Above:
Tony by Lights On Studio
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❤️ Check out today's BIRTHDAYS HERE: ❤️
Sunday, February 13, 2022
Heart ❤️ Throb
❤️ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!❤️
Frisky Frolic: Big Kisses
'Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.'
Mother Teresa
At first glance, Mother Teresa and Frisky Frolic may not seem to have much in common, but they do share one important conviction The artist and photographer, and Saint Teresa of Calcutta, both believe strongly in spreading the love. I always enjoy featuring JayBee's uniquely creative and erotic imagery, and spreading and sharing my love of his work. Now this may not exactly be the love that Teresa was referencing, but we can all agree that both bring joy and happiness to the world.
Luke G: Flowered
Given the incredible shots model and photographer Luke G shot for FH for Christmas, I couldn't resist asking if he'd be up for another set for Valentine's Day. The holiday is traditionally seen as a day to celebrate love between two people in a couple. Most of us however, have spent a February 14th or two without a partner and that doesn't mean the day has to be a total write-off. .
There's absolutely no reason that being alone should mean you that can't feel, and celebrate the love. In addition to treating yourself to a good meal, and some chocolate of course, a little self-love, inspired by one of your favorite hunks is always a great way to spend part of the day! If you want to be inspired a little more by Luke, check out more of Valentine themed images, this time taken outside, on the NEXT PAGE HERE: ❤️
Bleeding Hearts: Tony by Lights On Studio
'Do not mistake my kindness for weakness, my calmness for ignorance or acceptance!'
Al Capone
One of many reasons that I love featuring holiday imagery is their ability to tell stories. Most of the images that I spotlight tell stories, but holiday and seasonal imagery is unique. Because of the connection between holidays with our families and our past, the images are often able to hit unique story points and emotional triggers we mentally tap into just once a year.
Although most Valentine stories are rooted in romance, there is one with a violence at it's core. This story is one that although I'd heard of, I knew very little about. This year, when deciding on props, photographer Tom Nakielski (Lights On Studio) handed his model guns instead of candy. The reason, to tell a very specific story taking us back to 1929 and the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre.
At 10:30 a.m. on Saint Valentine's Day, Thursday, February 14, 1929, seven men were murdered. The murders occurred at the garage at 2122 North Clark Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago's North Side. They were shot by four men wielding submachine guns. Two of the shooters were wearing police uniforms, while the others wore suits, ties, overcoats, and hats. Witnesses saw the men in police uniforms leading the men in suits and overcoats out of the garage at gunpoint after the shooting.
They seven men murdered were lined up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants, two dressed as police officers. The incident resulted from the struggle to control organized crime in the city during Prohibition between the Irish North Siders, headed by George "Bugs" Moran, and their Italian Chicago outfit rivals led by Al Capone. The perpetrators have never been conclusively identified, but former members of the Egan's Rats gang working for Capone are suspected. Also suspected, members of the Chicago Police Department who allegedly wanted revenge for the killing of a police officer's son.
Although the story behind this shoot wasn't deadly, I do fear it may have had Tom Nakielski wanting to throttle a certain male model. It wasn't Tony that Tom wanted to throttle, Tony in fact came to the rescue to save the day, and the shoot, at the last minute. The model in question shall remain nameless, but it all began months ago in the Autumn of last year. This particular model bailed on not one, but two scheduled shoots, for the Valentine shoot, he bailed mere hours before the scheduled shoot time.
'Needless to say I was pissed! This was the second time he didn't show for a session. The first time was a miscommunication. The second time he had car issues. I can understand that but he failed to call me to let me know. Instead he emailed me just a few hours before the session. I had checked my email in the morning and there was no indication about car problems. When he did email me I was on the way to the studio to get the heat on and make final preparations for the session.'
'The pre-session time is also when I mentally get prepared and psyched up for the session. A simple phone call would have saved me gas and a couple hours of time. Oh well it is what it is. Now in a panic I needed to get someone else for the session. And time was waning. Although I had photographed Tony last year for Valentines, I decided he would make a good gangster. AND he was available. I had already rented the gangster outfit from the local costume shop and they were nice enough to give me a week extension on the due date. '
So, with a commitment from Tony, and a rescheduled shoot date, everything was set to go... sort of. As usual, Tom arrived at the studio a couple of hours early to heat up the studio and prepare. There wasn't as much do as usual as Tom had left the set-up in place from the previously scheduled shoot with the model that didn't show. After turning on the heat, Tom went to straight to work on testing the lighting but nothing came on....
'The flash was not turning on and the background roller wasn't working. I checked the circuit breaker and couldn't find anything wrong. I tried plugging a shop light into the outlet and still nothing. Panic began setting in. Please don't let this be a sign to give up and just pack up my equipment and sign in to head to mental ward..... Finally, I tried the shop light into a different outlet at the back of the studio. Eureka! It worked. Now I all I had to do was hope to find an extension cord long enough to reach the power pack. Eureka again. I found one that was just barely long enough to reach.'
The lights came on just as Tony arrived. They headed right to the dressing room to get Tony suited up in his gangster outfit. It was all there waiting from the last time, all but the pink shirt. At first Tom panicked, scouring the studio for that pink shirt he knew he remembered leaving there a few days earlier. After searching the entire studio, and calling his studio partner, Tom decided he'd make it work without the damned pink shirt.
'I decided to just use the coat and vest and carry on like this was how it was meant to be. Tony was a lot smaller than the previous model so we needed to do some major clipping of the outfit. The vest need a lot of clipping from behind. He was swimming in the pants and they were about 4 - 5 inches too long. Ok then, we don't have to have the feet in the picture. Plus the white spats looked ridiculous.'
'Even with all the stumbling blocks, to my surprise the session went really well. No shirt wasn't really an issue since we always end up taking the shirt and clothes off anyway. I had a cigar to use as a prop. I don't know how many years old it was. Tony didn't want it lit since he is allergic to tobacco smoke. No problem, but when he put it in his mouth, tons of the aged very dry flaky tobacco ended up in his mouth. It took several spits to clear his mouth.
My favorite part was killing Tony. One bullet to the heart would do it. I have never done a fake blood shot before. The first attempt did not not work. It just looked like a red smudge. He washed if off and tried it again. Yea it looked pretty good if I must say so myself. Tony was also a perfect corpse. A dead gangster never looked so sexy. '
The End?
'Not so fast.... I went back to the studio to clean it up and get the outfit together to take back to the costume shop. There hanging on the rack was the shirt.... a black shirt. I don't know why I was looking for a pink shirt. I think I was so frazzled from the bad experience with the wall outlet that I wasn't thinking straight. Actually it was a pink tie not shirt. A black shirt and pink tie would have been a great gangster dapper look. So I will fret about it for a couple more days and get over the mistake. At least I think we did manage to pull it off. Not as I envisioned it but you know these are hard times and I can't let a black shirt be the downfall of me.'
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