Favorite Pic of the Day for May 11th

Above:
Great shot of Vance Lawson by Steve Mack!
-Check out more below-

Happy Birthday today May 11th to:

Actor Gilles Guillain turns 29 today. See more of Gilles HERE:
Check out more of today's birthday boys HERE:

Just Because: Aussielicous

I have talked before about some of the inspirations that helped me decide how and what I wanted FH to be and feel. I knew I did not want to be just a picture posting blog. There are far too many of those. Yes, I wanted amazing photos but I also wanted the blog to say something. BeautifulMag was an early inspiration. I also wanted the blog to have a magazine feel. I wanted a cover (pic of the day), regular features (birthdays, just because, imports, blast from the past). As well I knew I need feature stories (Photographer, model and actor profiles). I wanted humour, entertainment and a focus on new talent (stage actors, photographers, models) not getting massive exposure elsewhere on the web. I have been lucky to work with some big names on FH but some of my favorite pieces have been on yet to be discovered incredible talents.

Another thing I desperately wanted was to incorporate bits of my life within the blog. I had serious struggles with this for awhile. One of the people I turned to for support with this was Brenton Parry who runs one of my favorite blogs Aussielicous. I never really wanted to post specifically about myself, but wanted to say something about who I am and what I believe through my posts. I think the first time I really shared details was back in 2009 when I reviewed Greg Pritikin's Totally Confused. This movie had a profound impact on me as it so closely mirrored my life.

A couple of weeks ago I was researching my post on photographer Chris Singleton and was going through pages from the old 2kmodels site. Low and behold I found Brenton's old page with some incredibly sexy shots! The shot below, a self portrait had to be shared. I love everything about the shot especially the framing. (the framing...yeah...) Brenton is able through Aussielicous to seamlessly share his photography, his love of beautiful men, his many talents and loves while also candidly and honestly sharing his life. The small struggles, the big ones, work issues and personal issues alike. No matter what Brenton writes he has a talent for remaining funny, respectful and most of all to me, oh so relatable. Thanks Brenton!

Fiero by Steve Mack

This past March I first profiled the work of Saint Louis based photographer Steve Mack (Achromatic Colors: Jake G by Steve Mack, see below). I instantly fell in love with the look and especially the feel of Steve's work. In my previous feature I talked about Steve's use of color and he commented that he dials back color saturation and strives to 'create a mood without relying on color to do the heavy lifting'.

The feel I described certainly continues in Steve's most recent work. It is interesting to me that some of the shots in Steve's work with 20 year old college student Vance Lawson were shot in the early morning. Vance says they woke up very early to catch the morning sunlight between the trees in the forest preserve. I always felt 'early morning' was a perfect description of the mood Steve creates in his work, both on location and in the studio.



The colors and the brightness remind me of that glistening light we see on a sunny early morning. There is a freshness, a newness a feel of something starting or about to begin.

As mentioned in my earlier profile, Steve has incredible skill at beautifully photographing skin. With Vance Lawson this comes in especially handy. Vance's chest provides the perfect canvas for his tattoo. Steve picks up incredible detail, every line and each color with precision.



In Italian, Fiero means Proud, fierce and ferocious. Vance is extremely proud of his Sicilian Heritage. Vance says though, that due to his skin color he feels he does not really look Sicilian. The tattoo is a physical symbol,a way for Vance to show his pride. (Vance is 50% Sicilian, 25% polish & 25% English). Vance, who juggles his modeling with college and a part time job says that although he enjoys modeling his number one goal current goal is to complete his education.



Steve says that the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of his work with Vance was Vance's focus and dedication.

'All of the exterior images were shot just after sunrise at a nearby nature reserve. In spite of the fact that it was only 51 degrees and we were slowed down by camera equipment issues, Vance was a great sport. I'd highly recommend him and look forward to the opportunity to work with him again.'

Thanks again to Steve and to Vance for sharing their early morning with FH! You can check out more of Steve's work at his website HERE: and see more of his work with Vance on ModelMayhem HERE: