“Hi Joseph!” Mobeen said.
“Hi!” squealed Jess, as they both entered, loaded up with bags, through the back conservatory doorway.
Mobeen was tall with dark Pakistani skin and a slightly wacky sense of fashion. He was a very warm character and would crack jokes constantly.
Jess, by comparison, was much shorter – a blonde haired, blue eyed beauty with a smile that lit up the room. She struck me as your typical ‘girl next door’.
We all gathered in the kitchen where I introduced them to my mum and our family pets – the two cats, Ruby and Sapphire, and Sooty, our yappy little terrier (who, it must be said, proved to be quite the nuisance during filming segments where background silence was a necessity).
Jess fitted me with a microphone-pack and I sat in the conservatory of the house, next to my tanning bed, where Mobeen pointed his lens at me for the first time. Camera lens that is…
Of course the two of them had already seen me on camera before, but this time around it was a little different than talking casually into Jamie’s little I-Phone in a small café back in Bristol.
“This might feel a little weird Joseph,” Mobeen said, “I’m going to be asking you the questions but I want you to make eye contact with Jess” (who was positioned to the side of him. She gave a little wave at the mention of her name).
“And also, my voice might be on the documentary in parts, but I want you to try and answer in full sentences as best as you can. Understood?”
I nodded my head.
“Perfect,” he said, dragging out the words 2 syllables as he adjusted his equipment and popped on a pair of head phones. “Right… would you mind introducing yourself to those who don’t know who you are?”
I looked to Jess.
“My name’s Joseph. I’m 22 years old and, and I’m a webcam boy.”
“And what does that mean Joseph?”
“Basically what that means is that I put on adult webcam shows over the internet for an audience, and get paid to fulfil people’s requests, usually sexual, in exchange for tokens and cash.”
“Excellent. You’re doing really well Joseph, just keep that eye contact with Jess going.”
Mobeen paused for a second then peered back into the cameras viewfinder. I could hear the subtle noise of the camera zooming in and out while he spoke to me, but tried my best to shut it out and focus on giving the best – or at least the most straightforward answers that I could.
“So Joseph, is there any particular stage name you use when you do these performances?”
“Yeah… when I perform online I perform under the name of J Matt, or JMatt93, that’s kind of my alternate camming persona,” I said.
I could feel the camera still focusing in on me, but froze.
“I don’t know what else to say.”
“You can relax now,” Mobeen said reassuringly, taking off his headphones and placing the camera out of range. “I think you’re a natural at this!”
“Definitely!” cried Jess, “Well done you!”
“Thanks guys,” I said, lighting up a cigarette. “I can’t pretend I don’t like the attention of it all.”
I let out a nervous giggle.
“I think we’re gonna have a really good shoot with you,” Mobeen said.
“I’m excited.”
And truly, I was!
None of that first footage made it into the documentary, but then I hadn’t ever expected it to. It was merely a test run, so I could get comfortable in front of the camera, and with Mobeen and Jessica themselves.
Jess and Mobeen made a few trips back and to to their vehicle to gather all the necessary equipment, and then we hit the road!
The schedule for that day was to spend the afternoon with one of my friends from school (of the few I’d kept in touch with) at her place. Paige had settled down in a council flat not far from where I was living, having hooked up with a guy from my year named Mitchell. She’d got pregnant on the cusp of 17 and they now had a 4 year old daughter together called Aria, who was the spitting image of her mum, right down to her fiery red hair. Being a mum has done wonders for Paige, and a dad the same I think for Mitchell.
It had been Paige’s birthday the week before but I hadn’t had chance to see her yet, so the plan was that I was going to arrive with a present and cake for her, wish her a happy birthday, and then the two of us would be filmed reminiscing on ‘the good ol’ days’ and how she’d felt about things like – I imagined, my move to London, my drug use and my subsequent camming career.
We were (Jess, Mobeen and I) there for a good few hours and I thought managed to capture some really great footage. The presence of the TV cameras didn’t seem to faze Paige in the slightest and she and I got along chatting as normal. I brought along an issue of ‘Dirtyboyz’ magazine in which I was featured that month to whip out and show her. It was a two page spread headlined ‘Cam4-The Site to Cum4’ which featured a collection of pictures lifted from my online profile – complete with an interview piece they’d adapted from an article I’d written for the Cam4 blog.
I think she may have been a little taken-aback at the sight of my erect cock in the photos presented before her, but it was a porn magazine, I mean, what did she expect? Otherwise she was most enthralled and interested.
“So is this whole camming thing… something you’d have ever expected me to be doing?” I asked. “Honestly?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s something I necessarily expected you to do,” she replied. “But when I heard about it, I can’t say it surprised me. You’ve always kind of been a bit wild like that and it totally fits with your personality.”
“You mean I’ve always liked taking my clothes off?” I joked.
It was funny. I had a flashback to a memory of back when we were teenagers. We’d all gotten so drunk one evening in town and I’d stood on top one of the tables outside the fish and chip shop, pulled my pants down and flashed my bare arse cheeks to the neighbours. The picture evidence is probably still floating around on Facebook somewhere!
“I’m really proud of you Joey,” she said, all of a sudden sounding serious.
“Why?” I asked
“Well, you’re doing your own thing, you’re not hurting anyone, and you seem to be doing well for yourself… um, I do have to ask though. How much do you actually make doing all this?”
“Why? Were you and Mitch thinking about doing ‘camming for couples’,” I teased. “Honestly, it varies so much. I know I could earn more if I really put in the hours but ultimately it comes down to how often you’re prepared to work. I make enough to get by on and splurge occasionally, and that’s fine by me.”
“Right,” she said, half ignoring the answer to my question having seemingly lost interest midway though. Paige was now flicking through the pages of Dirtyboyz and fawning over the other eye candy in the mag. “Sorry, I just can’t help myself!”
“I think we should put that away now!” I laughed.
I was truly having such a great time catching up with Paige that I’d almost forgotten that the documentary crew were there at all.
That was until Mobeen gave a thumbs up signal from the other side of the room, and said…
“Right, that was great guys!”
He then asked us to continue talking (“about anything, it doesn’t matter” he said) whilst he zoomed in and started taking some footage of our hand gestures, and other things to potentially “cut to in the edit”.