'He was out of his clothes in no time and pointing at the ceiling.'
Tom, Peek Physique
Last month, I did a Quaternate piece featuring the work of photographer Tom from Peek Physique. (HERE:) In the piece, I shared that I had lost contact with Tom and that I wondered what happened to him as his Model Mayhem page had disappeared. Turns out, he was there all the time. Tom got in touch I after I posted the Quaternate piece and shared he is still on Model Mayhem but changed his professional credit a couple of years ago. Peek Physique is now credited on MM as Maleshooter.
It was great to hear from Tom and find out that he was ok, and still passionate about photography. Tom shared that his time behind the lens did get sidetracked however, both due to the pandemic, and with the increased challenges involved with difficulty with finding models to work with.
'It's harder to find models. I used to put up flyers at my alma mater, now you need permission to post anything there.. I used to post "Models Wanted" on Craigslist, now they don't let you do that. About all we have is Model Mayhem, and my town gets about one new model willing to do nudity every five years or so.'
In addition, Tom noted what many other photographers have shared with me over the last few years. With everyone having their own phone, so many models who want nudes to post on-line, end up deciding they'll skip the process of working with a photographer, and just take the shots themselves.
Although this has certainly increased the number of guys with nude on-line, it also decreased the creativity and unique shoots and themes so many of us love to see in images of the male form.
The last shoot that Tom did was in the summer of 2020, just as the pandemic was really dominating how we lived, how we worked, and how we interacted with others. Most of the photographers I've featured took a pause for part of 2020, then returned trying to follow the set protocols as closely as possible. This was difficult for everyone, and offered some unique challenges to model and photographers shooting nudes.
After being cooped for months from Covid, Tom was itching to get creative and to do another shoot. I again advertised on Craigslist, right before they tightened t heir polices on what you could advertise for. Tom made it clear he was looking for a model to pose full nude. This was the last time Tom was able to submit such as ad as the next time he tried, it was rejected with his payment quickly refunded.
Normally, Tom doesn't pay for the models he shoots, but works TFP, (time for print) providing models with images for their portfolio. With this shoot however, Tom wanted to pay, especially given all the financial struggles many were going through during the pandemic. After Eddie was on board, a time was set and Tom decided to rent a model for the shoot.
'Eddie and I both arrived in masks and tried to stay six feet away as much as we possibly could. Eddie was out of his clothes in no time and pointing at the ceiling, if you know what I mean. It's always nice (and kind of rare) to work with a model who is open with their nudity and sexuality. I didn't think to do any pics of him wearing a mask, but I should have. It's kind of interesting when a guy is wearing nothing but a mask.'
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