Some years ago I was traveling in Guatemala to experience the great Mayan ruins of Tikal. Just past the border crossing the road from Belize City into the jungle degraded into something best described as a quasi-graded rut. Needless to say, the all terrain vehicle I was in moved very slowly. All along the torturous route there were women and children selling gigantic cashews, extraordinary hand dyed textiles and other goods designed to lure each tourist's hand to his wallet. Naturally, I didn't think anything of taking photos along the way; but -- while snapping one woman -- she held up her hand and said "No, you are taking my soul." I respectfully turned away; but her words have stayed with me for years.
Since then I've taken tens of thousands of photographs -- many for the community newspaper I edited and many more of what I refer to as my "nekkid men". With the paper I did my best to avoid the standard "grip and grin" images gracing the pages of every small town periodical published. I'd wade my way into a crowded event and look for the intense conversation or the person out of place. I'd work to find a moment of interaction which defined the event. Those were the photos that got published. Similarly, when I work with a model it isn't just about his handsome face or toned body or even his hard dick -- though, honestly I'm always happy to have some or all of those combinations at work -- but, just as importantly, in the words of the Guatemalan woman it's about capturing part of his soul.
I don't do a lot of photoshoots primarily because I make an effort to get to know someone by phone and/or e-mail or otherwise before I shoot them. There's just as much effort that goes into the creation of a shoot as there is in the actual shoot and the hours of editing afterwards. Part of what I'm doing when I'm planning with someone is finding what sets him apart. In some cases it's a vulnerability. In others it's unparalled athletic exuberance. Others just enjoy the discovery -- finding perhaps that naughty boy inside beat down by the nuns. And one could go on down the list. For each person I choose to work with has something that truly is unique.
One of the reasons my work isn't as stylistically predictable as other photographers is that I find the best shoots happen when the person who's modeling is actively engaged in the process -- the shoot scenario is his idea, the location is his find. I'll plan for weeks to set up a location and wardrobe with props...then we just see something and know that's the moment we both want to capture. To hell with the plan! On the other hand, we couldn't throw away the plan or have found that moment if we hadn't taken the time to get to know each other first. As a consequence, many of the men I work with become long-term friends. And, even when they don't, many leave feeling that the shoot stood apart from others they'd participated in.
That isn't to say my approach always works. Two years ago an amazing bodybuilder from Los Angeles called me up. He knew I had provided Zeb Atlas with some images for his Web page, liked them and wanted to shoot with me. My ego puffed and I agreed to work with him without the usual "getting to know you" process. My gosh, he was handsome, built like a brick shithouse and had the dick of death -- how could I go wrong with this guy?
So a few months passed after the initial e-mail request and my "yes" when I got a call saying he was going to be in Miami the next week and would I still be interested in driving up. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. So I drove up with my studio lights in tow and met him at his fancy $400 a night South Beach hotel. Asking what the occasion for the trip to South Florida was, his answer was "Only to shoot with you." He then started to berate Mark Jenkins, one of the most talented people in the world of male photography, saying his work was amateur and that the shoot he'd done with Mark the week before was a total failure, i.e. he just didn't know how to shoot bodybuilders.
Sweat beads started to form. And if I'd listened to my inner angel at that point I would have packed up and made the long drive back to Key West without a single frame snapped. Instead my ego took over and I thought to myself "I'm good. I can do this."
Fast forward three days and a very long quiet drive with the model in my car back to Miami from Key West. Yes -- I was actually crazy enough to think that, given the right context, I could make it work. The problem was, the more I got to know him, the more I realized that the only unique thing about him was his anger -- at himself, at gay men (his clients) in particular and pretty much anything else in the world. As a result despite several thousand images that long weekend I couldn't take a single good photograph of him despite his physical perfection. I may have captured his soul but it was one that was tortured and it showed through almost every image I took.
It shook me up -- a lot. As a consequence, I didn't do any of my "nekkid men" photography for almost a year and a half afterwards.
It was just this past April with Alan Valdez (featured in the photo above) that I finally got back on the horse to see if I could still ride.
The late Bob Stickel of Ten Casting Management (my experiences with Bob over the years will no doubt be the subject of other future blogs) contacted me about Alan. Bob has worked with hundreds of young men over the years, helping them find their way in world of male modeling, TV, fitness magazines, commercials, soft-core porn and for a few who must remain unamed for fear of lawsuits -- major motion picture careers. He told me he felt Alan was his next truly great find -- that he had the potential of one of his previous proteges Tony Ward (Madonna's ex). And that (here comes the ego part) Alan needed my special eye plus water images (lots of that in Key West) for his portfolio.
I took the bait and decided to come out of my hibernation. Alan and I didn't have a lot of contact before the shoot; but we hit it off immediately and I realized that I needed not only to get back on the horse; but start riding again. Since then I've worked with two extraordinary new models Oocelot and Chad Glen. I've been contacted by a major publication house to do a submission for one of their calendar series for 2011 (no guarantees, of course) and I'm having a ball planning my next three shoots. "Yippee ki yay. Ride 'em cowboy!"
But this time I'm taking the time to do it the right way -- really get to know the person modeling in advance. Cause ultimately it isn't just about another handsome face. On the one hand, male physique images are all about the surface -- the package, if you will -- but the ones that endure for whatever reason -- capture something inside that can't be denied.
No comments:
Post a Comment