I'm a good old country boy who grew up in south Kansas City, MO as an overweight kid and always teased about my weight. My family teased me the most and told me I would never get anywhere in life. One night as a high school student I looked in the mirror and made a promise to myself to loose weight. From that point on my life started to change.
When I started working out in high school I saw the changes in my body the more I worked out. The quick results made me an addict to exercise from that point on. My workout was 5 days a week for an hour at school and diet stayed the same...just cut out food 3 hours before bed. I lost 50lbs in 3months.
My new family nickname was "Skinny Ray" and it lead to my goal of being a fitness model/body builder. At the time it was just a crazy dream...lol.
At the age of 21 I decided that I would get into the male entertainment industry and started a 10 year career at it. My first magazine shoot was just a friend referral and ended up putting me in the pages of Exercise for Men...and later Men's Exercise. Once I had reached that goal the next step was body building. In my first show I placed 4th.
My daily diet now consists of fish and broccoli 2months out and the switch to asparagus a week out from pictures or shows. I cut out all salt and then on off seasons stick with cans of tuna.
I first knew of John when I was in Oklahoma on a shoot and had two weeks to get ready. We shot in Oklahoma and even though I was nervous John made me feel comfortable and we got some amazing shots. This shoot led to our Denver, Colorado shoot where I shot with pro fitness model Chad Crouse. Then our third shoot in Kansas City landed me pictures in World Physique magazine. He is like a "mother hen" at times but he is only hard on you so he can bring out the best of you in all your shots. I WILL TELL ALL MY BODYBUILDING FRIENDS ABOUT JOHN! HE IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNNIEST AND SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS AROUND THAT I KNOW OF. Working with others could BE A NIGHTMARE. I WILL MAKE SURE AND TELL EVERYONE TO INTERVIEW THEIR PHOTOGRAPHERS EXTREMELY CAREFULLY, BECAUSE ANYONE CAN TAKE PICTURES, CALL THEMSELVES A PHOTOGRAPHER AND MAKE ALL KINDS OF PROMISES TO YOU, BUT they are NOT BBPics WHO will teach you, guide you, show you respect and work with you together as A TEAM!!
