This is my third post about the photography of John Tessier aka Jack McCullough.  As I said previously, John Tessier was my roommate during the mid 1980’s,  as well as a friend and artistic collaborator. The photos that I’m sharing above are from my personal archives.

I spent hundreds of hours working with John over our decade long friendship. Sometimes I worked as the hair and makeup artist, sometimes as an artistic director, and other times  as a model.  The time we spent in the photo studio shooting nudes was often shared with a female ballet dancer who I’ve written about previously.  She was always remarkable in front of the camera, creating elegant poses with her petite yet strong dancers frame. I learned a tremendous amount while watching her work, often times doing my best to recreate her most successful poses during my time in front of the lens. Spending two, three of four hours in front of the camera  is much harder and more exhausting than you can ever imagine.  And if you’re covered in white or black body paint, as we often were, then you need to be even more vigilant so as not to rub it off onto any of the other surfaces in the studio.  Additionally, once a composition has been created in front of the camera, you’ll need to hold if for long periods of time while also looking relaxed. Oh, and don’t forget to exhale so your stomach is as small and flat as possible.

As you may or may not know, John, or Jack McCullough as he’s legally known, was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Maria Ridulph in September of 2012. He received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years.  On February 13, 2015, the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois issued their response to Jack Daniel McCullough’s appeal of the murder conviction. The court upheld the 2012 murder conviction, but vacated the kidnapping and abduction of an infant charges.

I still feel very conflicted about what has become of my friend who I often thought of as a mentor.  We lost touch after I moved to Los Angeles in the early 90’s, but I always thought of him as a pretty good guy. Sometimes I thought he was a bit of an opportunist when it came to dating women, always dating up as it were. But there’s certainly no crime in that. When I became aware of his story during a random google search two years ago, I was stunned, saddened and even a bit bewildered. It’s hard to reconcile the man you know, with the facts that have been presented by the prosecution. His fourth wife’s family still maintains his innocence, and has even contacted me to try and sway my opinion. I believe that when it comes to human nature, people will hide whatever aspects they need to of themselves, to appear as normal as possible. As a friend of mine once said: Only the spoon knows where the bottom of the pot is.