Sometimes we need to recognize some of the unsung heroes of porn. You see, it isn’t just shooters and meatpuppets who are responsible for making porn. There are other people whose contributions are equally important; sometimes, on some shoots, they’re even more important than some of the people you think are important. In fact, on more than a few shoots, these people are more important than the important people who think of themselves as being so fucking important. And some of these important, unsung heroes who work in the shadows of others are the lighting guys.

Here’s a snapshot I recently took of my lighting guy, John. (I touched it up a bit to make him look more presentable.) And when I refer to John as “my” lighting guy, don’t be fooled into thinking I’m the only shooter he lights for. John lights porn sets for a whole bunch of companies like Evil Angel, VCA, Smash, Anarchy, and more.

John’s an important person on many shoots. In his role as the lighting guy, John’s job is to help the girls look better than they sometimes actually look, to help the sets or locations look like they cost more than they actually do (assuming the sets or locatons are supposed to look like they cost anything at all), and to make the overall picture feel warm and sexy or however else the oh-so-important director or shooter thinks it should appear.

John, like most lighting guys, is usually required to be one of the first to arrive on a set and is almost always the last to leave. And not only are lighting guys like John on sets the longest, they have one of the toughest, physically-demanding jobs to perform: they have to cart all this heavy lighting equipment onto a set, hang the lights on stands or from precarious places that require ladders to get to, and take a lot of shit from the shooter who may or may not know a fucking thing about lighting.

Lighting guys are on their feet almost the whole time they’re on a set. They’re usually also the guys who hold the “C” light: that’s the light that lights up that part of the meatpuppets’ anatomy that is the main focus of many porn viewers.

So here’s to you Mister Lighting Guy! Without you, most porn would look like amateur porn which, in fact, is what an awful lot of porn looks like even when it’s supposed to be professional porn. But that’s not your fault, Mister Lighting Guy. That’s the fault of producers and shooters who are too fucking cheap to hire guys like you… the important, unsung heroes of porn.




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