'People say I’m more quiet in person than they’d expect me to be. I think that’s because I am always taking everything in. One little detail can ruin an otherwise good shot for me. Like a twist in my jockstrap—ha! Silly I guess, but I get caught up on details like that.'
Given my love great imagery, especially when it's focused on the male form, I've become fairly astute at detecting the motives behind an image or shoot. Some artists don't really try to hide their intention to simply narrowly focus on body parts, usually one body part in particular. Other artists, the ones that I'm drawn to, and usually feature, have a broader focus. They look to capture not only a great body, but a piece or fragment of the man within. They consider the overall visual, the model directly right in front of them, as well as every detail which surrounds them..
While browsing Instagram last month, my quick scrolling came to a halt when I spotted one of Mike's (Implicit Ditto) images of Gaston. I was drawn in by not just one, but the San Francisco based artists attention to every detail within the visual. I think the vibrant red in Gaston's plaid shirt first drew my eye, quickly followed by his handsome face and his incredibly hot and hairy chest and legs.
It didn't stop there however, my attention remained transfixed, not only on Gaston, but on the location, lights and body of water behind him. Gaston's surroundings were almost as alluring as he was, and at first, I was sure it must be a fake background, brought through life by Mike with good lighting and editing. I of course, had to find out more.
Just as I couldn't scroll past Mike's image, Mike also stopped on Instagram to compliment Gaston on his profile and images. Mike also welcomed Gaston to get in touch if he was ever near the Bay Area and wanted to shoot. As luck would have it, a few months later Gaston was going to close for a family affair. His time however was limited, so Mike suggested a night shoot. Mike usually plans his shoots for the daytime hours, and relies on natural light, but given the color and textures of the cities lights, he thought t his would be the perfect opportunity to explore night shooting and test the combination of physique and the city's lights.
'It's almost always cool or chilly at night in San Francisco except for a rare heat wave. So the model will need to get in and out of clothes quickly. Then they need to stand completely still when shooting as a longer shutter speed of a couple seconds long is required for this kind of shot. Finding somewhere somewhat private is tremendously challenging, so lots of time is spent driving around trying to find a spot that might work. To compound that, unfortunately there are very few places in a large city that don't have either security personnel roaming around or security cameras pointing in every direction. We lucked out in a couple spots and I'm excited about what we were able to capture in the little time we had together.'
Unfortunately, as Mike predicted, the night of the shoot was pretty chilly. Gaston was freezing. Although it was cold, it was a nice November evening, meaning that in addition to the cold temperatures, Mike and Gaston had to deal with the many people out for their evening waterfront walks. Despite the challenges, Gaston managed not only to enjoy himself, but also proved a nice distraction from some of the stressors in his life.
'There I was sitting on a roof of a parking structure in a jockstrap. In most photos you sort of have to flex without making it seem like you're flexing— here I had to make it seem like I was not freezing my ass off. We did some shots by the water with my pants down. Again I’m not shy, but it’s always a little nerve racking when people approach or pass by. Most of the time people are unfazed. Especially in places like San Francisco.
I am very critical of photos of myself, I guess most of us are, but I’m a Virgo which I think compounds the issue. The weekend we did this shoot was the weekend of my brother’s wedding, and I was his best man. I was planning wedding morning breakfasts, coordinating 100 things, so it was good for me to take some time away from that— it’s easy to clear your head when you’re focusing on the shoot, the pose, the angles, etc. '
No comments:
Post a Comment