Welcome to the "Hot Survivors"Bikini and Beefcake Calendar Projects
 
        Congratulations to Heather Smith, cover model for 2008. Heather beat breast cancer in a big way, undergoing a double mastectomy at age 25 and bouncing back through extensive reconstructive surgeries to get to where she is here: on a beach in Florida in a bikini. You go, girl!
 
            It’s been an eventful few months, and it’s good to get the chance now to update you on all that’s been happening.  And those of us on the project particularly want to get this site organized to the point where you can find:

        Who We Are and What We're About
        Latest News on the “Bikini” Project
        Status of the “Beefcake” Project
        How to Become a Model
        Other Opportunities Related to the Project


Who we are and what we're about

           We're a crew of professional photographers and models - as well as non-professional enthusiasts posing for and shooting a very unusual pair of pinup calendars - "Cancer Suvivors Bikini" and "Cancer Survivors Beefcake." And if you're a survivor with a flair for the dramatic, a sense for the aesthetic, or any business sense at all, we invite you to join our crew. We need models (survivors, please), makeup artists, graphic designers, logistics coordinators, pressmen, fluffers (just checking to see if anybody's reading this closely...), etc. Name your talent, and we'll probably find a way to put you to use.
           One day soon this will be the home page of a website that’ll sell lots of those calendars online and make gobs of money for a good cause – eradicating cancer.  As your ringleader, I’ve had the disease once myself, and I assure you it’s no fun whatsoever. (If you'd like to catch up on my own story, the quick way to do so may be by having a look at MD Anderson's CancerWise May, 2007 page.)
            Beyond the bit about making money, however, it’s the fervent hope of everyone involved that a calendar project such as this will break a few stereotypes about cancer and who gets it.  The people in print may be glamorous, but it’s worth noting that cancer is anything but a “designer disease.”  It’s a foul, nasty thing that is absolutely, utterly against life.  But each and every person you see here rose to the challenge of beating it. So if this calendar project succeeds in any way beyond simply making money for research, treatment, or patient support; it’ll be because those facing the fight of their lives right now drew from it at least some sign that the person who comes out the back side of the experience is not a weaker, crippled, marred version of the one who went in.
            And, of course, we're going to be printing useful medical information as footnotes to every calendar page. We'd like a mainstream market distribution for this thing when we're done, and in keeping with that, we'd like to educate the general public on which lumps and funny spots are the ones that should be sending you to the doctor.
            In any case, what you see below is a little bit of an advance look at what you'll shortly see on paper.
 

     

Diagnosed at age 12 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Shiley went from being a girl whose biggest concern one day was going to cheerleading camp to being a patient at Texas Children's Hospital the next. For her high school years, she was "the skinny bald girl." Physically and socially she bloomed late, having lost a few years courtesy of chemo. But she eventually got through school, graduated from college with a double major, and -- no longer skinny or bald -- wound up as Miss Hawaiian Tropic. Today she's studying intensely in an accelerated program in oncology nursing.

Mandi was an avid distance runner in high school and college, and she still has the build and the mindset for running long hauls when she wants to. But she spent one too many long run out there in the sun with only a crop top and shorts -- and no SPF45. And that took its toll. "I was terrified when I heard the word 'melanoma' and they started talking about taking out lymph nodes. Suddenly I felt very old -- and very far apart emotionally from all my young friends -- who'd never given death or dying the slightest thought." Today she's hale and hearty -- and keeping a full schedule doing marketing (as well as a little promotional modeling) for Miller Beer and print modeling for calendars and swimwear companies.

Jamie Lynn was 23 when she got hit with a diagnosis of colon cancer. "I pretty much thought, this is it. The end. I'm going to die. My life is over." Luckily, she got past that initial shock and fear, got through treatment, and got on with life. Today she's a mom who has to admit that given the strong hereditary nature of her disease, she's terrified for her kids -- whom she gets the regular checkups she didn't get simply because until her diagnosis she just didn't know any better. Thankfully, she's through it all and "feeling better about my body than I ever have." So she's making time -- even with the responsibilities of motherhood -- to sneak in the occasional modeling job. And with her own life and the lives of her two little ones on the line, she's an understandably active cancer survivorship advocate.
 
 
            Now... Where to sell this thing?  Anyplace it’ll sell… But for sure in places such as hospital gift shops and infusion therapy centers.  Personally as much as I worried about being a young guy who’d never be in shape to do all the things he used to do once he’d entered his “post-cancer” life, I don’t ever want anybody my age – or any age, for that matter – thinking the same thing. Those damned clinics are scary enough. Let’s get the message out that this fight isn’t just about stopping people from dying. It’s about getting them whole so that they can get back to living full bore.

Eric Overton
Survivor, Late Stage Regressed Primary Melanoma
Survivor, Clear Cell Sarcoma
Owner, Overton Photographic
Austin, Texas


Latest News on the “Bikini” Project

            Wow! It's been several very busy months. Word of mouth is spreading the news that this calendar project even exists and that production is underway.  And the pace of information dissemination is picking up a bit now, since a few of the right ears were cocked our direction at the right time.
            As some of you may recall, we went into this project with photos of professional models (and survivors) Shiley Carter, Jamie Lynn Wise, and Mandi Padgett already in the files.  All three of these ladies had at one point or another modeled for us in a purely commercial setting on a variety of other jobs.  But we were aware of their “survivor” status, and all three were more than happy to donate their previously shot films to a good cause.  (And some are coming back for reshoots with new looks and even more toned and stunning physiques to show off.  These ladies only get better with age.)  So at the time this website first got started, we were actually ¼ of the way to getting a “bikini” calendar out the door.
            Our first bit of good luck after that auspicious beginning came in the form of Chicago-based model Wendy Salo, who became our fourth cancer survivor bikini babe.  Wendy had posted some travel information regarding her coming to our home state of Texas in May.  Her original purpose of visiting so close to us was to be a spokesmodel and future calendar model at a motorcycle rally about 100 miles from the “Hot Survivors” headquarters in Austin.  And her intent with posting her itinerary to a modeling jobs message board was to pick up little extra work while she was here.  But she’d had the good sense to mention in the fine print on her portfolio page that she was a survivor of thyroid cancer.  That caught our eye, so we tracked her down through the professional modeling channels.  The end result was that she stayed in Texas an extra day just for us, and before long, we had her on film in a string bikini.
            Next, we (finally) got in sync with Genne’ McDonald, the founder of “Team Survivor” in Gainesville, Florida.  Many of you may remember Genne’ as one of the featured speakers at the “Livestrong Summit” in our home town of Austin in October of 2006.  No fools we, we noticed as she stood at the podium that she was a lean, fit, attractive woman who’d made it her business to train for endurance sports while encouraging other cancer survivors to do the same.  Clearly, she was an obvious candidate to put in front of a camera in a bikini, and we suspected that she had exactly the kind of connections we’d most like to exploit.  So when one of us noticed that the seat next to hers at the Livestrong banquet that evening was empty, we sat down and started schmoozing.
            That schmooze paid off handsomely, since at the end of May, we found ourselves in Longboat Key, Florida with a pile of film, cameras, and Genne’ – who brought her friends Yaffa and Heather to take their turns on the other side of our lens.  For those of you who saw Genne’ at the podium at the Summit, we present you with an outtake on the beach to prove that we know just who belongs in a g-string bikini.
 
 
            Aren’t you lucky that for all of the other side effects of our own chemotherapy, our eyesight is still dead on?  And Genne’s eyes are at least as good as ours, since Heather and Yaffa both turned out to be stunners also.
            Anyway, Genne’, Yaffa, and Heather became models five, six, and seven.  And we were more than halfway there at the end of May.  Time was getting tight, but the “bikini” project remained within reach for a late 2007 release as a 2008 calendar.
            Back home in Austin, we struck it lucky again when a model our photographer had hired for strictly a commercial job asked what else he’d been doing lately.  He mentioned the Hot Survivors project, and much-in-demand Dallas-based professional model Danielle Trixie replied, “Oh, did I mention I’d recently beaten a cervical cancer?”  Mind you, she mentioned this while she was in the middle of posing in a g-string bikini in a secluded corner of Austin’s Bull Creek watershed.  Jackpot!  Danielle Trixie became model number eight for the project.
            Meanwhile, in Houston, our original partner in crime on this project, Shiley Carter, had done some legwork (and lovely legs they are) for us – and turned up the reigning Miss Galveston, Rebecca Esparza, who beat a melanoma a few years back.  Rebecca’s been an outspoken (in two languages) advocate and educator when it comes to young people and cancer, and she was only too happy to stop in with us for a visit in a plunging neckline snakeskin-print one piece.  Very nice.  And then there were nine.
            At that point, word was getting out, and it’d got as far as survivor Valerie Ward, who’d never modeled but had been encouraged to try out with us by a friend.  Thank goodness for friends like that.  At the same time, Planet Cancer (a cancer support network for young adults) had sent us an e-mail telling us what they were up to.  And we couldn’t resist the opportunity to say to them, “Hey, he we are, and here’s what we’ve been doing.”  Our reply found its way into the hands of Planet Cancer staffer Kate West, and Kate subsequently found her way into a micro-mini g-string bikini around the same time Val poured herself into a “pretzel” suit.   By the way, don't be surprised if some time very soon Planet Cancer does a feature on "How I Became a Bikini Model, by Kate West..."
            And then there were eleven.
            Now we’re one shy of putting this thing onto the presses.  Who will she be?  And will she get to us in a timely manner?
            Keep checking back here to learn the answer… 
 
Late Breaking News! 
 
            The Austin American-Statesman picked us up on radar, and we got a plug from them in the Sunday edition of Labor Day Weekend... 
 
AAS Photo

 

Status of the “Beefcake” Project
 
            Currently, the "Beefcake" edition of the calendar has been moved back to a 2009 release. This was a tough decision for all of us, but since "Beefcake" started shooting with less film intially "in the can" and because "beefcake" models have been slower to come forward, as a practical matter, we though it better to postpone its release and concentrate on getting "Bikini" out the door. We decided that in the end, we were a lot better off with one complete calendar than with two that were only half finished.
            That said, we're trying now to get an early start on the 2009 beefcake project, so we'll take models as we can get them. Between now and late September, we're probably going to be distracted with putting the finishing touches on "Bikini," since we've got a press deadline to meet. But after that, "Beefcake" will be getting the higher priority for a while. And we're hopeful that the excitement generated by "Bikini" will get our name out there in enough places that "Beefcake" is easier to cast when the time comes. So far in the boys-versus-girls competition for models, the boys have been getting pretty badly spanked. And it's (almost) time that got turned around.
 

How to Become a Model
 
            Let us know who you are by sending an e-mail to eric@overtonphoto.com and telling us you're a cancer survivor and that you're interested. That's really all there is to it. Feel free to tell us a little bit of your story as well as where you're located. And if you've got photos of yourself, by all means send them along. Nothing needs to be professionally shot - that's what we do. We just need to get some idea of how to photograph you when the time comes. The big thing, though, is just letting us know you're out there and available. From there, once the line of communication is open, we can follow up and see to it that something happens.
 
            (And for those of you wondering what's involved on a photo shoot or "Could I be a model?" you can check out this page to see how I prepped the Florida crew that included Genne', Heather, and Yaffa. It's a pretty good indication of how jobs like this get handled.)
 

Other Opportunities Related to the Project
 
            For the last few years some of us been out there producing calendars, so it’s not as if we're novices when it comes to the whole photographic and printing end of the business. (Although we won't turn down help if it's offered, since a calendar is a HUGE job...) So at our end, we've got the cameras, we've got the photographic lab, we've got the post-processing gear, we've got a printer with whom we've worked several times before on other jos, we've got several makeup artists ready to donate time and a few helpers ready to step in on the set, and (at least for the ladies) we've even got the support of a swimwear company owned by a woman who herself very recently lost a loved one to bladder cancer -- and would like all that business of "losing loved ones" to stop now. 
            But with all that said, there's still a lot that we don't have this time around. And even among the things we do have, there are things of which we'd like more. For example, once the 2008 edition is on press, we'd love to open up the shooting to other photographers so that this becomes more of a community project. And since we can't be everywhere, it opens opportunities for models that can't come to us and to whom we can't get easily. 
           Also, for sure in the upcoming year (while we're shooting the 2009 editions of these calendars), we could use help in schmoozing the airlines to get us around the country to where all of you survivors out there may be. 
           Nearer term, we're not going to object when somebody says, “I’m in periodicals distribution, and I can be of some help here?”  We hope this project becomes a whole lot larger than anything our small band could ever expect to manage by ourselves.  But it won’t without all of you.
            So search yourself and ask what your talent may be and how you're going to get involved in this nutty escapade. Or ask yourself what skill you'd always wanted to learn by just throwing yourself headlong into it. I know I don't have to tell you that life is short and it's worth taking a risk or two to get the most out of it.
            Once you've done all this soul searching to find your God given gift, drop us a line at eric@overtonphoto.com and say, “Cool idea! I’m in!” and tell me how you're going to make yourself our new best friend in the whole world. Nothing would make us happier than to have the problem of figuring out how to lug all our photo junk to your doorstep.
            Except seeing cancer obliterated once and for all...