Favorite Pic of the Day for July 7th

'Samuel and his ice cream #1'
Another of my favorite shots by Xavier_Paris.
See more of Xavier's work below!

Happy Birthday today July 7th to:

Former boy band member from V, singer Aaron Buckingham turns 27 today.



The Great Actor Christian Camargo turns 39 today.





Actor and Model Leonardo Bricio turns 47 today



Truly one of my favorite hunks, Billy Campbell turns 51 today! (Check out more of Billy by searching the blog).






Actor Jean LeClerc turns 62 today.

Dominic By Dylan Rosser

Although Dylan Rosser is busy traveling and working in the US he took time to add the beautiful Dominic to his site. Dominic says his best feature is his eyes and those baby blues certainly are incredible! As always you can see much more of Dominic over at THE MALE FORM!

Antoine by Xavier_Paris

Sometimes coming across a photograph you love can be more than just a wonderful find. Sometimes it can be a gift. That is how I fee about the shot above by Xavier_Paris. There was something about the model, the lighting, the composition of the shot. I loved. More than that however was the addition of the bandage. To me, it turned a great shot into something even more special.



Through his website PhotoGraphe I was able to contact the photographer and learn a bit more about how the photo came about. I call the shot a gift as the artist Xavier, was generous enough to send on details about the shoot, additional shots of the model Antoine, and the icing on the cake was some video footage from the shoot (see below).

There is such joy in the shots and Antoine's smile is infectious. When I told Xavier that one of the things I loved about the shoot was Antoine's smile he said "That’s true, Antoine’s smile is incredible…Normally I NEVER ask people to smile, but during the shooting I could not prevent myself from asking him to smile and smile again !!!"



Xavier_Paris as he is credited on MM, lives and works in Paris. Xavier tells me he has has been a photographer for almost 10 years but it is not his full time job.

"I’m an aeronautical engineer actually ! I consider myself as being a “full time observer”, both in my company and in my photographic life. Hence, to me, photography is mainly portrait. It’s an encounter with a model, both before and during the shooting. I try to tell (almost) everything into one picture, and as I prefer to put forward the model’s attitude, I always use simple backdrops and grooming. I rarely shoot out of my small studio as I want to believe that it’s the model (and sometime a very simple idea!?) who does the picture and not the techniques, nor any complicated or expensive settings…"

This is certainly the case in Xavier's work with Antoine. Simple background, minimal props. Just an artist bringing out the best in a beautiful model.

Now back to that bandage....
Xavier tells me the shoot with Antoine was planned for a friend of his who had launched a web-site, "Homme-Avenue", who needed pictures for certain products.

"At the end of the day, he left me a complete liberty to shoot whatever I wanted with Antoine…and as Antoine trusted me, we pick-up some simple objects (I keep many useless objects in my studio to improvise shootings!!) and began to shoot theses pictures. I love sports photography and thought Antoine could be a beautiful rugby player: we had the idea to put a simple bandage on his leg: and this is it, Antoine was my rugby-player!"

Antoine looks right at home in this shoot as if he was stepping into a shoot for Stade France. Not only is that smile to die for he has a great body and a face that reminds me ever so slightly of that of Glee's Cory Monteith. Do yourself a favor and check out the video below. There is no sound unfortunately, but it is still a lot of fun to watch!

Thanks so much Xavier for sharing your work with Antoine with FH! The first shot I posted above has joined my list of all time favorite shots! Be sure to check out more of Xavier's work at PhotoGraphe HERE: His MM page HERE: or on Flickr HERE:

Favorite Musician of the Day: Dave Allen

Musician, actor and model Dave Allen calls himself 'everyone's favorite white rapper, producer and model'. Although I do love much of the work of Eminem, Dave Allen is certainly in the running! Dave's music is a combination of Pop/Hip Hop/Rock with more than a dash of rap. Dave has been busy the past couple of years juggling modeling, acting (he had a small role in 'When in Rome' with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel) as well as his number one passion music.

Dave has a classic look perfect for the camera. I would guess there are people a bit surprised to see Dave on stage performing his music but that is just part of the reason it works. I included one of my favorite songs from Dave's cd Broadway Nights below and if you like it you can order it over at cdbaby.



Dave Allen
Stats:
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 180 lbs
Waist: 31
Shoe: 12
Hair color: Brown
Hair length: Short
Eye color: Hazel
Skin color: White
Experience: Very Experienced








Last two shots from Rick Day.



Below: My favorite of Dave's songs, 'Hold On.'
Check out more of Dave's music at his MYSPACE page HERE: or his Youtube Channel HERE:

Favorite Pic of the Day for July 6th

Samuel Garfield by Ronald N. Tan.
See more below.

Favorite Birthday Boy for July 6th Sebastian Rulli

It was not a difficult choice for todays favorite birthday boy. Actor and model Sebastian Rulli turns 35 today.







Below:
Sebastian in the play "P.D: Tu Gato ha Muerto"