'In the beginning....'
Drew
Earlier this month, I featured photographer Gordon Nebeker's images re-visiting the 2015 Utah shoot. (Lake Powell Memories) This is the time of year that I normally feature new images from the annual photographing pilgrimage. Although the pandemic put an end to this year's trip, I still wanted to celebrate a series that has become a highlight, and something I look forward to seeing and sharing each year.
John
Utah 2014 by Mike Tossy
Over the last few years, the shoot has included Gordon, along with Mike Tossy and Mark from StudioMGphotography. Although I had previously featured Gordon's solo work in Utah, long time viewers however, may remember that the first time I officially featured the group shoot,back in 2014,. (HERE:) There was a forth artist on the 2014 shoot with photographer Tom Clark joining Mark, Mike and Gordon on their visual voyage.
That wasn't however, the beginning. The first official group shoot, was actually the previous year. Gordon hadn't yet joined the party, and this shoot, was organized by Tom Clark. This was beginning of Mark and Mike's seven trips to Utah When I asked Mark about which shoot he wanted to re-visit, he decided to go back to the start.
'When thinking about Utah I was conflicted about which year to select. I've gone with 2013 for a couple of reasons. First, I suspect you haven't featured it already. 2013 also features Drew, a model that I'm the only one who photographed.
The two models never met as the two shoots were on consecutive days, on the Great Salt Lake. This was my first experience with the lake and it was amazing how it reflected light, and added texture as the salt dried on the body. It's a wonderful location, although not particularly comfortable once the salt dries on you! Both Drew and John were wonderful to create with.'
'Both had modeled for Tom Clark in the past and were great to collaborate with. In fact John is the only model we've worked with two different years in Utah - he joined us again in 2014, this time together with 2 other male costars!'
'We initially met up at a local state park. I have no doubt the sight of four older men ( the photographers ) and three hot young guys ( the models ) caused a few comments amongst families sharing the rest area; especially when Gordon started collecting the modeling fees from the photographers and counting them out and distributing them to the models.''
Mike's story about Gordon handing out money to the models is one of the many stories that stood out to me when putting together the features for the 2014 shoot. Although there were no images of the moment, I could easily visualize it, and also visualize the faces of the families who observed it. I wondered if any of them were trying to figure out how exactly the uneven number of men were going to pair up...
I also remember one of my favorite series of shots involved the old car. (Road Trip) What a fun prop, and I especially loved Mike's shot above of the three models in the car, heading out on a road trip with huge smiles on their faces. Mike remembers each of the models got into using the old car, playing and goofing around and using the vehicle as a stage for their poses and yoga moves.
'Our first stop was seemingly nowhere special. Just some gnarled old Piñon trees with far distant mountains in the background. The harsh lighting yielded some of my favorite Black and White images of the trip. '
Despite the look and feel of isolation, the photographers and models were not alone in their Garden of Eden. In addition to a TV crew filming a nature documentary, there was what Mike describes as a 'horde' of tourists that the photographers and models worked hard to avoid. This often meant hiking upriver, or further off the beaten path in order to avoid having an audience for their popular, but sold out show.
'Privacy was ensured by sending a photographer ahead of the group to act as lookout and having a second lookout lag behind. A signal word was suppose to be used to tell the models to put on shorts. For reasons I never understood, our signal word was "pineapple". Pineapple is an exceptionally hard word to work into a natural sounding sentence in southern Utah. So the absurd shout of "pineapple" did nothing to mask what was going on from other hikers; but, at least, none of the models were caught with their, umm, pineapples hanging out.'
'At, “the creek”, it was with some nervousness that the model's undressed, not knowing when, or from where, members of the horde might appear. This being Utah, I think “the Creek” was officially a river. Either way the water was briny enough to leave a salt encrusted "bath tub ring" when river floods recede. The red rock was spectacular. Up one of the side canyons was private enough for lots of photography, at least numerically our most successful spot. Here also was “the podium”, potentially a very public spot, but miraculously, the hordes did not appear.'
You can check out more of Mike's work, and more of his Utah imagery on his website HERE:
You can also check out Mark's book BASK chronicling all of his Utah shoots HERE:
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