Dans Papers - June 8, 2007 - Montauk in Playboy, Blurred in the Background, but Neverthe less

It's been almost nine months since Michael Dweck photographed "The Girls of Montauk" in various locations around that town for a pictorial essay that will run in the July issue of Playboy coming out today.

The 22 photos will tell the story of "a surf weekend with girlfriends chilling by the beach," photographer Michael Dweck said during a telephone interview. "It's not about bars or clubs."

Dweck, who has been camping, staying at friends' houses and renting in Montauk since the late 1970s, has an understanding of the lives of Montauk surfers, as is evident in his recent book, The End: Montauk, N.Y., dedicated to Montauk's surfing culture.

Playboy magazine had originally approached Dweck about this project and once he accepted the offer, handed him the reins.

"I could have shot this anywhere in the world, but I chose Montauk," Dweck said. "To me, Montauk is a very hedonistic place. With the beaches, it's a natural place. Still very much a small town compared to East Hampton."

Inspired by Playboy's natural look during the late 1960s, Dweck set out to recapture the concept of the girl next door. "I wanted it to go back to Playboy in the 1960s because I think that's the charm of Playboy," Dweck said.

Setting out to find subjects who were "girls you'd want to know as a friend," Dweck chose the five models -- Jamie, Nicole, Reby, Camila and Carime -- himself.

"What all the girls have in common is that they all love the water," Dweck said. "Everyone I photographed lived by the sea."

All of the models currently live in New York and summer in Montauk. Jamie was the sole Montauk native and Nicole grew up in Levittown. Two of the models are from Brazil.

Jamie is a nineteen-year-old college student with beauty and brains. The five-foot-seven, hazel-eyed babe with light brown hair is currently studying Architecture at Tulane University.

"She's local and represents what Playboy was about in the 1960s," Dweck said, about handpicking Jamie. "She's an all-American surfer girl."

Back on the East End for the summer, Jamie is working two summer jobs -- one at a health food store in Montauk and the other at a Southwestern place in East Hampton.

No one has questioned her decision to pose nude in Playboy thus far.

"Everyone out here is pretty liberal," Jamie said during a phone interview. "Everyone who has found out is like, 'Congrats!' No one has approached me like, 'What the hell did you do?'"

Jamie's family was put at ease knowing Dweck was the one behind the lens. Dweck has known Jamie, her mother and her sister for almost five years. He has taken pictures of each of them at one point or another on the beaches of Montauk.

This surfer girl who rides her bike to Ditch Plains and enjoys eating breakfast at John's Pancake House and dinner at The Dock for its "awesome nachos," says her life hasn't changed too much since the shoot. Most likely due to the fact people haven't seen the four photos of her -- standing on a surfboard, leaning over a surfboard in the water, standing on the beach and lying on a towel next to a surfboard during a bonfire -- yet.

But don't expect to see crude photos in this Playboy Feature.

"I guess it's the type of pictures I take," Dweck said about creating nude shots that are artistic and not over the top. "To me, some of them seem like snapshots. I don't want to cross that line. This is the only line I know. Some people shoot exotic photos. That's not my thing."

Paying homage to fashion photographer Helmut Newtown, who photographed for Playboy in the 1970s, Dweck shot his images in black and white or with faded colors as a tribute to the old school style of Playboy photography. Dweck also didn't airbrush any of the photos. He said that it's the first time in years that Playboy will run untouched, natural photos.

"These girls, they're not perfect," Dweck said. "They're very real."

In order to get good looking pictures, Dweck said there needs to be an element of trust between the photographer and his subject, as if the photos were taken by friends.

"We booked out a hotel (Shepherds Neck Inn, now Sole East) in Montauk where it was only us together," he said. "You live with each other for a week and photograph what happens. When you put people together things happen and that's how I typically shoot."

Finding the comfort zone between himself and his subjects is important to Dweck, no matter who is modeling.

"I talk to actress Maria Bello, when I photograph her, the same way I talk to Jamie," Dweck said. "I'm interested in people's lives."

Dweck's approach to photography is similar to that of making a movie. To prepare for the shoot, he scouted locations and created a storyboard with 300 drawings. His shot locations included Camp Hero, South Lake, Turtle Cove, Montauk Lake, Fort Pond Bay, in town, at Ditch Plains and near Poles.

During the week-long shoot in late September, the models and a crew of about twenty people woke up at 4:30 every morning and ended their day around 11 p.m. Dweck shot about a thousand photos a day.

"The light in Montauk is the prettiest I've ever seen," Dweck said. "That's probably why De Kooning and Warhol loved it. These pictures are warm because of that light."

Dweck said it was a dream come true working with Playboy.

"It's kind of an honor when they come to you and give you carte blanche and say you can do anything you want," Dweck said. "Complete freedom to photograph what you want, that's very rare today. That's why Helmut Newton's images are so strong."

With his first Playboy experience completed, Dweck said he is in the process of talking about a new project with the magazine.

Meanwhile, Jamie has already worked with Playboy a second time. She was chosen as a model in "Playboy's Best-Dressed Man on Campus" shot by Nigel Barker. Barker is best known as being a judge on the television show, "America's Next Top Model."

As excited as Playboy's faithful (Playboy sells around three million copies in the United States each month) will be to see Dweck's interpretation of "The Girls of Montauk," Jamie says she doesn't want to know who's looking at the pictures.

"I try to avoid thinking of that," Jamie said. "It's kind of, not creepy, but I don't want to know."

Even with her modeling career thriving, Jamie said it's not her main priority. But she knows she'll be proud of her work when she looks back on her modeling days.

"It's definitely a great experience," Jamie said. "You can show your kids in 20 years and say, 'Look kids, mommy was hot!'"