THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 115 lines
THE AFTERNOON SUN filters through the studio miniblinds at Glamour Modeling and Talent Ltd. in Virginia Beach, falling flatteringly on a muscular model.
Clad only in blue jeans, Mike Battle stands stiffly in front of a white backdrop.
He has reason to be nervous: It's his first professional session, and George J. Kartis is aiming his camera at him.
That's George J. Kartis, one of Europe's leading fashion photographers.
``Move a little this way,'' instructs Kartis. ``There you go. Lean back - not so much. Look down. Good - now look right in the camera.
``Perfect!'' he exclaims. ``Beautiful!''
As Kartis moves and shoots, Battle, who has contracted with the photographer to shoot the pictures for his portfolio, starts to relax.
``I didn't know photographers went through all this for a picture, George,'' he says. ``You must be good.''
Kartis is good. Although he never took a photography course or went to college, George Kartis has carved out a career in a competitive field. His photographs appear in every major fashion magazine overseas - French Vogue, Elle International, Max. He lives in Paris, travels all over the world and hangs out with fashion designers, models and movie stars.
His pictures have helped to launch numerous careers, including those of models Kristin McNemany and Stephanie Kommer, and actress Stephanie Cameron, who plays the new Jennifer Horton on ``Days of Our Lives.''
So what's Kartis doing in Virginia Beach, taking pictures of a modeling student?
Kartis, 35, is a hometown boy who comes back each summer for two weeks to be with his mom, Millie Kartis, since his father died two years ago. His brother, Lee, and two sisters, Alexia and Jeannie, come too.
The 1980 graduate of Kempsville High School is also doing a favor for Glamour Modeling owner Norma Fox, who gave Kartis his start in the business in 1979. He modeled for her for about four months before picking up a camera.
``He's really creative, and scouts as well,'' says Fox. ``He finds models. He does really high-fashion stuff. He's a mega-major success story.''
Don't tell that to Kartis. While flattered, Kartis says he's not as successful as he could be.
``If I had been as together 10 to 15 years ago as I am now, things would have been different,'' Kartis muses. ``But I'm learning fast - to be a little nicer, not to take things for granted and not to be a procrastinator. I've decided to make things happen now.''
It's 12:30 p.m. at his mother's Kempsville home, and Kartis has tied up the phone much of the morning. He says goodbye to one friend and plops onto the living room sofa. The phone rings again, then abruptly stops.
``Was that a fax?'' he calls to his mom.
``Yeah,'' replies Millie Kartis.
``Who's it from?'' he asks.
``Veronica.''
Kartis leaps up. ``Oh, my God, that's the editor of the magazine!'' he says, hurrying into the kitchen.
Kartis returns, reading a fax sheet, then tosses it aside. It's not urgent. Before he can resume talking, his mother enters the room. Since Kartis has been home, Millie Kartis says, the phone has rung off the hook. His friends and colleagues call or fax from Paris, New York, L.A., Milan, you name it.
``The phone never stops,'' she says, shaking her head.
As a child, George was hyperactive, his mother recalls. His parents once took him to a pediatrician who said that George had very poor eye-hand coordination and problems judging distances.
``Can you believe that?'' Millie asks.
``If there's anything I'm good at, it's that,'' he says with a laugh.
Kartis' success with the camera evolved through other creative pursuits. He began drawing as a child and took part in theater productions at the Kempsville Recreation Center. He also created displays at Thalhimers in Lynnhaven Mall.
But when Kartis started clicking, magic seemed to happen.
``Someone took pictures of me for $150 back then,'' says the dark-eyed Kartis, a striking man who stands just over 6 feet 2. ``I figured if he could make me look better, I could make other people look better.''
Photography, he says, is pretty simple. ``There are only so many mistakes you can make technically,'' he says. ``My pictures haven't gotten that much better, but now at 35, I know what to do with what I have.''
Kartis has lived in Paris since 1984 in a small loft apartment that was built for artists in the 1930s. A snapshot shows alabaster walls, high ceilings and little furniture.
But there is light. Lots of light.
``Paris rents are astronomical, but this apartment has great light,'' he says. ``That's why I live there. My brother thinks I live in a box.''
As a free-lancer, Kartis works with modeling agencies in Paris three days a week and also makes portraits of actors and designers. He spends about five to eight hours a day trying to get work.
Kartis is the kind of photographer whom models ask for again and again.
Actress Stephanie Cameron, a 1987 graduate of Cox High School in Virginia Beach, says Kartis is the only photographer she likes to take her picture professionally. Kartis met Cameron in 1984 while she was in modeling school, and he shot her first pictures.
``George takes my picture the best of anyone,'' Cameron says over the phone from L.A. ``And he's a really loyal friend. He's bombastic, with the creative force of a twister. What isn't there to love?''
Kartis laughs when told what Cameron said. ``I like the fact that Stephanie is on TV and that I had a part in that,'' he says. ``It's proof - it validates my work.''
Next week Kartis flies to Prague for a shoot. Then he's off to L.A. before returning to Paris. The traveling is a bonus for him, as are the parties he attends with the jet set.
``In 10 years I want to have my apartment in Paris, a place in L.A. and be working five times the amount I do,'' Kartis says, laughing. ``And to meet my $50,000 American Express card limit.'' ILLUSTRATION: GEORGE KARTIS
Kartis's work includes models portfolios (top right) and spreads for
every major fashion magazine in Europe.
``George takes my picture the best of anyone,'' says actress
Stephanie Cameron, a 1987 graduate of Cox High.
Color photo by CHARLIE MEADS, The Virginian-Pilot
Kartis recently visited his family in Virginia Beach by CNB