Page 8 - FAST 2026 Calendar Yearbook

Josh Ryan 2-Day Photography Workshop with Sophie
Story and Photos by Jim Gianatsis
I invited one of my favorite models, Sophie Francesconi from Massarosa in the
Tuscany region of Italy, to spend the summer with me in Los Angeles as both a summer
vacation, and to shoot for this year’s 2026 FastDates.com Calendars. She had told me
when first met and I first shot with her in Rome 2 years ago, it was her dream to visit
Los Angeles, and this would be her first time to travel out of Italy and even fly on an
airplane! At 21 years old, Sophie had just finished her university studies and was ready
to beginning her internship in a hospital as a RN nurse. I wanted to give her a nice
graduation present, visiting the place of her dreams, before she began her nursing career.
Our adventure together began the day after her arrival in Los Angeles where we
attended my buddy, now legendary glamor photographer Josh Ryan’s 2-Day
Photography Workshop at his Issue Photo Studio in West Hollywood.
Josh was the principal photographer for Playboy magazine in its final years,
and is now the principal photographer for top fashion brands including Guess and
Honey Birdette, and he often works with beautiful actresses and singers. I actually
first met Josh some 15 years ago when he, as a motorcycle enthusiast, he attended
my LA Calendar Motorcycle Show with his then girlfriend, Heather Rae Young. She
was so pretty that I had to stop them and ask if Heather would consider shooting
with me for the Calendars, to which of course she agreed. Josh was just beginning
his photography career at the time, and would soon be shooting for Playboy, and his
girlfriend Heather would become a Playboy Playmate about a year later. Soon after
that Heather became involved as a contestant in reality TV shows, and then in real
estate and home improvement shows. She is now married to Tarek El Mousa on
TV’s Flip or Flop and is much involved in helping to remodel their houses.
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