Photographer Michael Tighe had been assigned by Interview magazine to take a picture of Linter with some of her model pals: Gia, Julie Foster and Patti Hansen to plug Sandy Linter’s book “Disco Beauty”.
Under normal conditions, the shot would have taken no time at all. Tighe was known for his quick, controlled sessions and, besides, nobody was being paid. But normal conditions were no longer in vogue.
Marc Balet, Interview magazine Art Director recalls: “Everyone was out-loonying each other in one way or another. Everyone was strange or stoned or drunk. The picture could have taken forty-five minutes to an hour. Instead, the makeup alone took an hour, and it took about six hours to take this picture. This is around when everything became very crazy in the business.”
Kay Mitchell (head of Wilhelmina’s women’s division), who came along with Patti Hansen, recalled the session as the first time she realized Gia’s feelings for Sandy were romantic. “The two of them were obsessive,” she said, “and that became, really, pretty awkward. It seemed like quite a romance, you know, and it was the first time I had really actually been there.”
Michael Tighe: “They all kind of showed up. “I especially remember Gia. They had all put on their Interview T-shirts. Then Gia took off her shirt and was naked for a while and, well, it was an extraordinary figure she had. I was just quite taken with her beauty. Sandy took her shirt off too. The idea was to shoot them from overhead, all circled around Sandy. I ended up climbing on a ladder, and they were all sort of curled up with each other on the floor, just being very sexy with each other.
I was trying to direct them, and they were rather rude to me. They just wanted to play with each other and have fun. I remember looking at Marc very frustrated and he got the clue I was having problems with them. He tried to direct them as much as he could. They were all very intimate with each other, but it’s easy for girls to be like that.
I’d never really known Sandy. I remember the first time I met her, it was in Studio. A friend introduced me to her, and she gave me this big kiss because she was very impressed with my work. But we hadn’t worked together. Gia, I had only worked with occasionally; Julie, I had worked with quite a bit. They were all hugging each other, and being very silly and very crazy. I remember when we wrapped it up, Patti came up and gave me one of the greatest kisses of my life. But it wasn’t fun. They were very loud and girly and obnoxious.
Sorry about the quality of some of these photos.
Tighe: “On the other hand, I’m sure I was stoned. I didn’t feel quite in control and my confidence probably wasn’t what it would have been a year before. I don’t know what was known of my problems at that point. I felt so obvious at times, I’m surprised some people didn’t know what was happening. I had lost my studio: that picture was shot in the loft of a guy who had been my assistant. I had really pretty much lost my business. And, I don’t know that I was really trying to save my career. I was still more interested in shooting dope.”
If you have more photos from this photo shoot, or have better quality copies to post here on Gia’s website, please contact Mares using the contact form.
~source: Thing of Beauty