John Copeland
You won't find my photo in the annual. I
intentionally missed the photo day, and a lot of other days during my high
school time. I also did not go to graduation (I did not own a suit and we could
not justify the expense). I'm surprised I even graduated. My diploma was mailed
to me. My time at Sutter Jr High and then on to Cleveland were difficult years, with not a lot of good memories. At Cleveland, I was part of a small group of under achieving, middle to lower middle class "wannabe" car guys, mostly with junk heap cars, who weren't really greasers, nor surfers or soshes or jocks. For the most part I think we were invisible to most.
My parents were divorcing, we had to sell our small house, and my mother worked full time to try and give my sister and I what she could. My father basically was never there even prior to the divorce and his alcoholism caused problems as far back as I can remember. I was a bit of a lost soul, and very insecure about my appearance and "social status", as I am sure others were as well.
I had grown up in the country among corn fields and pastures outside of Eugene Oregon... and we moved to Canoga Park just as I turned 12 years old. It was culture shock, a very different world, an awkward time for me and I never really did adjust. I basically lived in a fantasy world of Hot Rods and the Playboy magazines I could get my hands on. I grew really tall very quickly and got fat. I was very self-conscious. I grew up playing football and baseball in Oregon but our new neighborhood had no boys my age. I wanted to play football in high school, but as B10 JV guy, I was basically a punching bag for the Varsity guys. I quit. I anyhow needed to get an after school job, and there was the start of my two-year "career" working in gas stations.
My life changed after high school, and luckily since then I have led an almost charmed life. I have been “very lucky” and I am “very thankful” to those in my life who have been so generous and have had the confidence in me to give me a chance to live what I feel has been and still is a successful and satisfying life.
The change began short after graduation. At 17, an aunt I barely knew left both myself and my sister $3000 (around $23,000 in today's money) when she died. It was a total surprise. I got it all at 18 years-old and against my mother's wishes. I went crazy. I bought a souped-up Corvette and with the help of more mechanically-talented friends, Gene Stanley and Steve Ritchie, and some of the remaining inheritance, souped it up more. I got my own apartment with other Class of '65 Alumni, Jeff Scranton(RIP) and Larry Cogdell (beautiful family in West Virginia). We had a lot of fun. They were wilder than I was and they turned me on to pot for the first time! I found having money and a nice car was a big advantage for my confidence and it definitely helped me get a couple of pretty girlfriends like I always wanted.
But...just as things were getting good I got my notice for my physical, and then my draft notice. My mom worked for doctors and she said they could maybe get me out of going, but I felt it was something I needed to do... not for any patriotic reason, but to learn a new trade. I hadn't even considered college at that time and I knew I did not want to be an auto mechanic or work in gas stations my whole life. I had always been good at drawing and art and at Cleveland I took all the drafting and technical illustration classes I could. (Thank You, Mr Mortensen, for your encouragement!) So I enlisted in the Army on the buddy system with Dennis Nowland (now in Colorado somewhere) signing away an extra year of my life to be "guaranteed" a job as technical illustrator in the US Army.
I went into the Army January 22 1967. There was a bit of a "bait and switch" -- the guarantee was not honored, and I did not become a technical illustrator. Instead, they made me a map draftsman, and then a map compiler, and by August of 1967, eight months later, I was in a map making unit in Nha Trang Vietnam, http://www.569th.com taking survey data and plotting it on to collages of aerial photographs. It was there I started working in the photo lab and bought my first camera. I was immediately hooked. I ended up spending 22 months there. I took thousands of photos. I also discovered that when I came home on leave the girls I met loved having their photos taken, and I knew then what I wanted to do with my life.
The Army was very good for me. I am so happy I took that extra year. The Army changed my attitude and gave me confidence. I was forced to do the things I didn't want to do, or that I was afraid to try. I discovered that "trying is half the battle". The Army taught me to say "I can" instead of "I can't". It made me so I was not afraid to take risks and go after the things I wanted. I did get busted for pot my last tour there, which took a bit of the glow off the experience, but even that had its positives.
I got out of the Army in 1970 and almost immediately got a job in a large union printing house in Van Nuys, working in the photo lab and doing negative layout and stripping. I made good money for a 22 year-old. I then got the opportunity to work for a newspaper in Santa Monica and moved to the beach in a funky old apartment house (whole other story) and took advantage of the GI Bill and went back to school at Santa Monica College. I never did get a degree but went for 5 years taking all the commercial photography and art classes I could. I was working mostly full time and carrying a minimum of 12 units plus partying a lot. While there, I also made a point of photographing as many pretty girls as I could and eventually submitted work to both Penthouse and Playboy magazine.
That is pretty much all I have done since then. I have been photographing women of all ages, shapes and sizes as my only "work" since 1978. I worked as a Staff Photographer for the US edition of Penthouse magazine during its biggest years from 1978 to 1984 and on the staff of the German edition of Penthouse 1981-1985 and on staff of German Playboy magazine from 1985 through most of 1987. During that time, I shot hundreds of magazine layouts, centerfolds and covers for the international men's magazine market. In 1984, I moved to Munich Germany where I was the "go to" photographer for all layouts and promotions and also began syndicating my photos to international editions of men's magazines around the world.
Living for four years in Munich and working in Europe gave me a fresh outlook on most everything. Seeing how the rest of the world lives and the chance to travel through most of southern Europe has influenced most every facet of my life. I had a lot of fun and some really great times.
In 1987 I married my beautiful and talented wife, Christiné, who had been the studio assistant at Penthouse and my makeup artist while at Playboy. It was my first and only marriage and we have now been married 28 and together 30 years. In November of 1987, we moved back to Los Angeles. We set up a commercial photo studio on La Brea Avenue just south of Hollywood. It was a great time for being a men's magazine photographer. Models were readily available and I had many connections for selling publication rights to many different magazines in different countries and languages around the world. We also did actor's and model's headshots, portfolios, and portraits of all types as well as commercial jobs. We worked with PR companies and found ourselves doing business "portrait" shoots for their professional use, and then Christiné would give them a glamorous look and I would photograph them as if they were glamorous celebrities or models. It was a lot of fun for us and the clients loved the experience. We never expected that these Make-Over Shoots would become the large part of our work that it is today.
In 1994 after two years of unrest in Los Angeles we decided it was maybe time to leave LA. The riots of 1992 and earthquake in January 1994 took a toll on our studio neighborhood and we were ready to move on. My assistant suggested we look into setting up a photography studio in Las Vegas where his parents had moved. We made several trips, found a great house and moved to "Vegas" in June of 1994. It turned out to be a wonderful decision. We set up a studio just off the Las Vegas strip and went right back into working as we had in LA -- except now as a "Las Vegas Photographer".
In 1995 I discovered the Internet. I was being frequently approached to sell my photos to a bunch of new start-up Internet sites. I had already licensed large numbers of my Playboy style images from my independent productions for some of the first CDs of that type ever produced. I didn't quite understand how it worked back then, but the royalties from sales had been huge. Having no idea what I was about to get into, I decided to start my own Internet business. I contacted a long-time friend who was always looking for new adventures and Pixotna Productions Inc. was born. It began a new chapter in my life. Like many at the time, we hoped to become Internet millionaires. That did not happen, however it was an amazing experience to get so deeply involved in such a new and challenging field. It was a tremendous amount of work, and I found myself shooting less and running the business more. The first years had great promise but It became incredibly demanding and from 2000 to 2005, I had little time for photography... and we found it more difficult and difficult to compete with all the hackers and thieves. It was one of the more difficult and unhappy times of my life. After almost 10 years shooting less and less every year, sitting on the computer way too much, I finally "extracted" myself from the Internet business.
In 2005 we started https://www.LasVegasStudios.com. Christiné had already reestablished herself doing makeup and hair https://www.fotolook.com and I missed working with her. I had learned a lot about building and hosting websites while still shooting content for our sites but I wanted and needed to again devote more time working with Christiné, and get back doing my photography full time. We have our own web server and I still do web hosting and up until recently most all of our website design and maintenance. I still enjoy working on computers and the Internet, but as cliché as it sounds, photography is still what I enjoy most.
In April of 2011, after many years of pain from a progressively worsening arthritic hip (most likely from years of schlepping equipment and moving furniture around and building photo sets, and then 10 years on the computer) I had a total left hip replacement. It was a great success and I thank Dr. Briggs and the Veteran's Administration in Las Vegas for their great work and for giving me a "new lease" on life. Since then, I have been able to resume a full work schedule and feel great. I did Weight Watchers for eight months and got back down to my post-army weight. I have put on a few pounds since but do not plan to ever get really heavy again.
Photography is a dying business overtaken by soccer moms and retirees looking for a second career. These days "everyone" is a photographer. I am one of the few of my colleagues still active. Helmut Newton worked long into his 70s with his wife at his side and this is what I hope to do as well. When I am not shooting, editing shoots or working on our websites and all of the other responsibilities of self-employment, I am spending as much time as possible keeping our house and yard in order and hope to someday find time to go through my 30+ years of photo archives.
Christiné and I enjoy cooking and it has become quite our hobby. We love our 2 Buck Chuck Charles Shaw Cabernet and a good Zinfandel, and watching a bit of TV when we can. I am a big college football fan (Go Ducks!, C'mon Rebels!) and like to watch the kids on the talent shows like Idol and Voice giving it their all in search of stardom. We don't have any children but have had some great cats during our time together. We currently have a couple of rescue cats, Scruffy and Cimmi, that have turned into big strong ole'cats, and last year found a puppy "Lola" on Craigslist that stole our hearts and has become an important part of our lives.
As it seems I am always the oldest person in whatever we do. I look forward to seeing old acquaintances that share a common bond, and visiting with some of my old friends in SoCal.
Facebook Private page is: https://www.facebook.com/john.h.copeland
Facebook Business page is: https://www.facebook.com/LasVegasStudios
My parents were divorcing, we had to sell our small house, and my mother worked full time to try and give my sister and I what she could. My father basically was never there even prior to the divorce and his alcoholism caused problems as far back as I can remember. I was a bit of a lost soul, and very insecure about my appearance and "social status", as I am sure others were as well.
I had grown up in the country among corn fields and pastures outside of Eugene Oregon... and we moved to Canoga Park just as I turned 12 years old. It was culture shock, a very different world, an awkward time for me and I never really did adjust. I basically lived in a fantasy world of Hot Rods and the Playboy magazines I could get my hands on. I grew really tall very quickly and got fat. I was very self-conscious. I grew up playing football and baseball in Oregon but our new neighborhood had no boys my age. I wanted to play football in high school, but as B10 JV guy, I was basically a punching bag for the Varsity guys. I quit. I anyhow needed to get an after school job, and there was the start of my two-year "career" working in gas stations.
My life changed after high school, and luckily since then I have led an almost charmed life. I have been “very lucky” and I am “very thankful” to those in my life who have been so generous and have had the confidence in me to give me a chance to live what I feel has been and still is a successful and satisfying life.
The change began short after graduation. At 17, an aunt I barely knew left both myself and my sister $3000 (around $23,000 in today's money) when she died. It was a total surprise. I got it all at 18 years-old and against my mother's wishes. I went crazy. I bought a souped-up Corvette and with the help of more mechanically-talented friends, Gene Stanley and Steve Ritchie, and some of the remaining inheritance, souped it up more. I got my own apartment with other Class of '65 Alumni, Jeff Scranton(RIP) and Larry Cogdell (beautiful family in West Virginia). We had a lot of fun. They were wilder than I was and they turned me on to pot for the first time! I found having money and a nice car was a big advantage for my confidence and it definitely helped me get a couple of pretty girlfriends like I always wanted.
But...just as things were getting good I got my notice for my physical, and then my draft notice. My mom worked for doctors and she said they could maybe get me out of going, but I felt it was something I needed to do... not for any patriotic reason, but to learn a new trade. I hadn't even considered college at that time and I knew I did not want to be an auto mechanic or work in gas stations my whole life. I had always been good at drawing and art and at Cleveland I took all the drafting and technical illustration classes I could. (Thank You, Mr Mortensen, for your encouragement!) So I enlisted in the Army on the buddy system with Dennis Nowland (now in Colorado somewhere) signing away an extra year of my life to be "guaranteed" a job as technical illustrator in the US Army.
I went into the Army January 22 1967. There was a bit of a "bait and switch" -- the guarantee was not honored, and I did not become a technical illustrator. Instead, they made me a map draftsman, and then a map compiler, and by August of 1967, eight months later, I was in a map making unit in Nha Trang Vietnam, http://www.569th.com taking survey data and plotting it on to collages of aerial photographs. It was there I started working in the photo lab and bought my first camera. I was immediately hooked. I ended up spending 22 months there. I took thousands of photos. I also discovered that when I came home on leave the girls I met loved having their photos taken, and I knew then what I wanted to do with my life.
The Army was very good for me. I am so happy I took that extra year. The Army changed my attitude and gave me confidence. I was forced to do the things I didn't want to do, or that I was afraid to try. I discovered that "trying is half the battle". The Army taught me to say "I can" instead of "I can't". It made me so I was not afraid to take risks and go after the things I wanted. I did get busted for pot my last tour there, which took a bit of the glow off the experience, but even that had its positives.
I got out of the Army in 1970 and almost immediately got a job in a large union printing house in Van Nuys, working in the photo lab and doing negative layout and stripping. I made good money for a 22 year-old. I then got the opportunity to work for a newspaper in Santa Monica and moved to the beach in a funky old apartment house (whole other story) and took advantage of the GI Bill and went back to school at Santa Monica College. I never did get a degree but went for 5 years taking all the commercial photography and art classes I could. I was working mostly full time and carrying a minimum of 12 units plus partying a lot. While there, I also made a point of photographing as many pretty girls as I could and eventually submitted work to both Penthouse and Playboy magazine.
That is pretty much all I have done since then. I have been photographing women of all ages, shapes and sizes as my only "work" since 1978. I worked as a Staff Photographer for the US edition of Penthouse magazine during its biggest years from 1978 to 1984 and on the staff of the German edition of Penthouse 1981-1985 and on staff of German Playboy magazine from 1985 through most of 1987. During that time, I shot hundreds of magazine layouts, centerfolds and covers for the international men's magazine market. In 1984, I moved to Munich Germany where I was the "go to" photographer for all layouts and promotions and also began syndicating my photos to international editions of men's magazines around the world.
Living for four years in Munich and working in Europe gave me a fresh outlook on most everything. Seeing how the rest of the world lives and the chance to travel through most of southern Europe has influenced most every facet of my life. I had a lot of fun and some really great times.
In 1987 I married my beautiful and talented wife, Christiné, who had been the studio assistant at Penthouse and my makeup artist while at Playboy. It was my first and only marriage and we have now been married 28 and together 30 years. In November of 1987, we moved back to Los Angeles. We set up a commercial photo studio on La Brea Avenue just south of Hollywood. It was a great time for being a men's magazine photographer. Models were readily available and I had many connections for selling publication rights to many different magazines in different countries and languages around the world. We also did actor's and model's headshots, portfolios, and portraits of all types as well as commercial jobs. We worked with PR companies and found ourselves doing business "portrait" shoots for their professional use, and then Christiné would give them a glamorous look and I would photograph them as if they were glamorous celebrities or models. It was a lot of fun for us and the clients loved the experience. We never expected that these Make-Over Shoots would become the large part of our work that it is today.
In 1994 after two years of unrest in Los Angeles we decided it was maybe time to leave LA. The riots of 1992 and earthquake in January 1994 took a toll on our studio neighborhood and we were ready to move on. My assistant suggested we look into setting up a photography studio in Las Vegas where his parents had moved. We made several trips, found a great house and moved to "Vegas" in June of 1994. It turned out to be a wonderful decision. We set up a studio just off the Las Vegas strip and went right back into working as we had in LA -- except now as a "Las Vegas Photographer".
In 1995 I discovered the Internet. I was being frequently approached to sell my photos to a bunch of new start-up Internet sites. I had already licensed large numbers of my Playboy style images from my independent productions for some of the first CDs of that type ever produced. I didn't quite understand how it worked back then, but the royalties from sales had been huge. Having no idea what I was about to get into, I decided to start my own Internet business. I contacted a long-time friend who was always looking for new adventures and Pixotna Productions Inc. was born. It began a new chapter in my life. Like many at the time, we hoped to become Internet millionaires. That did not happen, however it was an amazing experience to get so deeply involved in such a new and challenging field. It was a tremendous amount of work, and I found myself shooting less and running the business more. The first years had great promise but It became incredibly demanding and from 2000 to 2005, I had little time for photography... and we found it more difficult and difficult to compete with all the hackers and thieves. It was one of the more difficult and unhappy times of my life. After almost 10 years shooting less and less every year, sitting on the computer way too much, I finally "extracted" myself from the Internet business.
In 2005 we started https://www.LasVegasStudios.com. Christiné had already reestablished herself doing makeup and hair https://www.fotolook.com and I missed working with her. I had learned a lot about building and hosting websites while still shooting content for our sites but I wanted and needed to again devote more time working with Christiné, and get back doing my photography full time. We have our own web server and I still do web hosting and up until recently most all of our website design and maintenance. I still enjoy working on computers and the Internet, but as cliché as it sounds, photography is still what I enjoy most.
In April of 2011, after many years of pain from a progressively worsening arthritic hip (most likely from years of schlepping equipment and moving furniture around and building photo sets, and then 10 years on the computer) I had a total left hip replacement. It was a great success and I thank Dr. Briggs and the Veteran's Administration in Las Vegas for their great work and for giving me a "new lease" on life. Since then, I have been able to resume a full work schedule and feel great. I did Weight Watchers for eight months and got back down to my post-army weight. I have put on a few pounds since but do not plan to ever get really heavy again.
Photography is a dying business overtaken by soccer moms and retirees looking for a second career. These days "everyone" is a photographer. I am one of the few of my colleagues still active. Helmut Newton worked long into his 70s with his wife at his side and this is what I hope to do as well. When I am not shooting, editing shoots or working on our websites and all of the other responsibilities of self-employment, I am spending as much time as possible keeping our house and yard in order and hope to someday find time to go through my 30+ years of photo archives.
Christiné and I enjoy cooking and it has become quite our hobby. We love our 2 Buck Chuck Charles Shaw Cabernet and a good Zinfandel, and watching a bit of TV when we can. I am a big college football fan (Go Ducks!, C'mon Rebels!) and like to watch the kids on the talent shows like Idol and Voice giving it their all in search of stardom. We don't have any children but have had some great cats during our time together. We currently have a couple of rescue cats, Scruffy and Cimmi, that have turned into big strong ole'cats, and last year found a puppy "Lola" on Craigslist that stole our hearts and has become an important part of our lives.
As it seems I am always the oldest person in whatever we do. I look forward to seeing old acquaintances that share a common bond, and visiting with some of my old friends in SoCal.
Facebook Private page is: https://www.facebook.com/john.h.copeland
Facebook Business page is: https://www.facebook.com/LasVegasStudios
Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them
Living my teenage fantasy. I went 12:39 ET at 109 mph in the 1/4 mile. Pretty good for a street machine back then.
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This is me in probably the 11th grade. Insecure, pudgy, big, clumsy, no self confidence, introverted and a virgin...dreaming of having a hot car and a pretty girl friend but with no chance for either.
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My Army portrait from boot camp at Fort Polk, LA. This was a turning point in my life. I realized that I could do a lot of things I never realized I could do.
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My mom worked at Rocketdyne and unbeknownst to me, got one of the photographers there to come out and take photos when I raced at the old San Fernando Raceway.
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I shot a lot for Playboy in Spain in the mid-1980's. Mainly Ibiza and Mallorca. We rented a big villa outside of the city and would come in at night for dinner and to enjoy the craziness that Ibiza is noted for. It was a great time in my life.
I did a Western shoot and had all of these authentic Western props and clothing and could not resist putting them on and taking a "selfie" as a cowboy. Another childhood fantasy fulfilled.
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We don't dress like this often. So when we were invited to a formal event in 2014, we did what many casual people do. We rented fancy clothes! This photo was to spoof the entire thing for posterity.
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Comments
What a great story, John! You've truly had an amazing life since graduation. Thank you for sharing it with us. It's always so interesting to hear about how our lives were impacted by the service, our families and our hobbies. Congratulations on 28+ years of marriage and a successful business. Look forward to seeing you at the 50th.
Jeff Davis
Jeff Davis
John, The roads we have all taken are so varied, some without many stones or curves, Then there are roads like yours ( sometimes mine too) where the road just went a bit crazy & we found ourself on an unrecognizable path. Those are the truly interesting roads. Your story is "novel-like" I am so glad that you will be attending the 50th. We have an entire weekend & I so hope that the time is there to meet your wife, share stories, and have a wonderful & thought provoking time! You had some big challenges & the life that found you is wonderful. Thank you so for sharing it with us!
Gloria Dorcy Watts
Gloria Dorcy Watts
Wow! What a 180 degree change from what you described in your youth! Congratulations on a happy marriage and a satisfying career! Have you ever visited Oregon again? I've never been but I imagine the country is beautiful.
Dixie Reinhardt
Dixie Reinhardt
I remember you from Sutter Jr. High and Cleveland HS. It is funny that as kids growing up we did not know very much about each other's home lives, unless we were very close. All I knew about you was from School. I knew that you liked cars and I thought you were a nice guy. I think we had the same drafting class with Mr. Mortensen. I too enjoyed his class.
It is funny that after high school, I too worked at a gas station as well. It was the Mobile station at Chase and Reseda Blvd. Bob Teague mentored me and I learned a lot. I went to San Fernando Valley State College until I joined the LAPD to stay away from the draft. I did get drafted but because I was on the LAPD, I got a pass. So I ended up with a 30 year hitch. So I did not get to experience Military life as you did.
It sounds like you really made the most of what the military and life handed you. You have certainly traveled the world. I’m glad that you have been able to “Work” in a field that you truly enjoy. It is amazing how you describe the path to your career. WOW!
I look forward to seeing you at the 50th . By the way, I still “bust” an occasional knuckle on my 1956 T-Bird.
Dick Eyster
It is funny that after high school, I too worked at a gas station as well. It was the Mobile station at Chase and Reseda Blvd. Bob Teague mentored me and I learned a lot. I went to San Fernando Valley State College until I joined the LAPD to stay away from the draft. I did get drafted but because I was on the LAPD, I got a pass. So I ended up with a 30 year hitch. So I did not get to experience Military life as you did.
It sounds like you really made the most of what the military and life handed you. You have certainly traveled the world. I’m glad that you have been able to “Work” in a field that you truly enjoy. It is amazing how you describe the path to your career. WOW!
I look forward to seeing you at the 50th . By the way, I still “bust” an occasional knuckle on my 1956 T-Bird.
Dick Eyster