'Butch was very proud to show off his maturing physique, and not shy at all in front of the camera.'
Change has been a recurring theme on FH since I first began the site over a decade ago. Usually, the change in focus involves the model in the spotlight. Although Butch's physique has certainly matured, and his muscle mass magnified, it's wasn't Butch's impressive anatomy that sparked the theme for this piece.
Over the past year or so, I've heard similar stories from photographers about their struggles to promote their work on social media. Many of these struggles, I've experienced myself. When I first started working on FH, there were two main sites I used to promote the site, and specific stories that I was working on. The first was Facebook, a site I used regularly until a few years ago.
The second was a now closed site called Charmants. Some of you may remember the site as a place that spotlighted the hottest stories on the male form and the artist who capture them. Charmants had a huge following and brought thousands of viewers to the stories I submitted. Sadly, the site closed many years ago, leaving many artists and site owners without a safe place to promote.
I also used Model Mayhem to promote the site and although I have great memories of the connections that I made there, the site's rules made it harder and harder to promote and to connect. So, where was one to go, well, many artists, models and site owners headed to Instagram. With a focus on visuals, it was the place to be, at least for awhile.
Like Facebook, Instagram began erratically censoring images of the male form, even ones that followed the rules. To make things even more complicated, trying to communicate directly with Instagram is next to impossible, making it difficult to push back when images were deleted and threats of losing one membership were threatened. Lately, Instagram's attempt to compete with TikTok has also led to issues. It's becoming so video heavy, induvial still images are easily getting lost in the noise.
So... that brings us photographer Tom Rubek, (TR Pics) and his work with the delectable Butch. Tom had worked to grow his Instagram hitting over 19,0000 followers when his account was deactivated, and his page taken down. Initially, Tom protested, and did get a review and for a couple of days his page was put back up. Instagram even sent him a form e-mail, apologizing for the mistake. Then, a mere two days later, it was taken down again. This time, Instagram ignored Tom's contact, and his request for a review.
Like many, Tom then headed to Twitter. Currently, Twitter appears more open to images featuring the nude male form and has far fewer rules about what sites and links you can include and promote. I add currently, as unnecessarily changes seem a staple of social media sites and despite the fact that most users hate them and complain, the changes mostly always continue.
If there was one site however, that did listen to viewer feedback and response to change, it was Blogger. It's one of the reasons I'm still here. Some of you may remember a few years ago when Blogger threatened to pull a Tumblr and delete all adult content. They received such a backlash, they eventually changed their mind.
One plus of Tom's move to Twitter is that it was there that I discovered his work with Butch. I too started a Twitter page for FH last fall after receiving yet another warning from Instagram. After I joined I found Tom's Twitter and noticed he was trying to build his content there, including posting some of his images with Butch. One of those images was the shot I used for pic of the day. I immeateatly saved the image, and later contacted Tom about featuring their work together.
Tom and Butch have known each other for a few years now, having first met when the Texas based photographer did a shoot for a series of charity calendars for a Dallas fundraiser. Butch was part of a shoot with three other male models with a water polo theme. They chose water polo of course in order to get the models in the skimpiest swimwear they could get away with.
'I remember Butch being very friendly and fun. For several years I tried to set up a shoot for some individual images, but we could never make it work out. This past May, however,, we finally found a time to shoot together, and he had bulked up really nicely. He was very proud to show off his maturing physique, and not shy at all in front of the camera. The results came out so well, and we both were very happy that we had "reunited". camera & model. '
Since first contacting Tom about featuring his work with Butch, Tom did sneak back onto Instagram. Sadly, it was not with his original page, Tom fears that one is gone for good. He did being a new page though, and so far... so good. With Instagram's rules, I don't think I would ever have gotten to see the full glory that is Butch if not for the images that Tom was able to share on his Twitter. Check out both of Tom's pages below.
No comments:
Post a Comment