'Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.'
Arthur Ashe
Some people live their lives through inspirational quotes and messages. I tend to be someone who rolls their eyes, (in spirit only of course) when I enter a room full of posters words of wisdom, usually with a image of a kittens or waves hitting the shore. What is powerful to me, is not reading a quote that inspires me, but discovering a quote by another, that speaks to who I am. Arthur Ashe's quote about the journey describes my life.
Some of you may remember that at one time I pursued acting. It wasn't until my second year at University that I settled upon the safer choice of psychology as my major. My reasons were many, money, security and parental pressure being near the top. Another reason, I have since learned is core part of my being, is that I am rarely satisfied with the payoff. When I was acting, the payoff was finally hitting the stage, the performance. The last piece of the long process of auditions, learning the lines, creating the character and he long hours of rehearsal.
Sonny
Above, Sonny talks on the phone as Calder puts the finishing touches on the lighting and set-up. As you can see from the image below, Sonny looks pretty damn fine from the front. But for this modeling session, it was all about his backside. Sonny's perfect posterior was being used as inspiration for a sculpting workshop.
I finally gave up my desire to act professionally when I figured out that I loved rehearsing far more than I did performing. This theme of enjoying the build-up has followed me through most of my life. I enjoy the weeks before Christmas, more than the day itself, I enjoy the thought of summer coming, more than when it arrives, and I usually love looking forward to social events and time with my family and friends, more than the actual time itself.
I think this part of my personality is one of the reasons I love focusing on the process piece of art. FH viewers know I love 'behind the scene' shots, and a main part of my love of featuring images that I love is learning everything I can about their creation. Most times I feature a shoot, my initial questions are about how it came to be. How model and photographer connected, what the conversations were before hand about concept and theme, the degree of nudity discussed and the goals of each involved.
I first began featuring the work of Calder Van Gough (Virgin Island Pictures) back in 2013. In those first couple of pieces, the models (Julian and Marco) were hot outside. I loved that Calder didn't just capture a series of planned poses, but instead appeared to follow the models he was shooting as they explored their surroundings. Through this process of experimentation, magnificent images were created and captured.
Gareth:
Earlier this year, I featured Calder's shoot in an old abandoned, and visually haunted, house. (The Departed) The male model involved was Gareth, a model the North Carolina artist has enjoyed working with multiple times.
When Calder sent on the images, he included a series of shots of Gareth and other models taken in his sculpture and photography studio in downtown Raleigh.There were also a couple of shots of models posing for sculpting classes. I am always fascinated to interview models who pose nude for groups of people and love images of the process. I asked Calder if he would be ok if used them in a separate piece focused on process.
I know this is Favorite Hunks, but I especially loved Calder's shots of Gareth with a female model, which I included above. I loved the creative and spontaneous feel to the shots. There were also several shots of both models posing with a package of Skittles, something Calder included in many shoots in honor” of Trayvon Martin.
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