'Greg's style of shooting was a bit daunting for me at first, since I hadn’t done it before and it left nothing for me to hide behind or distract from me. I really had to get back on my game.'
This past September, I did a piece spotlighting The 2 Gregs, an exhibition spotlighting the work of artist's Greg Lindeblom and Greg Tsontakis-Mally. Within the images of models photographer Greg Lindeblom sent on, was a familiar face and a familiar physique. Back in 2012, I featured Will and his work with photographer Gordon Nebeker. (The Deep End) This was one of my first profiles of Gordon' work and was struck by Will's strong presence in front of the camera. Will has great body, tall and statuesque, a beautiful face piercing hazel eyes. I had always hoped to feature his work again, and after seeing the images that Greg sent on, took the opportunity to contact both he and Will about a piece.
It was actually Gordon, and a dinner party he was hosting, that first brought Greg and Will together. Although Will now lives in Florida, he wasn't at the time of the party, but was invited by Gordon, during a visit to Fort Lauderdale. Greg shares that from they moment they met, Will made an impression. In addition to being clearly handsome, Greg says he always incredibly charismatic, and best of all, a really positive guy. Greg knew that Will had posed with Gordon a number of times, and was pleased when Will agreed to a shoot.
'It took quite a while for our two schedules to align. By the time we were ready to shoot, my husband and I had moved. So, Will would be my first shoot in my new studio setup. Having an experienced model in that situation is both good and bad. It's good because Will clearly knew what he was doing; it's bad because I wanted to be sure the shoot went well logistically and technically. Will was used to shooting with Gordon who is an impeccable photographer.'
Well, the shoot went fine. The images are beautiful and Will looked fantastic. We did a fairly limited range of setups, which helped me figure out how my shooting space needed to evolve. The result was a fairly homogeneous set of images. I have shown several of them in exhibition, including one in my recent Two Gregs show. A couple of the images also appear in my book, Masculine Beauty 2.'
Will clicked with Greg right away, and looked forward to working with him after they met. Due to life's twists and turns, it took awhile for the shoot to be scheduled, but just when Will thought his modeling career was over, they nailed down their plans to shoot. For Will, shooting with Greg was a real pleasure. Since their shoot, Will has become good friends with both Greg and his husband Michael, even spending Christmas with them one year that he couldn't get home. Not only the sweetest guys you can imagine, Will shares they're both equally talented within their fields.
'Greg and Gordon are really the only two photographers I’ve worked with professionally, so it was fun for me to see the stylistic and executional differences between them. I found that both Greg and Gordon actually have a very similar approach to their work, while having very different styles of shooting and of finished work. They both are motivated by a profound respect and appreciation for the male form, focusing their efforts on that subject matter specifically. Gordon and other photographers might choose to photograph their models “in their natural habitats” (as NatGeo would say haha), but Greg uses a method of isolating his models - or at least me - against a black back drop with a prop or two to work with.'
'Doing this allows the viewer to really focus in on the subject and its form, rather than how it interacts with its environment. Greg's style of shooting was a bit daunting for me at first, since I hadn’t done it before and it left nothing for me to hide behind or distract from me. I really had to get back on my game. It was an easy transition though as Greg is such a kind and professional person to work with. The shoot itself was lots of fun and seemed to just fly by. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Greg, both as a person and as yet another very talented artist.'
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