First 2 images froM Bravo TV
'My whole life has been an adventure. Ever since I set out on my own, it's adventure after adventure.'
Earlier this year, I stumbled upon an episode of
Below Deck Mediterranean. I was instantly hooked. Starting with season 5, I made my way backwards, binging the the series over the last several months. There were many things I loved about the show, including the many hotties who scrubbed down the deck and have enjoyed featuring some of my favorites on the site. (
HERE:)
After cruising around the Mediterranean, I thought I'd give the Caribbean a go, and take a look the original Below Deck series which began the now popular franchise. I recently finished the show's first season which originally aired on Bravo back in 2013. You can feel the show is just starting to find it's footing, but most of the elements of the show that I liked are in place, including swoon worthy deck hands.
In
Below Deck's first season, one of the hottest, and most interesting deck hands aboard The Honor was
David Bradberry. Given how few gay yachties the show has featured, it was nice to see David featured so proximately in the shows first season. Not only is David incredibly beautiful, he had a fascinating back story. It's not often you find someone on a reality show with past careers ranging from being a marine, an actor, and model. David was also one of the only members of the crew involved in a serious relationship off the boat, something the show explored in one of the episodes late in the season.
Like many others, I really enjoyed getting to see the friendships that developed between David and the crew, especially his roommate, the adorable and hilarious Eddie Lucas. Eddie didn't seem to mind his gay roommate flirting with him, and joked with both David and the crew about how when David got dressed each morning, Eddie couldn't help but notice how hung, (like a horse) his roomie was.
In addition to his stint in season 1, David also returns in the shows third season for a few episodes after one of the crews deckhands is fired. I'm guessing David may have appeared in more seasons except that he was generally so well liked, he avoided most of the drama the producers liked to spotlight. Despite his varied careers and past, David was a nice guy, and not really that comfortable when things got ugly and mean between those he worked with. Although they occasionally offered support and acted as peace makers, David and Eddie usually kept their heads down, and just kept mopping those decks while drama swirled around them.
I was actually introduced to David Alanson long before meeting David Bradberry on
Below Deck. Alanson was last name David used for his work as an actor. Some of you might remember David briefly appeared on
FH back in 2016 when I spotlighted the films produced and created by Lime Street Entertainment. (
HERE:) Previous that, I'd seen David's work as a model with one of my favorite photographers to feature, Alwin from
Fotorebelxt Photography.
I first featured Alwin's work back in 2012, and have been lucky to have featured his imagery several times on the site since. (
HERE:) I really admire the way Alvin contracts his images, especially his use of light and color. I also love how Alwin seems to so beautiful be able to capture a visual intensity within in his images with a heightened sense of drama and erotic urgency.
. 'In some ways, photographers are like painters. It takes years for their style to develop. At one point, however, everything seems to come together, and the strength of their body of work becomes evident. I consider every shot as an opportunity to experiment and push beyond my limits using various lighting techniques and lenses. '
When I decided to feature David, I got in touch with Alwin about featuring their work together. Alwin checked back into his archives and found the raw files from his shoot with David. They connected at a Palm Springs Photo Festival that both attended, two years before David went Below Deck. The master photographer for the event was Greg Gorman who had assembled about a dozen photographers for an artistic nude workshop. There were 3 female and 2 mal models that posed over the the three day event
'The shoots were done in the studio, Joshua Tree National Park and at a Gorman's private home. All photographers were able to use their images from the workshop for their personal portfolio. David was a professional and easy-going model. He helped each photographer with their concepts and was a natural in striking the best pose.'
You can check out more of David, and a couple of his film roles on the
NEXT PAGE HERE: