'These photos were a departure for me, Anyone who takes notice of my work is usually surprised by them'
I wasn't necessarily surprised when Ian sent on his work with Adam, but I was impressed, and eager to put something together for the site. For those that checked out my Quaternate piece on macpics last month, (HERE:) you may understand why. Over the last few years, I've had the pleasure of featuring many of Ian's shoots. What first attracted me to Ian's work were the dynamic and erotic body shots he captured, great poses and an eclectic array of models and themes.
Within all the images of hot naked men and great poses, there is however, an emotional and erotic edge that is not only seen but felt. Although not always 'story' driven, Ian has weaved story into many of his shoots, my favorite being Ian's work with Miguel in Home From Work, which I featured back in 2015.
Earlier this year, I featured one of Ian's early shoots. The shoot took place during Ian's time living in Germany and showcased his black & white work with Helmut. (Schöner junger Mann) I loved the look and feel of those early dives into shooting the male form and looked forward to Ian digging back into his archives for more of his work from those early days.
Although not exactly politically correct today, at the time of the shoot, Adam was known as 'The Crazy Pole'. Ian remembers the nickname was given with affection as Adam could often be moody and brooding, but also had an odd, but strong sense of humour. Ian remembers meeting many Polish and Russian men at the time who on the surface, appeared aloof or moody, yet once you got to know them, and had gained their trust, could be wickedly funny.
In addition to being wickedly funny, Adam is also wickedly hot. Adam's looks remind me a bit of a mix between model Rick Edwards and rapper Vanilla Ice. The fashion and the feel of the shoot scream the 90's, (they were shot in 1993) and have a similar look as many of the famous celebrity images from the 90's and 2000's, however, didn't usually include the model going full frontal.
I love how Ian used fashion and props, to enhance the erotic edge to the nude shots. It's interesting how Ian's use of fashion, not to mention lighting and Adam's pose, increase the eroticism, almost pushing boundaries further by adding fashion, not taking it away. It's fascinating how Adam's penis looks almost more in focus, and more exposed, in some of the images with clothing (as above) than in the some of the full nudes without any fashion included.
Often when I feature a shoot which includes both nude shots, as well as fashion focused images, the fashion shots were taken first. Most photographers find shooting with clothing first, a great way to get to know the model, and establish trust before shooting without nudes. Adam however, wanted to jump right in.
'The fully nude shots were from the first time I shot him. The other shots were from the second shoot and the poses were, if I remember, all his idea. My favourite shot from the first shoot is the one with Adam lying down, propped on his elbows, looking backwards at me. I'm very proud of that shot.'
No comments:
Post a Comment