'Lester is from Liberia, West Africa. He is passionate about fitness nut and wants to inspire everyone to be more healthy and fit. He works out endlessly and helps others in their path to having better bodies.' I loved shooting him!'
The last time I featured the work of Dave Larson, (takeapic4u) was last Halloween. Dave introduced us to the sexy, but sinister Colton on a dark and deadly rural country round. (HERE:) This shoot, although equally sexy, is much less sinister, and occurs in the bright light of day. I'm sure the stunning Lester would look great by moonlight, I love how the light from the sun cascades over his beautiful skin and incredible body.
From this series of images, Lester looks like a natural in front of the camera. He exudes such strength, confidence and erotic energy you might be surprised that this was one of his first professional shoots. Dave discovered Lester's profile on Model Mayhem but the only images in Lester's port were a few selfies. Still, the Iowa photographer saw something that held his attention and knew Lester had had something special that he wanted explore and capture.
Given Lester didn't have any professional images on his port, Dave wasn't quite sure what to expect from their work, but decided to message him and ask if he was interested in adding some creative and unique images to his port. Lester called him back and they spoke for awhile about what each hoped to get out of their time together. Dave already knew Lester was visually compelling, but during their conversations, he also found him incredibly interesting during their discussions.
Given my own fascination with process, I was fascinated with how things progressed from that initial conversation, through the creation of the final images you see here. Given Lester was relatively new to modeling, especially nude modeling, I asked Dave to share how everything came together. Lester enjoys being in front of the camera, and showing of the years of hard work he put into his body, and as you can see, things came together beautifully.
Tell me about the commination before you got together?
One thing I always discuss with models that I may shoot with is their comfort with their bodies and with shooting nudes. I find that many say, oh yeah, no problem, but what they mean is no. So to find out, I require a full front and full side shot fully nude in advance. At that point, I have already decided that I am interested in shooting the model, but they need to prove their comfort in sharing their bodies fully nude. I don't really care what it all looks like. Models that are really confident/comfortable have no issue with this and it makes all the difference in the world going forward.
Did Lester have any boundaries for the shoot?
Nudity for Lester was completely a non-issue...and frankly...look at him...he has NO reason to be shy. His physique is nothing short of amazing, and at least in my opinion, a lot to be proud of. He was not interested in anything erotic per se...nudity was no problem to show of his whole body, but nothing overtly sexual, and that was not a problem, but I think many might find some of his photos to be very erotic and we are so sorry if some may lead to fantasies... :)
What were your first impressions upon meeting Lester?
The trick was distance. At the time, Lester in Duluth Minnesota. That is probably 7 hours from where I live. He didn't have reliable transportation, so he got a bus ticket. I had to pick him up about an hour and a half from where I live at about 2 am. When I picked up him, he said 'Hi' at the bus stop, then climbed in the car and fell asleep...ha.
In the morning he was ready to work and we worked and shot all day until evening...it was the single longest I have shot a model with only a couple of short breaks...most don't have the stamina for it...Lester did, and his last shots are as good if not better than the morning shots. He is a machine. We needed to make the most of his long travel time and complexity of getting him to the shoot.
I had ideas and Lester had the face and body...we worked really well together and we just went with the flow, most was very organic. He had brought a few things as props and underwear, stuff like that. The rest all just fell together nicely. Did you shoot more than one time? I sent Lester home on the bus after the shoot and have kept in touch with a plan to shoot again, hopefully soon, but life has taken him on quite a journey and he is now based in Denver and I am in central Iowa...so at least a 12 hour drive. We hope the stars will align again and allow us to make some more amazing images together.
Do you remember his reaction to seeing the finished shots?
One of my favorite things is to work with a new model and after capturing them with the camera, to show them what I see...most have no idea how incredible they look. Lester knew he had a great body, he had worked on getting it that way for a long time...he was breathless when I showed him what I could see through the camera...he was shocked at how good he looked. The best and most rewording of any photo shoot really. Feedback from viewers and peers means a lot too...but to see a model, that has never done this before, and especially if they were hesitant or shy, to be almost in tears or doubting that the image is really them...its all gravy, and honestly more of a reason for me to do it than any other. I love that.
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