to 80 people.  The rules are simple — it’s first come, first serve on the lobster, as he buys it fresh daily from local fishermen.  He also serves chicken and other fish but most people want the lobster as he’s famous for it.

The restaurant is nothing more then a little shack along the main road but asks anyone and they will tell you where it is.  This is the type of place Anthony Bourdain would visit.  It has some of the best sea food I’ve ever eaten and priced for anyone to enjoy.  If you visit, tell him ‘hi’ for me and that you read about it here.  He’ll have to think about it for a minute but would love knowing that he’s becoming more ‘world famous’ for his cooking.

1. What is your first name: Roots (means it’s a positive way of living)
2. What city are you from: Caye Caulker
3. What country are you from: Belize
4. What do you do: Street Vendor for the last 6-8 months
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Hawaii because he thinks it would be beautiful and would look like Belize.  He’d like to go snorkel and see the reefs.
6. What’s your dream and why: To travel the world full time and see all the different cultures, while having a good time.

FOGG Notes:  On my last day on the island of Caye Caulker, I went to see some friends from the hostel at the beach to say bye to them all.  When walking back to the hostel, afterwards, I saw a group of Rasta looking guys sitting around a fold-up table along the road.  They were selling some kinds of soap and massage oils or something.  They yelled at me as I walked by and told me “Hey man, no need to walk so fast man.  This is Caye Caulker, everything move slow my man.  No rush man!”

They looked chilled sitting in the sun, so figured why not and decided to take their advise and sit with them for a bit, as I still had an hour before my boat departed.  I quickly could assess what was the group, as there was 3 guys total.  Basically all they did was sit around all day selling their lame product to whomever would want some, meanwhile looking at all the girls walking by in their swimsuits and making cat calls to them.

“Hey girl, you look tired, sit here and let me take care of you girl.”

“Blondie, you want to party later, stop and I’ll give you all you need to know on where and when!”

“You must not have a boyfriend girl because if I was your man I would be by your side all the time!”

They cracked me up and to be honest I don’t think they ever sold anything (or cared) because what they really made money off of was selling weed.  It seemed to me like they had the most bohemian lifestyle and the best gig ever.  Sit around drinking all day, watching new girls walking by 1/2 naked, making real money from the “side” business, then partying late into the night.

Roots, I found out quickly, was the leader of the group.  I didn’t need anyone to tell me this, as I could just see it, and they all gave him a lot of respect.  When he spoke, everyone shut up.  When he got up, everyone else got up too and when he yelled at a girl, 7 times in 10 he got her to stop and talk.  He had a real candid personality that people were drawn to.  I asked him what it was like growing up on the island and he just shrugged and said “My youth was nothing but partying and having sex with a lot of girls.”  Pretty much summed it up for local life on Caye Caulker because parting, sex and fishing is about all there is to do.

1. What is your first name: Martin
2. What city are you from: Stockholm
3. What country are you from: Sweden
4. What do you do: Carpenter
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: “Madagascar, Africa because it seems very interesting, as it’s unique and has animals only found on it.”
6. What’s your dream and why: “Would love to win the lottery and not have to work again, so I could just travel full time and relax while doing it!” (classic right)

FOGG Notes:  Martin is 35 and has traveled to 28 countries so far and after this trip it will be 32 total.  I asked him what was his favorite country visited so far was (yeah boring question right) and he said he liked Thailand because of the food and beaches.  He might not seem like a hard core partier but he did tell me that he once passed out while riding a bicycle when he was 20, thus breaking his collar bone.  Actually he said “fell asleep” then told me alcohol was involved.  Call it what you will but it pretty much equals passing out.

I met Martin when I met Andre on the way to Caye Caulker Island in Belize.  They were traveling together and were home town friends.  Martin is the opposite of Andre in many ways.  Andre is tattooed to the gill, Martin not so much.  Martin was super laid back and agreeable with anything, Andre was always joking.  I found it strange that two complete different personalities could travel for so long together and not clash.  Now who’s to say they don’t and to be honest, they both were chilled as they come but I guess my point is that both were different in many ways, yet alike at the same time.  In the end they both had one goal… to travel!

1. What is your first name: Andre
2. What city are you from: Stockholm
3. What country are you from: Sweden
4. What do you do: Pipe Renovator
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: “New Zealand because if your paying, it’s far away and I haven’t been there yet.  I’d like to do adventure sports but I also think it would be a cool country to see because of the diverseness of the country.  They have mountains, snow, coasts and highlands.”
6. What’s your dream and why: “I’d be a rock star playing guitar!”

FOGG Notes: I met Andre on the Island of Caye Caulker in Belize.  For 32 he’s been around the world a lot and got the impression he’ll be traveling even more as every year he normally takes off 1-2 months to travel.  To date, he has had been to 42 countries so far and was on a 6 month trip this time with a friend.  By the end of this trip, his country count would be 56 (can you say NICE)!

I guess I need to explain the tattoo’s a little as it’s the first thing you see when you meet him.  Both arms are covered and even though I’m not into much of that I had to say I was kind of impressed with his tats.  You could tell he put a lot of thought into them and their was a theme throughout it all.  The cliff notes on them are: their about the Northern Religion (not sure what that is) with the 3 witches of destiny and the line of the dead with the ruler.  He’s been adding to them for about 13 years now and if you didn’t know Andrea you might be a little intimidated by his look at first but I’m glad to admit he was a super laid back guy and always had a joke for the group staying at the hostel.

I got to hang out with him and Martin for the 4 days I was on the island and pretty much everyday you could find him hanging out at the Spliff with a lot of girls.  Yeah I guess the tattoo’s draw them in and speaks the universal language that girls go for bad guys… even though he looked the part, he was far from it and was the most laid back guy of the group.



1. What is your first name: Tucker
2. What city are you from: New Orleans, Louisiana
3. What country are you from: USA
4. What do you do: Freelance advertiser and radio script writer
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Carrasca, Venezuela because I was told it’s dangerous and as an American that I shouldn’t go there…which makes me want to go there that much more.
6. What’s your dream and why: I’m living my dream now working independently but would also like to find a nice quite place in Latin America to settle down in.  Find a wife, maybe a make a few kids and just relax living pure vida.

FOGG Notes: I met Tucker in Cali, Colombia at the hostel.  He has a pretty clean ascent for a Cajun and assume that’s because he works in radio.  He’s a true digital nomad as he travels and works from the road making quirky little jingles for companies for use on the radio (think Charlie Sheen from Two & 1/2 Men).  One jingle he wrote (while high on coke) was for a rehab company.  Pretty much sums him up as wherever he is he’s partying, drinking and living the good life.  He has found that the work he does doesn’t require him to be in the US at a desk and using a Magic Jack he can make all his calls for business for next to nothing.

He started his travels and work living in Mexico for 6 months, then stayed 3 months in Panama and has been in Colombia for 3 months.  He has no set travel plans and said “… as long as I can get an Internet connection I can travel anywhere and work.”  What a sweet jig he’s got and am finding more people like him on my travels, that are giving up the 8-5 job for mobile working instead.

I asked him what was the worse thing that has happened to him while in Colombia (seeing how he loves to party and do drugs, there had to be a few good stories worth hearing).  He said he got arrested a few weeks back and spent a night in jail.  Asked what happened and the story follows like this:

I went into a bar one night with the plane of just having a few drinks.  When I walked into this one a really hot girl walked up and asked me if I wanted a shot.  I love beautiful women as much as I love liquor and so said “Hell yeah!”  We had one shot together and had been talking for about 2 minutes when this guy walked up.  Found out quickly that it was her boyfriend and that they guy actually owned the bar as well.  I knew I had gotten myself into some shit and said sorry and tried to leave.  The boyfriend wouldn’t let me leave and instead said “No, no, sit with us and have a drink.”  Thought that was funny but didn’t want to make it worse by saying no or running.  So I sat with them and he ordered a couple bottles of booze and after 30 minutes I was ready to leave, as the whole situation was weird and didn’t fell right.  When I tried to leave the guy asked why and I tried to make an excuse for leaving.  He said ok but that I had to pay for the drinks that I had bought everyone at the table (ie; the bottles of liquor).  I said I didn’t order it and that he had, plus I didn’t have that much money (the bill was 80,000 pesos or about $40 USD).  He said if I couldn’t pay the bill then he was calling the cops.  At this point I didn’t care and told him to go head.  Well he did and within 20 minutes I found myself in a Colombian jail for the first time.  They didn’t do much other then they kept messing with me and telling that I should have paid a bill that I made but when I told them that I didn’t order the drinks they just looked at me like I was crazy.  By the next morning they told me if I could do 40 push-ups they would release me… I made it to 35 before they said “Get out of here loco gringo” while laughing.

Lesson learned: that there isn’t anything free in Colombia.

1. What is your first name: Jorge
2. What city are you from: Trinidad
3. What country are you from: Cuba
4. What do you do: Bartender
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Would like to go to any socialist country and work.
6. What’s your dream and why: For the USA to lift the embargo and release the 5 Cubans that the US government has locked up.

FOGG Notes: Jorge was working a at a bar that we were walking by and the first thing I noticed was that he didn’t look Latin.  I know that might sound bad but it’s the truth, so much that I think a lot of Cubans look American or European a lot.  Is that just me or does anyone else agree?  Anyways, he had this real classic look to him that just oozed 1950-era style about him.  What I mean is that I could have converted these photos to Black & White and said my grandfather had taken this photo back in the war and you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.  Then again a lot of Cuba oozes 1950 and guess it’s what makes it so unique.

I did find it funny though that Jorge wanted to visit any socialist country in the world to work in.  Coming from a communist nation and at war with a capitalist country (USA) made me think why?  Maybe he was splitting the difference and seen the worse of both extremes, thus his logic was the middle ground.  Again this is where I wish I knew more Spanish so I could ask more about that.  He was to my surprise the only Cuban that I met while there that stated he wanted the embargo lifted by America.  To my surprise, after doing some research after coming back, that one of the single biggest factors for the embargo not being lifted is because American-Cubans don’t want it lifted.  I thought that was strange but if you really think about it does make a little sense, seeing how all these people were kicked out of their country by Castro.  Can’t blame them if they still have a bad taste in their mouth from it.

1. What is your first name: Gerardo
2. What city are you from: Trinidad
3. What country are you from: Cuba
4. What do you do: Painter for the last 10 years
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why: Travel to Brazil to watch a soccer game there and to get with some Brazilian women (who he thinks they are hot!).
6. What’s your dream and why: Wish to one day display my art work in a large gallery, so that I could sell more paintings.

FOGG Notes: I met Gerardo while interviewing a lady on the street next to his shop.  At first he walked up and tried to sell me and a friend a painting but quickly stopped when he saw we were focussed with the interview with the lady.  He stepped back to his shop and watched us very intently while we were with the lady and never took his eyes off us.  When we wrapped up the quick interview we turned to walk up the street by and seen him smiling at us.  So I figured the least thing I could do was stop and see what he had to offer.  I was really surprised by his art work as it was actually quite good!  We talked for several minutes and finally I asked if it would be ok to shoot a few photos and ask him a few questions.  At first he didn’t want to do it but I told him it would be a way to display his art on the internet.  Then it was a 180 degree change of mind and I began to ask him the standard questions.

I remember at one point though when I asked him what his dream was he just looked at me with a really weird look and thought about it for a minute.  Then he said “You are asking some really hard questions you know!”  I couldn’t help but smile but told him to take his time and think it over, as there was no rush.