'The hat and harness were mine, the leather (cap and accessories) belonged to Pierre.'
Anyone who's done much dating, know how important it is to make a good first impression. I'm not taking about meeting a stranger at a club or bar for one night stand, in those cases, the determining factors and expectations are less stringent. I'm talking about an actual date. A scheduled time with either someone new, who you haven't met before. A date with a meal and time for conversation to get to know one another. A date that one or both parties hope might lead to something further, possibly even a relationship.
Research tells us that most people, upon meeting someone new, make their initial impression in the first 10 seconds. 10 seconds.. that's not a lot of time to impress someone who might be a part of your future. So... for most of us then, we arrive well groomed, well dressed, and share positive anecdotes about job, our life and our previous relationships. We usually leave the kink, to iron out later.
For many models, the same principals apply. For a first shoot, we want to make a good impression. Maybe it's not necessarily about impressing the the artist or photographer, but on the many sets of eyes who may see the final shots. Like that first day, we shower and shave, get our hair just right, and arrive arrive with clothing to wear to look our best. Even if it's a nude, or implied shoot, we want to wear, and then strip off, flattering fashions.
One of the most important things to include, is a selection of flattering underwear. Most models don't pose in faded, well worn or torn undies. Not that there's not a large audience for that... Most models wear new undies in photo shoots, either ones they brought themselves, or one supplied by the photographers.
When Pierre first stepped in front of Saki's camera, he wanted to make a good impression. Pierre is clearly very handsome, and When he asked to pose for
Saki, the Paris based artist gladly accepted his offer to shoot. Pierre was looking for relatively 'tame' shots that showed off his face and body, but that were not overly sexual. For that first shoot, he wanted to hold back. Pierre wanted to make a good visual first impression. His goal, to create sensual images, but without his penis not be visible in the final shots.
Those images, from his first shoot with Saki, comprise the first set of images in this post. As you can see, there were facets of Pierre's personality and interests, he wanted to hold back until a later date. Those he save for his second time in front of Saki's lens.
When I first contacted Saki about featuring his work with Pierre, he sent on the images above from their first time working together. I thought that's all they were. Whenever a photographer sends on a shoot without frontals, I always have to ask why. I certainly don't require frontals for post, and some of my favorite shoots are implied. I am always curious however, how the decision was made, so I asked Saki if it was his choice, or a boundary set by Pierre.
Saki answered my question by sending on images from second shoot with Pierre. As you can see, by this time, Pierre had made the initial impression that he wanted, and had worked out the initial kinks involved with his first shoot with Saki. It was now time, to share, explore and expose, other sides of personality and passions.
As you can see, one of those sides includes leather. Although Saki supplied the harness, the other pieces of leather were owned, and brought by Pierre. Saki shares that in both sessions, the more reserved first shoot, and the leather clad second, Pierre was the same. Pleasant and enjoyable to work with. Saki did note, that in their second shoot together, Pierre seemed a little less reserved, and took more initiative with suggesting some of the shots and poses.
I was really taken with Pierre's first impression, it was the visuals from his first session with Saki, that let me to ask about featuring his images. I equally loved the second set of shots, specially that they put a curve ball into that 10 second first impression that I initially made. I also loved that both sets show different parts of Pierre, both physical parts, and parts of his erotic identity.