David Mecey began working with Playboy magazine in the fall of 1979, serving as staff photographer and later as Contributing Photographer. During his career at Playboy, Mecey had numerous solo pictorials including; “The Girls of Texas”, and "Women of Wall Street”. Along with David Chan, he also worked on all of the college girl pictorials produced since 1980. Mecey is credited with discovering 20 Playmate of the Month, including Brooke Berry, Suzi Schott, Suzi Simpson, and 1998 Playmate of the YearKaren McDougal.
Early years
Though David's formative years were all about art and music, his love for photography blossomed after college, and quite literally, by accident. After a near tragic motorcycle collision put him convalescing for nearly a year, his doctor suggested photography after admiring David's artwork. So photography became a career by beginning with what many consider a dream job. David began working for Playboy magazine in the fall of 1979, soon after becoming a staff photographer, moving to Chicago. In 1987, he would take a title change to Contributing Photographer where he would continue with Playboy until 2003. It was after this time he would begin to expand on his photography style to include fashion, beauty, and celebrity work for various editorial and advertising assignments worldwide. Mecey has also photographed such celebrities as Michael Keaton, Peter Horton, Robert Palmer, Ray Liotta, Sparky Anderson, Brooke Shields, Lynda Carter, Rachel Hunter, Carmen Electra, and Sharon Stone. Called upon to shoot Petersen Publishing’s SPORT magazine swimsuit issue for four successive years, the final year culminated with a broadcast on ESPN, ESPN-2, and Prime Ticket. Mecey served as its narrator. He also acted in a made-for-TV movie titled Posing, which aired on CBS. While working as a technical advisor on the film, Mecey was asked by the director to play a fictional Playboy photographer. From 2000–2003, David was co-host and photographer on Playboy TV's, Sexy Girls Next Door. In 2001, David founded, David Mecey's , a workshop that has grown to be considered one of the premier photographic workshops in the world. Featured in American PHOTO, David brings a select number of aspiring photographers together to a fantastic location for three days of intensive training in his style of lighting, posing, rapport with models, literally everything that makes up professional-level photography. Along with his continued catalog and beauty photography, David has self-published a number of books on his work. One, shot in B&W and titled Passion, is a collection of nudes shot over the past decade. A gallery of his work is on display at the German GQ magazine website, as well as MenSTYLE-France magazine's website, with galleries also planned for the French GQ website. In the fall of 2008 and again in 2010, Mecey was selected as guest speaker and program presenter at the international photographic trade show, Photokina, held in Cologne, Germany. Mecey has worked on other projects, such as an ad campaign for a line of cosmetics called M Professional. He works regularly on various swimsuit and lingerie catalogs, posters, and calendars. Mecey uses Apple computers when working on the digital side of photography.
Personal life
In addition to his passion for photography, David also has a passion for cars. For well over a decade, he has pursued road racing as a way to relax. David is currently Chief Driving Instructor for the Los Angeles Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America, has established his own driving events organization, Precision Performance Driving, and often works for various auto manufacturers as a pro driver, including Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, and Chrysler. He has competed in a number of endurance races including three 25-hr races where the team finished 3rd in class, and 2nd in class, respectively, for two successive years. David continues to live and work out of Marina del Rey, California.
