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Thursday, November 10, 2016
Happy Birthday today November 11th
Face of the Eighties: Rick Edwards
'Another of his favourite tricks was this: 'I learned this from the male model Rick Edwards,' he offers by way of preface, as if the technique he is about to describe were so fine it should not go uncredited. 'I'd be there with Steven Meisel or whoever, all the money and the ad people are there, some beautiful girl's posing and I'd rip out the loudest fart you ever heard. The whole room would stop! And you're just sittin' there like nothin's happened!'
If you have any memories of the eighties, you'll remember the face, the blonde hair and the hairy chest of model Rick Edwards. Edwards graced the covers of countless magazines including numerous appearance on the cover, and in GQ. Edwards went on to a modest acting career on daytime (Santa Barbara) and prime time (High Performance).
The man behind the face, a Northfiled Massachusetts native, is highly personable, articulate, and devoid of egoism, perhaps because there's more going in his life than modeling. A University of Massachusetts graduate, Edwards majored in exercise science with the aim of becoming a sports physiologist. After school, Edwards settled in Manhattan, coaching the New York Athletic Club's oarsmen, rowing for its lightweight crew and picking up a few dollars making buoys and painting boats for the club.
On his way home a chance encounter with a woman at London's Heathrow Airport brought Edwards an introduction to her modeling agent, subsequently propelling him into a few TV Commercials. Still filling his off-camera hours with rowing, he impressed photographer Bruce Weber with his oarsmanship and wound up demonstrating it in GQ's February 1981 issue, the rest is history.
Below: Edwards with Santa Barbara co-stars Todd McKee and Christopher Mayer
I think that I vaguely remember watching Edwards on Santa Barbara as a kid, but remember that hairy chest more than his acting ability. During the 80's Edwards poster graced the walls of many teen girls bedroom, and many gay teen boys fantasy's.
A Return to the Window: Bryson by Alex Hilbert
'Windows provide not only natural light, but a myriad of metaphors about reflection and reflecting. Looking not only out, but in. Seeing all we have, and all we long for. Looking in on others, and in the reflection, looking in on ourselves.'
I have one particular window in my house that looks out back. Because of the curves of my house, you don't get much of a broad view, but you did a long view past my barn, my back yard and the bike path and forest beyond that. What I love best about the window is the chair just in front of it. The chair is old, but the throw cover hides most of it's flaws. It's best feature is how big the seat is, big enough to curl up in and sink into with a cup of coffee or maybe a glass of wine.
Week, even months have gone by without my dropping in that chair. I don't tend to sit there much in the summer because that window holds an air conditioner from June to September. I use it most during the winter months, when it's snowing, when I'm tired, stressed or worried. I found myself in that chair for more than a few hours this week. The view didn't vary much except the leaves from the tree's seemed to be dropping more quickly as each day passed.
Given how much comfort that window brings me, I thought it a good time to return to another window that always brings me happiness and joy. The attic windows that photographer Alex Hilbert uses so beautifully in many of his shoots. I first looked in Alex's windows with Jonny in the spring, with Jalen at the end of summer. With Autumn now in full swing, I find myself back there with Alex's spectacular shots of Bryson.
Alex perfectly captured Bryson's look, face and incredible body Bryson has the beautiful eyes, sexy, sultry and intensely soulful. As he did with both Jonny and Jalen, Alex blends the beauty of the male form with pose and fashion, not to mention those windows, to create uniquely distinctive imagery. Alex always seems to capture a added layer of sensuality within his models, a layer I don't always see in their work with others. In part through his talent for sure, but maybe in part because of the natural light and visual reflection those windows provide.
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