Jeff Cohen Photography: Point, Click, Shoot!

This was such a unique event — thanks to Angela for pushing the envelop a bit for us sleepy ‘burbs people ;). I think each of us who attended this event — an evening of storytelling with a long-​time Playboy editor who’s now a portrait photographer — had slightly different reasons for doing so. Some wanted photography insights, some wanted Playboy tales, and as for me, a sex-​positive feminist who was once raised to believe that Playboy was the Great Satan, it just seemed like a good wholesome thing to do.
We greatly enjoyed Jeff’s many fascinating and funny stories. I thought it was interesting to learn that almost everyone who worked at Playboy, including Jeff and his wife, led fairly typical, primarily monogamous lives. Hugh Hefner made sure for legal and publicity reasons that he was the only *real* playboy, ha.
Reading some memos from Hefner that Jeff had framed and displayed in the studio bathroom, I really felt respect for the guy — he tried hard to maintain a certain classy air about his models. Compared to other male-​oriented adult material, his aimed to display women in a respectful, humanizing light: they aren’t subjected to the Madonna/​Whore Dichotomy; they’re just supposed to be, as he puts it, «girls next door.» Admittedly, I was a bit unsettled when I learned that models are paid only $ 500 with no royalties for a basic photo shoot, but, well, I guess if it’s become glamorous and potentially career-​making to pose for Playboy, it’s not like it’s about the money anyway; the models really want to do it and I’m supportive of that.
At the end, I was picked for a (totally G-​rated) photo shoot! (lol well yes, it was actually Wolf who got picked, but he graciously gave the opportunity to me.) I actually learned a lot from the shoot just from the way Jeff told me to pose, since I’m normally pretty awkward in photos. I could really tell a difference between the initial shots and the later ones which had more direction.
Many thanks to Jeff for this great evening!
P. S. It was here that I had my first PBR. So tasty. I’m actually craving it now.

This is going to go down as one of my favorite events ever! I was super excited to hear Jeff’s stories about his time with Playboy, my friend was excited to hear some of his techniques and on both fronts we got exactly what we wanted. Not to mention some fun times with some of my favorite Unilocalers. :D It was quite the intimate event with Angela S,. Phill C., Victoria W., Wolf R., Brandon and myself in attendance.
Jeff’s studio is located in the Ravinia district of Highland Park (right by my new favorite Madame Zuzu’s) and littered with interesting artifacts and of course the crowning jewel his Chevy couch! So cool! Jeff was the Executive Editor /​Publisher at Playboy Special Editions for nearly 15 years but worked at Playboy for 33 years (I believe it was) in total. He now has his studio in Highland Park where he specializes in B&W portrait photography.
As Jeff told his stories, he brought in photos and other cool props for us to look at. My personal favorites were his stories about Playboy as it’s always been a franchise that intrigued me, especially so after watching every episode of The Girls Next Door and quite a few documentaries on Playboy and Hef himself. It was truly great to be around someone who experienced that grandiose era of Playboy. The story about his time with the Yakuza was super cool, too!
Jeff was hilarious, a great story teller, absolutely fascinating to listen to. At the end of the event, a name was drawn out of a hat and my bud Victoria W. was chosen for a gorgeous photo shoot! (Technically her man Wolf was picked but being the gentleman that he is, he turned it over to his lady friend). Not only that, Jeff took a group shot of us (minus Brandon who had to leave on time) — super excited to see it.
We all stayed at the event way overtime chatting because we all couldn’t get enough. Thank you so much Jeff for opening up your studio to us, your lovely wife for sharing some stories, and Angela for putting this event together! Honestly, this may be the best Unilocal event I’ve ever attended!