Above:
Cristian by Mount Photography
-See More Below-
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Happy Birthday today May 25th
Ian enjoying the beach in Priest In Love (1981)
Thanks to the original poster at DC for the caps.
Happy Birthday Sir Ian McKellen!
Life's A Beach
Happy Memorial Day!
There is nothing quite like spending a holiday at the beach. Playing in the ocean and the sun beating down heating your skin. You hope the day will last forever. I sort of felt the same way with my Beach Day theme. I gathered so many pieces, today's Beach inspired posts run over 10 posts on two pages. Be sure to check out page two for more sun, sand, surf and of course skin!
Culminación: Cristian by Mount Photography
Many FH readers will recognize the model, and artist behind it, in the image above. I have been featuring Mount Photography's Mark Montovio's work since 2009, and have done five posts (see the links below) featuring his work with Cristian. The image above is from 2013, and represents how Cristian looked in the previous pieces on the blog. As you can see, Cristian has grown up since their last time shooting and has a more mature, and incredibly sexy new aura about him.
For me, heading to the beach always means one of two things... Either I am looking forward to a fun day with family or friends... or, I go alone, or with my dogs, to walk the shore and think through something I'm struggling with. When it's for fun, usually you go with people you like and are familiar with. With that in mind, I couldn't think of any one's images better to spend part of this beach with, than Mark's new images of Cristian.
This set is actually from the summer of 2014. Mark and I began talking about a feature last summer, but at the time he was on his way to London to introduce Cristian to another photographer who was about to shoot him. Despite a language barrier, Cristian managed extremely well, especially with Mark there for support and to translate.
Cristian's maturity is evident beyond just his facial hair. His body and facial structure is more defined, his eyes more expressive and appears more skilled and experienced with stance and pose. Although Cristian always looked like he was having fun in front of the camera, there was a sweetness, a newness and a sexy hint of shyness that came through. Within these images, the hint of shyness is now confidence, but his great look and immense appeal, remain firmly intact.
Cristian has always enjoyed beach shots, especially in Spain, the setting for this set of images. Sadly, it may be awhile before we see him in shot by Mark in the sand and water again. Cristian is now shooting in the US and focusing on fitness and studio work. After his many years of shooting along the incredible Spanish beaches including along the shores of Gibraltar, Cádiz and Andalusia, heading inside to a studio isn't that appealing to Mark. After enjoying his many shoots in the surf and sand, I don't blame him one bit!
Deuce (2012)
Expressive Masquerade (2012)
Supplementary (2013)
Paradise Island (2013)
Military Adjacent: Michael by YogaBear Studio
'Yes, I am one of those exhibitionist guys who is very comfortable and confident in his own skin. I love to be naked and don't mind other people seeing me that way!'
Most regular visitors to FH know I love the work of David from YogaBear Studio and regularly feature his imagery. Many of you also might remember the FH debut last summer of writer, actor and fellow blogger Michael. (Entertain Me: A Blogger Bared) With Michael's love of removing his clothes, and David's skill at capturing it, it seemed appropriate to join them both for a day at the beach.
David and Michael first met up at the San Onofre nude beach in California to shoot and Michael says he has loved working with David ever since. Michael describes David as relaxed and easy going and strives to create a realistic portrait of each individual he is shooting. Something that never ceases to fascinate me, is the motivation behind why people take it all off for the camera. For some, it is strictly a business decision motivated by career and commerce. For others, there is a more personal, often spiritual piece behind the motivation. Given he is a writer, I asked Michael to share with me, and with all of you, what inspires his openness and love of being naked for all the world to see and enjoy.
'I have loved getting naked ever since I can remember, especially if there are other people around to see it. Not sure where it comes from, as Lady Gaga would say I was "Born This Way." My first nude beach experience was in college when I was eighteen. I went with a friend who was brought up in a family of nudists and who I personally wanted to see naked. It was so freeing and a total blast! The only problem was me trying to keep my erection at bay as my friend was the hot all American blonde type with a really great body. Every time I started to feeling myself getting hard I diverted myself by thinking of other things, don't remember what those things were now, but I only ever got semi-erect and I don't think my friend ever noticed, if he did he pretended not to see...'
'The most off beat experience I have ever had at a nude beach was at Haulover Beach in Miami Florida. One thing that all nude beaches have in common is a gay side and a straight side. No, they are not designated that way with signs, it's simply an unspoken naked in public thing. Me and my buddy decided to take a walk along the shoreline down the beach. When this Male/Female couple says "Hi" to us. She has silicone breasts and is put together like a Barbie Doll and he, well is a built Ken Doll stud with a raging hard-on. We stood there and made small talk with them, while they laid there naked on their towels with their legs spread and his beautiful erection sticking straight up. Neither of them acknowledged the protrusion and it was pretty clear they wanted us to join them, but the two of us just wanted to hang out, literally, at the beach. They were both very hot and it was very flattering.'
'I am lucky to live on the West Coast in Southern, California. We basically have summer all year round, especially this one, while I don't always have time to get to the beach I am naked all the time at my home and when friends drop by, depending on my relationship with them, I stay that way. The companion photos with this piece were taken at a nude beach between San Diego & Los Angeles, CA. San Onofre which is adjacent to a military base by David of Yoga Bear Studio. Sadly, even with the base, I have never seen any hot military men frolicking naked while there... It was an awesome shoot. There was a guy watching it the whole time, while making sure he was out of camera range. While we did do the erection shots in one of the areas not in view of everyone, there was always the possibility that someone could walk in and see us doing the shots, but nobody did, Damn!'
Sunset Silhouettes
Last summer, I did a piece, How To Get Naked Camping Going..., after discovering a new site to visit, Innertaboo. Given InnerTaboo's owner's goal is to channel his erotic energy, he spends much of his time naked in the great outdoors.
Spending time naked outside, inevitably leads one to water. Innertaboo is filled with images from the beach, my favorites being the final four sunset silhouette images from Wreck Beach in Vancouver.
'These sunset pictures at Wreck Nude Beach in Vancouver, BC were so fun to take! Our friend Mark is the photographer. Notice the bird in the first picture caught mid-air. Here comes true the saying: a picture is worth a thousand words. Good times. Definitely a re-do this next summer.'
'Wreck Beach itself was gorgeous. We arrived at 3:30 p.m. and there were hundreds of people in clusters all along the beach. It reminded me a bit of Burning Man. Hippies, straights, gays, drum circle (yay!), groups of people playing guitars and ukuleles, people of all ages clustering together socially, couples cuddling or laying on each other, nude vendors hawking their goods (pun intended), lively overall. A guy or two sported a boner. People swimming enjoying the water. And lots of people like cats soaking up the sun, minus the purring, looking contentedly at the ships, hydro-ferries, dancing glimmer on the waves.'
Crevice
No Trip to the beach is complete without a hit of crack. The particular sand crevice in this case is actor Aaron Eckhart who was shot strolling along a Santa Monica beach last year.
Paul Richmond: Waves Of Fortune
This past spring, I was fortunate to come across the work of artist Paul Richmond. In my first piece on his work, Unspeakable Words, I focused mostly on Paul's book illustrations after discovering his artwork for the novel Shy. When working on that piece, I saved the image below, Catch Of The Day, Paul's newest painting which is available on his site HERE:
Catch Of The Day
Beach Bum by Paul Richmond
Given one of the inspiration's for Paul's work is classic cheese cake pin-up images, it makes sense that the beach makes a few appearances within his his art. One of my favorites, is Beach Bum inspired by the vintage Coppertone girl from their famous print ads and television commercials.
The 'Coppertone' pose has been the inspiration for many artists over the past few years including photographer Annie leibovitz who used the shot as inspiration for her 1993 shoot with actor Mark Wahlberg.
For his vision, Paul approached writer and photographer Alan Ilagan to take on the cheesecake boy role in the piece. Instead of a cute little cocker spaniel, Paul thought it would cuter if the tugger was not a dog, bu a second speedo-clad hunk!
'Without a secondary model to execute the pose, Alan devised a brilliant way of achieving the same effect for the photo reference. I love the effort he put into making sure the tugging of the speedo was just right! Meanwhile, that hook contraption might come in handy down the road!'
'Thankfully Alan is no stranger to disrobing on cue. I knew he would be the perfect subject for a summertime pin-up scenario, and when I contacted him to propose the idea, he was happy to drop trou for the sake of art. It’s not the first time he’s been an artistic muse either. Just yesterday I learned that Michael Breyette has also done a portrait of him -- a gorgeous, speedo-lover’s delight called Alan in Blue. After sharing my concept with Alan and sending him some examples of what I was looking for, I was thrilled to receive a number of fantastic photo references from him. The brilliance with which he staged the wardrobe malfunction will be shared in a future post.'
Paul Richmond
Take Time To Coast
Working on FH, I am fortunate to have been visually transported to many beaches around the world. Beaches along the California Coast, Fire Island, Hawaii and Florida. Beaches in London, France Australia, South Africa and Spain. If you're unable to get to a beach today, or even if you can, check out some of the many coastal destinations, and the artists and models who shot there. I have to admit, I didn't have time to go through the entire FH archives, but in my quick search, here are just a few of my favorite seashore sabbaticals.
-Pierre-Yves Monnerville-
Marseilles (2011)
-Mike Tossy-
Randall (2012)
-macpics-
Catching His Eye (2011)
-Tom Silk-
Russet (2014)
-Hans Fahrmeyer-
Fire Island (2009)
-Stephen Kahrs-
A Long Hot Stare (2013)
-Benjamin Wheeler-
Hermosa (2012)
-Christoph Musiol-
Samuel Allerton (2010)
-Mark Grantham-
Paul (2015)
-Nathan Scott-
MacGyver (2015)
-DLJ Photography-
Static Fluidity (2012)
-opti-male-
Between Two Oceans (2012)
-Gray Ions-
Rocks Of Ages (2014)
-Mark Leighton-
Effervescence (2013)
-Brett Kiellerop-
Images In My Head (2014)
-NICKET-
Free Like A Bee (2015)
-YogaBear Studio-
Journey To Black's Beach (2015)
-Fit Aussie Guys-
A Picture Perfect Day (2014)
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