Edward:  Welcome to Connex247 family Athen!. It's such a great pleasure to have you here in the site. Let's start up with your personal interests. Tell us about yourself, hometown and heritage.

Athen: I'm just a small town guy from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The kids in my neighborhood with hell raisers, therefore I was always getting into trouble with them.  So, if I can do it, whatever "it" may be, anyone can.  Any career simply takes passion, determination, and perseverance. 

Rarely is anything handed to us - well, for me it wasn't.  I had to make it happen, and heard "No" a thousand times, but eventually opportunities arose, I shouted "Woohoo!" and jumped with gusto. 

I believe everything is based in having a positive attitude, good work ethics, professionalism, and dedication. Oh, and being silly and stupid sometimes.  Life is too short to always be serious!

Edward:  How did you become interested in a career as a photographer?

Athen:  When I was ten my parents gave me a used black and white Polaroid camera with two packs of film.  I wish I still had those twenty images because it would have been interesting to see how I experimented with them.  I scratched them, burned them, left them in the sun and submerged them in liquids.  Even back then I was tweaking the images to see how far I could push them.  I'm sure if I were a kid today I would be restrained and heavily medicated. 

In high school on was on the year book photography staff.  And I received my college degree in creative writing, art and photography.  For most of my adult life I worked in Corporate America for a number of Fortune Five Hundred companies, and when I was downsized I went freelance - the best thing that ever happened to me.

Edward:  And how do you define your style?

Athen:  Fluid.  I become bored easily, and no it isn't ADD, it's simply boredom - kind of like, "Done that, now what?!?"  Therefore, I am constantly finding new ways to express myself in the images that are knocking around in my head.  During the last year I heavily Photoshopped everything.  Each final image was a composite of multiple images.  There are still six waiting to be Photoshopped, but I feel I have achieved what I set out to do in Photoshop and now I've been teaching myself video. 

Video is the next logical step...at least until they perfect holographic imagery.  Before I die I want to own a realistic holographic deck like on Star Trek Voyager, and the first thing I'll render is Seven of Nine.

Edward:  Do you think that the digital era really helped photographers concerning aspects like quality and technology?

Athen:  As soon as digital technology hit five million mega-pixels I bought in and never looked back. Only twice since then have clients required film.  And admittedly, there is a quality in film that digital still lacks, but the benefits of digital outweigh almost every aspect of film. 

Now, instead of building costly sets and putting actors or models in dangerous situations, I can shoot individual pieces and Photoshop them together.  Processing-wise, everything takes a fraction of the time.  Photographers are without the expense of film and chemicals.  Plus we no longer smell like developer and fixer..much better for dating!

Some have argued that I cheat by using Photoshop, and that my photography isn't "pure".  If you think about it, all great photographers have tweaked their images whether it was dodging, burning, using filters, or manipulating them in the darkroom.or on the computer. 

Everything evolves.  Great painters no longer crush flowers and metals to create colored paint; they trot down to the nearest mega-art supply store...or more likely order it online.  I think the key word: art!  I view photography as art, and myself as an artist, so I guess, no, my photography isn't pure, but my art is pure! But, to the naysayers, I can always fall back on the fact that my roots are firmly planted in actual film.

Edward: Do you think in the society in which we live that an image is worth more than a thousand words?

Athen: MORE than a thousand? [laughs] We're lucky if an image is worth a couple of vowels.  This is a generation of instant gratification.  We want it now.  We want quick edits, better CGI effects, and images and creatures that have never been seen before.  We're bombarded with images.  It's amazing the mind can process everything thrown at it.  And if something isn't edited at a hundred miles an hour we flip the channel or page.

Next time you see someone look at a magazine, especially a fashion glossy, watch how they leaf through it.  Unless they stop to read an article they can finish an entire magazine in under five minutes.  Photographers and advertisers are lucky if a person spends two seconds looking at an image or ad.

Edward: I'm sure you might have some unusual/funny backstage stories. Share some of them with us?

Once I was doing a swimsuit layout with a male model.  The lake was cold and there was shrinkage, so I said, "Would you mind getting some blood to your junk."  He asked how and I told him to squeeze it a few times.  My assistant and I turned our backs, and after about five minutes, our backs still turned, I asked if he was ready.  "Almost."  A few minutes later he said, "Okay," and when we turned around he was full on hard in his suit.  "Not quite what I meant," I said, and we had to wait for him to relax.  I still laugh with him about that to this day.

Another time I asked a guy to reposition his junk, he became extremely offended, saying, "Dude, this isn't junk; the ladies love it!"

Edward: Who are your favorite male/female models?  What do you like most about them?

Athen: I shot Ben Patrick Johnson for maleperfection.net and the release of his third novel "One Size Fits All".  He's the kindest, sweetest, most accommodating person I've worked with in a long time. 

He's sincere to the core.  And he photographs impeccably.  Ironically, most of my favorite models are average everyday folks that have never modeled before.  People no one would know.  Probably because they are real and genuine.

Edward:  You also have a great experience shooting famous people. How do you handle these people? Is it the same process as you deal with the models?

Athen:  I've never understood celebrity.  They're just people.  Their job is to act or perform or play sports.  For a lot of money, granted.  But at the core they're just like everyone else and have the same basic needs.  So for me, interaction with celebrities is the same as interacting with anyone.

Sometimes I say, "This is what I need you to do..." and other times they direct, and I tweak.  Recently an actor said, "I want this to be organic. I will just be me, and you shoot."  I have no problem adapting to other people's visions because the final product is still what I've composed through the lens.

Edward: There must be special moments when you feel that you have captured a perfect picture... Share this passion with us. How does this special moment happen?

Athen:  I carry images around in my mind, sometimes for years before they are realized, and it is the moment when I step back and say, "It's finished, and that's what I intended, exactly!" that I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment.  It generally stays with me for a few days and then I move on to the next project.  It is interesting looking at "perfect images" from the past.  Often times I will laugh because it is so far removed from where I am now with my photography.

Edward:  If you could select 5 fantastic places around the world for a shooting, which ones you'd choose and why?

Athen:

• Roman Ruins: "Beauty amid the ruins" tends to be a theme that snakes through my images.  Plus the softness of a human in contrast to the cold, starkness of the ruins intrigues me.
• An active volcano: the richness of skin tones against the fiery molten lava and black desolate background.  But one that is pouring into the ocean so there will be a lot of steam.
• Any body of water: there is something sensual about a person drenched and dripping wet in a lake, ocean, shower or sprinkler
• Fiji or the French side of St. Maartin: for the breath-taking clarity of the water, beach, sky, and a mid-day monsoon rain
• Any cave that has stalactites and stalagmites: the youthfulness of a model against those crystalline objects that took hundreds and thousands of years to develop - breathtaking!

Edward:  What advice would you give to models and to the aspiring ones?

Athen: I've had so many people ask for advice over the years that I've created a number of blogs for aspiring models on www.myspace.com/athengrey.  They are detailed and will answer virtually every question an aspiring model wants to know. If I could impart one thing it would be: never ever pay an agent, modeling school, or model manager.  Never!  If they want your money, walk away and never look back.

Edward:  And also you are writer and an artist of paintings and drawings! Tell us about it. How those vocations arose?

Athen:  Good golly.  I've been drawing ever since I could hold a Crayon.  When I turned thirty my birthday present from my mother was a refrigerator box half-full of art that I had created since I was two years old.  She kept it all.  Art is how I express myself.

As for writing, that's a high school teacher's fault.  I turned in a short story.  I received an A+ and a note that said, "You should be an author."  I completed my first novel my sophomore year of college.  Now, I have five novels collecting dust on my hard drive and a stack of rejection slips an inch thick. But that is okay because I do it for myself. Writing helps keep my sanity by getting everything out of my head. 

It's very cathartic!  Plus, not only do I get to be all of the actors/characters in the novel, I'm the director, the scene designer, grip, the gaffer, AND the Best Boy!  Isn't that a great job title - Best Boy!  I have no idea what one does, but I've always wanted to be one because of the title.  And why isn't there a Best Girl?  Can girls be Best Boys?  Now I'll have to Google it!

Edward: Athen, thanks so much for sharing your story with us. Leave a message to Connex readers around the world and tell us about your future plans.

Athen:  That's easy: to fall in love, continue to be happy and produce art, laugh a lot, and grow old with someone.  The rest will fall into place naturally.