'I have always found Nicko to be curious, as well as pretty daring and ambitious, and he was always up for a challenge.'
Almost everything we create starts with just the right raw materials. The 'raw' refers to something that's either unprocessed or in a minimally processed state. Whenever I feature an artist's work, I try to find the quality that initially stood out and drew me to their work. In the case of Shax Carter, it was how natural and raw his images looked and felt.
I felt it the first time I saw Shax's work with Jason, and in each of the shoots that I've featured on FH. (HERE:) It's not that Shax doesn't edit touch up and edit his images, it's more that his process never hides or alters the innate qualities and raw sensuality of the men in front of his lens.
Many photographers edit the shit out of their images, making the model in front of their lens, almost unrecognizable. It's almost as if they want to downplay the carnality, presenting hot naked men as if their puppies and kittens, and not a man, or a visual to be sexually desired. Shax doesn't hide his models, or his artistic objective. Shax wants you to desire the men he shoots, without any obstructions hiding their naturally raw materials.
When first seeing Shax's work with Nicko, it was obvious the young model was comfortable in front of the camera. He exudes a natural sexual energy in almost every shot. This energy is present even when Nicko is clothed, it comes as much from pose, and Nicko's facial expressions. Although Shax certainly captured plenty of nudes, some of the most sensual shots of Nicko are those portrait shots, with his eyes, his lips and facial structure in focus.
'I first connected with Nicko through another model who knew him. At the time there was a group of models that all knew each other, and were friends. They often passed each other's names around and had occasionally worked along-side one another.'
'Nicko was a professional model at the time of our first meeting. He had a great spirit, and was always a pleasure to work with. Nicko was 22 when we began our two year working relationship. He consistently brought a lot of energy to each of our shoots, and wholly enjoyed the photographic process.'
Although he didn't initially intend to turn his work with the 22 year old Nicko into a book, after seeing the results of their creative collaboration, turned their multiple shoots in a 370 page print collection. In addition to images of Nicko, other models join Nicko in some erotically raw and explicit, boundary pushing shots.
The book, Nicko, then..., is available in a hardcover edition, and an instant downloadable PDF version. You can check out, and preview more on Blurb HERE:
You can also see more images of Nicko, including some couple shots, as well as Shax's thoughts on his work with Nicko, on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
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