VICTORIA PHETMISY, Staff Writer
vphetm20@student.scad.edu
What started with MySpace became a very close relationship between two people with the same passion for photography. Former Savannah College of Art and Design photography student Molly Gottschalk is living the photographer’s dream. Logging into her MySpace account one day last December she saw a banner on her homepage that caught her eye: “Win a photo shoot with David LaChapelle.” Gottschalk was immediately drawn in. “He’s always been one of my biggest inspirations and influences,” she said. Not thinking she had a chance of winning, she entered anyway. The contest winner and a friend would be flown out to either Los Angeles or New York City and be the subject of LaChapelle’s photographs for two days. Out of the 8,000 contestants who sent in their essays and MySpace URLs, LaChapelle chose Gottschalk. “I was so excited,” she said. “I had no idea how to respond.”
Gottschalk had been studying abroad, and the quarter in Lacoste halted her chances of getting the photo shoot with LaChapelle. So instead, she asked him if she could do a summer internship. He agreed. “I started working for David this past July,” Gottschalk recalled. More than eight months have passed and she hasn’t left. She stays rent-free in his house in the Hollywood Hills, learning from him and being one of his muses, alongside women such as Pamela Anderson, Amanda Lepore and Courtney Love. Brittany McConnell, a third-year art history student, remembered Gottschalk from her time at SCAD and, upon finding out that she was going to go stay with LaChapelle, said, “It’s so surreal that she gets this chance, I can’t imagine how she must be feeling.”
Gottschalk was nervous to meet LaChapelle. Once she arrived, she “felt right at home,” and LaChapelle was confident in his new discovery. He was so confident that she was promoted to a full-time job as a studio production assistant. Not only does she keep busy with that work, but she has also become the main model — her favorite part — for all of LaChapelle’s recent photographs and projects.
Gottschalk and LaChapelle are still living, working, learning and playing together. This has become a dream come true for the young photographer. “It’s more than I ever expected,” she said. “It just gets more and more fun. In fact, it kind of surpasses my expectations every single day.”
Continuing to learn from him, her passion for photography keeps growing. “Working with him is more than I hoped for,” said Gottschalk. And while she is idolizing him, he is in turn doing the same. “She just fits in,” said LaChapelle. “I couldn’t be happier.”
