Under: Matt Mahon Explores the Sex Industry in Photo Gallery

[john_deere]

brooke, i think maybe maybe it's you who should have read the article more carefully. it stated that he paid the normal rate for each girl's time. it was a session, but not the kind you implied by calling him a fucking pig. nowhere does it say he tried to have sex with any of the girls.

Originally Posted by Old-T

Not taking sides, but do you know his side of things? Didn't see it here.

i do. posting it would break several rules.

[TexTushHog]

Originally Posted by Doc Holliday

I've asked him to reply.

Doc, do we know for sure that he got your message? And did you let him know the nature of the allegations made by Arabella?

If so, and he chooses not to reply, that is about as close to confirmation as we can get, short of the guy confessing. Silence in the face of this sort of allegation speaks volumes to me. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if he responds in the next few days.

[Old-T]

Originally Posted by john_deere

i*do. posting it would break several rules.

I understand confidentiality, but a general second party "that's not the whole story" is usually given little weight. Again, I am not saying who is right but if he does not speak up then I would guess this community here will form an opinion based upon the one side they did hear. And in many ways, since it is a reasonably small community even outside Eccie, it will spread. Once such rumors spread--true or false--they become reality. He may be fine with that, I don't know.

[john_deere]

i'm honestly not sure what to do...i'm a fellow photographer and i know how these things go, so i contacted him. he gave me a very straightforward answer. i could post it, but that's private communication and it does involve Staff Edit....and arabella doesn't come off looking very good. her story doesn't include her part in any of the activity that took place.

the bottom line is the allegation should never have been posted. he can't defend himself, and this is a guy who works with clients all over the country. you never know who's reading this.

[Guest020315]

I am MM and it is unfortunate that Arabella has decided to take this very selective memory direction. I met with her 3 times. The last time was NYE. I met her at the P10 strip club at 11:30. I gave her $600 she went to the dressing room and counted the money. She texted me that she wanted $900 total I told her I could not afford that. I sat and waited for 20 minutes and then walked outside and found her in her car, engine running ready to leave with my $600. However she was so high on Staff Edit she had done on her own that she couldn't drive and I drove her back to my house in central Austin where we hungout for the rest of the night. I woke up in the morning to her sitting on my couch. She said she needed a ride back to her car at p10, which is 18 miles away. I took her there, she informed me she wanted $300 from me. I did not have my wallet, that was the truth so I left her at her car. as I am getting back to Austin she calls and tells me her car wont start because the breathlyzer has locked the engine and will I come back and get her from P10. I do. She begins hounding me for this $300. It is 9AM on New YEars Day morning. I feel like shit, all I want to do is sleep. I drop her at her house, tell her we can talk later and I go back home and go to sleep. My roommate wakes me up and asks if I have seen his prescription of Xanax, I say no. He asked if the girl that was over maybe took it and I said probably, she did. I showed it to her cuz I knew she liked that shit and I gave her one to keep for later and she took it all. So at that point I didn't feel I owed her anything even though I told her I could not afford more than $600 and had I not found her Staff Edit in her car incapable of driving she would have robbed me.

I was very open in my project about the Staff Edit use that went on, but for Arabella to say I was abusing when she at the age of 20 has 2 DUI's and can't start her car without a breathalyzer to me is hysterical.

[john_deere]

alrighty, then.

it's good that you're able to get in here with your side. i felt that what you told me was honest since you didn't deny your own part.

[Guest020315]

My approach to this project was to go with whatever the situation dictated. If there was partying going on, depending what it was I sometimes would participate. In no instance did I do something that the women were opposed to or inherently against. If there was partying going on it was because that is what they liked to do. I photographed 72 women and only 3 women did not party at all in my presence and then not did I. I paid $25,000.00 of my own money to fund this project. That went to paying the women, renting rooms or whatever else needed to be paid for so I could keep shooting. All of the women were also given the entire photo shoot to do with what they wanted. I did my very best to take care of everyone that participated unfortunately it's impossible to please everyone. Lastly, the night Arabella is referring to is NYE 2013. We just got together. I was already done shooting the project. The image I shot of her for the project was in Sept 2013 and I paid her $400 on that night.

[Doc Holliday]

Thanks for coming forward.

$25,000 for a photoshoot? Damn.

[Col. Zodiak]

Good info all the way around folks, but let's keep the mention of illegal substances out of the discussion:

• #15 - There is no place in our forums for the general discussion or speculation of illicit drug use. This is to be considered a forbidden topic and mention of it will be removed.

[Doc Holliday]

If it's a problem, shouldn't we talk about it? I understand we don't want this to be the Silk Road or a springboard for promoting that activity. But, if we want a viable, supportive community, we need to address abuse problems openly, in order to reduce its occurrences, right?

[john_deere]

this isn't the place.

two people stand to have possible negative impacts to their business due to discussion of such activity. while i personally may not agree with eccie policy in this regard, it should never have been brought into this thread.

[FoulRon]

Originally Posted by JayceeRivers

I loved the concept. The idea is promising. Though I do feel he focused far too much on the negatives. It is important when telling any story (be it with words or pictures) that there be conflict of course, however it seems to me there are components missing. There is the sex appeal. The drugs, the personal conflicts and identity conflicts, confidence and sadness. I wouldn't know how to describe the missing components as I am not a conceptualist. It is there though, I feel it missing as I slip through the pictures. My best guess is it is something far lighter. The happier side of the world.

It's quite possible that he was a trying to make a statement by leaving that part out. Or perhaps the circumstances of the shoots didn't allow for it.

[JayceeRivers]

Originally Posted by FoulRon

It's quite possible that he was a trying to make a statement by leaving that part out. Or perhaps the circumstances of the shoots didn't allow for it.

Very true, pain breeds art and art breeds pain. If the artist manages to move you into empathy or sympathy or any emotion that connects to the concept itself they have done their job phenomenally. I have always said it is the photographer that is the artist not the model. The model is simply another pallet of colors or a new brush to work with.

[FoulRon]

Originally Posted by john_deere

this isn't the place.

two people stand to have possible negative impacts to their business due to discussion of such activity. while i personally may not agree with eccie policy in this regard, it should never have been brought into this thread.

Not sure if I get dinged for bringing the topic into the thread, having first posted the dreaded word, or if it belongs to the guy who posted the link to the photo set. I was under the impression that it was the discussion/speculation about specific persons that was the primary issue. I'll re-read the rules, again.
The overall purpose of my comment was that the photog was making it appear that this was a fairly rampant problem in the community, which doesn't reflect well on the hobby as a whole. Was that his intention? We'd have to here from MM directly, but most artists prefer to let work speak for them. Sorry I wasn't clearer in my comments and took the short quip route.
Of course, it would be nice if the staff enforced consistently. The edited my post, but not subsequent quotes of said post.

[john_deere]

my specific beef was with one specific post, not the general discussion of drug use in the business. if not for tristan712's post, i would've wanted arabella's entire comment deleted, but at least now there's two sides.