Biography

Though David’s formative years were all about art and music, his love for photography blossomed after college, and quite literally, by accident. After a near tragic motorcycle collision put him convalescing for nearly a year, his doctor suggested photography after admiring David’s artwork. So photography became a career by beginning with what many consider a dream job.

David began working for Playboy magazine in the fall of 1979, soon after becoming a staff photographer, moving to Chicago. In 1987, he would take a title change to Contributing Photographer where he would continue with Playboy until 2002. It was after this time he would begin to expand on his photography style to include fashion, beauty, and celebrity work for various editorial and advertising assignments worldwide.

Called upon to shoot Petersen Publishing’s Sport magazine swimsuit issue four successive years, the final year would culminate with it being broadcast on ESPN, ESPN-2, and PRIME TICKET, where he would serve both as narrator & host. As well, he would be thrown into an acting stint in a made-for-TV movie titled Posing, aired on CBS, when, while working as a technical advisor, the director tapped David to play the fictional Playboy photographer instead of their actor. From 2000–2003, David was co-host and photographer on Playboy TV’s, Sexy Girls Next Door.

In 2001, David founded, David Mecey’s FotoFantasyCamp®, www.fotofantasycamp.com, a workshop that has grown to be considered one of the premier photographic workshops in the world. Featured in American PHOTO, David brings a select number of aspiring photographers together to a fantastic location for three days of intensive training in his style of lighting, posing, rapport with models, literally everything that makes up professional-level photography.

With his workshop background David has in 2011 joined with Playboy photographers Jarmo Pohjaniemi and Arny Freytag to co-found an unprecedented style of workshop for photographers, called Shoot the Centerfold <www.shootthecenterfold.com>. A PG-13 style educational program where the three photographers share their storied backgrounds and teach the lighting they all have used to best effect for Playboy and fashion clients worldwide.

Along with his continued catalog and beauty photography, David has self-published a number of books on his work. One, shot in B&W, titled Passion, is a collection of nudes shot over the past decade. David’s books can be found at www.blurb.com, in their online bookstore. A gallery of his work is on display at the German GQ magazine website, as well as MenSTYLE-France magazine’s website, with galleries also planned for the French GQ website. In the fall of 2008 and again in 2010, David was guest speaker and program presenter at the international photographic trade show, Photokina, held in Cologne, Germany.

In addition to his passion for photography, David also has a passion for cars. For well over a decade, he has pursued road racing as a way to relax. David is currently Chief Driving Instructor for the Los Angeles Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America, has established his own driving events organization, Precision Performance Driving, and often works for various auto manufacturers as a pro driver, including Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, and Chrysler. He has competed in a number of endurance races including three 25 hr races where the team finished 3rd in class, and 2nd in class, two successive years. David continues to live and work out of Marina del Rey, CA. David may be reached at: david@davidmecey.com, david@shootthecenterfold.com or, 310-305-7021. His website can be found: www.davidmecey.com.