Teen prepares dishes, songs and poses for the lens

Lucas Johnson poses in a scenic spot. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Lucas Johnson never stops creating, whether it’s an artistic photograph, heartfelt song or culinary dish. The chef also is a model and singer.

The Alabama model explained why he likes posing for the camera.

“I like being able to express what I'm into more than just showing off things,” he said. “I like expressing being out in nature. I grew up on a farm. I worked on a farm when I was 13 up until I was 16, so that's where I got a lot of my work ethic from.”

Taking standard student photos led to Lucas being discovered.

“When I was taking my senior photos, the photographer that we hired said that I would do a good job as a model,” he said. “So here I am trying it out. So far, it's going out really well. I made a pretty good bit of money. I enjoy it. It's fun.”

Lucas, 19, of Decatur hopes to expand his portfolio.

“I'm hoping to get in runways one day,” he said. “I've done photo shoots and I've done live art modeling for colleges. And then I've done photo shoots for other photographers to help them learn how to take photo shoots. It's usually by showing them cool new poses and teaching them tricks to help make the male model more comfortable.”

Lucas is becoming more comfortable in front of the camera.

“But it can get kind of awkward at times, especially at colleges,” he said. “Sometimes, they'll require you to be nude or partially nude. I haven't been nude yet. I've just been partially nude. It's still awkward. But the more you do it, the more you get used to it and the more you get comfortable. Now I can just change in public, not even care who sees me because I've just done it so much.”

Lucas said the difficulty of portraying emotions while posing depends on the medium.

“It's really hard to model or pose for a sad pose that's noticeable because it's either grief or like you're thinking most of the time,” he said. “Unless you have a visibly sad face there's not really any good way to do it. It depends on what modeling you're doing. If it's for photography, it's easier. But if you're doing modeling, posing for artists that are drawing you, that's a bit harder for sadness or to convey that emotion.”

Lucas said one depiction would be the most difficult overall.

“Probably connection,” he said. “A longing for connection would be the hardest one to convey in any kind of picture or modeling or posing.”

Lucas said posing requires more than just holding the same expression for lengthy periods.

“It's not really as much the expression that gets you as much as it's all your muscles just start twitching,” he said. “They're wanting to move and having to keep that same pose. As much as a model might want to say that they're good at not moving, everybody moves at least one part of their body continuously just to get through it. But it's one part. You can't see it. That's how they get through it. It's the best way.”

Lucas said models deal with the inevitable itch.

“When I would itch in public settings, I would try to compress it as much as possible, so now I'm used to it,” he said. “But it did take a good bit. Even now with posing, I get three or four itches at a time and it's hard, but you get used to it. Sometimes, they'll give you a break about 30 minutes through. And that's when you scratch everything.”

Lucas prefers exterior shoots.

“I prefer outdoor because you don't have to worry about the lighting,” he said. “It's just natural lighting. It's easier. Whenever you're indoor and you're having all those studio lights shining in your eyes, you get blinded.”

Lucas hasn’t felt too limited by photographers in any of his modeling assignments.

“So far, they've not really restricted my movement,” he said. “They've let me be free about what I wanted to do. I would mix in some of my poses with some of their poses that they wanted from me. It was give-and-take more than anything.”

Lucas enjoys wearing nicer apparel even when he isn’t posing.

“My fashion trend is fancy or casual,” he said. “I like dressing fancy even when I'm just going to the store. For some reason, I like looking nice. I don't know why, but it's always a white button-up and then a vest. I don't have anything crazy kind of style, so my thing falls into what people are usually looking for.”

Lucas favors a sportswear brand.

“I do prefer Under Armour,” he said. “That's my favorite brand. I always loved it ever since I was 5 years old. They don't really have anything fancy, so I just like the tight clothing. I love tight shirts or tight pants.”

Lucas is working with the John Casablancas agency

“They said I have a spot and hoping to do some acting with them,” he said.

Lucas took classes the agency conducted.

“They cover makeup, posing for the camera, runway modeling steps, slating, commercial, teleprompt reading, how to make a resume and all the different kinds of shots for models,” he said. “Along with how to act, eat and move on film, etc.”

Lucas wants to be a performer.

“That's my big time goal is acting, performing of some kind,” he said. “I like to perform. I like to sing. I love singing. It's my hobby. I don't know how to produce with music yet, so that's where I'm trying to go with it.”

While pursuing performing, Lucas works wonders with food.

“I've been a chef since I was 14,” he said. “Started working at a restaurant at 16. Now, I'm a head chef at that restaurant.”

Lucas didn’t have opportunities to pursue acting when he was younger.

“They did not teach any theater or acting,” he said. “At my school, we mainly focus on football. I didn't even care for football. I was a band kid. And before that, I was a choir kid. I also did basketball and baseball, but I didn't really care for them either. That's the reason why I got fit because I was doing those sports and band helped me a lot. But I couldn't do anything drama or film-related in my school.”

Performing in a local theater wasn’t feasible as Lucas couldn’t meet the requirement.

“The only thing I could do was a theater that was in town,” he said. “But you had to audition for it and you had to have past experience from schools.”

Lucas is seeking opportunities to act and sing.

“I want to do theater around me sometime soon, but I am working full-time,” he said. “So I do need to work around that and I have two jobs. I am also learning guitar because I want to start singing and posting videos on TikTok or YouTube. I was going to go TikTok first because I want to write my own music, too, and just post those, see what people think.”

Lucas always enjoyed belting out a tune.

“I've been singing pretty much all my life,” he said. “Until I started modeling, I never wanted to put my voice out there. I wasn't comfortable or I didn't think it was good enough or anything like that. But I keep hearing that I need to do it because that's the only way I'll actually get any reaction that's gonna do anything good for me. I need to let somebody know that I can sing.”

Lucas’ experience with instruments doesn’t lend itself to making music now.

“I was in band but I played trombone, baritone and a little bit of trumpet,” he said. “I didn't play anything that's actually going to help me with my voice like a guitar or drums or anything like that. I'm having to learn guitar first before I can actually do anything with it that way or anything authentic with it. I could do electronic music, but I just feel like it's cheating.”

Lucas received training to play horns, which require lung power.

“We did breathing exercises that would help us maintain our breath long enough,” he said. “We would breathe in as much as possible, hold it in, breathe in a little more, hold it for about 20 seconds and then breathe out. That was just one of the few we did.”

Lucas agreed with other performers who say music is the best way to express themselves.

“I feel like when I'm at my darkest or even when I'm at my happiest, I still want to have music so I can absolutely help me express what I'm feeling or help me convey what I'm feeling more than anything,” he said. “Even with my friends, we use music to bond together. Just spend time listening to music all the time.”

Lucas said music helps him by knowing others expereience the same emotions.

“It's the only thing I can relate to sometimes is a song that I can just sit to and listen on repeat,” he said. “And then I can feel better afterwards knowing that someone else is going through that same thing or something similar helps more than just being told or talking about it.”

Lucas stays fit.

“I'm constantly worried about my appearance or my body,” he said. “I'll drink protein shakes and work out pretty much anytime I can. I'm always active with my jobs. Working as a chef, you don't really get to sit down while making food. It's a lot of running around or then working in front of the grill. You're burning, sweating calories off. I feel like that's the main reason why I stayed fit.”

Lucas said food being part of his job actually helps prevent him from consuming too many calories.

“Every person that works in a restaurant like that, they don't really care for the food because you're around it every day,” he said. “You train yourself not to eat it when you're working with it. So once you get to the point where you're ready to just sit down, you don't really care for it.”

Lucas also is judicious in getting tattoos.

“I do actually have a tattoo, but it's on my waistline,” he said. “That way, it's easily coverable. I know if it's an acting job, it's not really going to be that important to have it right there. But if it was live modeling, they won't really care if you have a tattoo on you because it's part of you. It's what they want to capture with you.”

Lucas also considered piercings.

“I do have a piercing, too, which is just an ear piercing,” he said. “That way, if I need to, I can easily just take it out, let it heal, re-pierce it if I want to. It's not that big of a deal, but I won't ever do a cartilage piercing or something that's going to stay there because that will probably affect the future and make it to where I can only get certain roles or certain opportunities. And I want to be as open as possible.”

Lucas savors working with food.

“I like putting or testing all the different varieties of flavors,” he said. “I don't like having the same thing over and over again. So it's always fun just trying something new, like General So’s chicken. I made that a couple times. It's pretty good.”

Lucas puts his own touch on food even when he must follow a menu.

“Even when working at a restaurant, when you're supposed to follow a specific recipe, we still go out of our way to make it taste better with different things,” he said. “I'll add garlic and ginger just a little bit. And then sometimes we'll also add shallots or green onions. We'll add those sometimes freshly on top. We go out of our way to make it look and taste better than it's supposed to. I like adding my touch to it. I like putting my expressions into it or putting my effort into it.”

Lucas said one of the keys to cooking is not using too much seasoning.

“The main reason of making a dish is to make that meat or that poultry, that main thing that you're eating shine with underlying flavors, not something that's going to just take away your experience from eating chicken that tastes like bacon or something weird and outrageous,” he said. “It makes no sense.”

Lucas also makes his own dishes.

“I've created a few new ones over the past few years,” he said. “But my favorite dish that I've made is fiery beef tips, chopped steak, cooked at medium rare with sautéed bell peppers and onions, garlic, barbecue and melted white American cheese, all on top of a bed of rice.”

Lucas’ second job also involves food preparation.

“I'm a deli worker at Publix part-time,” he said. “I love engaging with new people and going out of my way to make everything taste wonderful and look beautiful.”

Even if Lucas becomes a professional performer, he would still cook for fun.

“I want to pursue acting more than anything,” he said. “If I can make a living off of just acting, that'll be my goal eventually. But I will continually cook in my free time, because I enjoy cooking. When I stop cooking at a restaurant, I'll probably want to cook at my house a lot more just because I won't have the chance at a restaurant.”

However, Lucas is open to incorporating cooking into a movie or television show.

“I will definitely learn more, try to progress and then hopefully one day combine the two,” he said. “If I want to do a cooking show or if they're doing a movie about a top chef or something like Top Chef, then that would be a really cool opportunity for me because that would be both of my passions together. But I would rather do acting over cooking if it came down to the two.”

Lucas was captured on paper by a student artist (who is too shy to be named).

Lucas stays active in his free time as well.

“I love rollerskating, kayaking, golfing and gaming,” he said.

Lucas said it took effort to get where he is now.

“It took a lot of work, working on top of school and band to pay bills at 16,” he said. “My parents were necessarily tough, and I'm thankful for it. I moved out at 18, choosing not to go to college because I didn't have the support I wanted. But I hope to go to college soon when I feel a bit more comfy.”

Lucas stays motivated by thinking about the future.

“I think about how fulfilling the kind of life I'm trying to achieve would be,” he said.

Lucas offered advice to aspiring chefs.

“Don't be afraid to try new things,” he said. “It's a lot easier than it looks to cook something wonderful.”

Lucas said models must evaluate each assignment.

“Fair compensation is different for each model,” he said. “It depends what kind of modeling your doing, and if you're comfortable doing it. Some things require you to be confident, and some things you can model for you don't really even have to dress up. It just depends on what you're comfortable showing, and how much you think you're worth.”

Lucas advised aspiring models to be choosy in accepting work.

“Be careful of those who try to lie to get something out of you,” he said. “Know your worth, and don't do anything you're not comfortable with.”

Lucas’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucas_johnson_modeling/