'When posing, I generally pull from my art history background. I constantly reference Michelangelo poses and classical sculpture.'
Most of my favorite images and shoots, give a visual nod to the past. A gentle nudge to those pioneering artists who first captured the nude male form. Whether it be Michelangelo and the renaissance sculptures of the 14th and 15th centuries, or the painters of the late 1800's and early 1900's,. They were followed by photographers like George Platt Lynes and Jim French from early to mid 1900's pioneering visuals of the nude male form in photos and in print.
All artist created visuals evoke emotions, and so many nudge feelings of nostalgia. Whether it's the photos we capture with our camera, or the images professionals capture for promotion and campaigns, each is meant to evoke an emotional response. This is one of the reasons I feature so many models, actors and artists from the past. My love of photography, and visuals of the male form began when I was young, and almost every post on the site can be connected back to experiences that shaped my creative maturation.
How did you connect with Vintage Studio Art?
Andrew found me on Model Mayhem actually, which I had joined to try to do more photography work at the time. He had moved to the Bay Area at the time from LA and had a hard time finding local models that he wanted to work with, as most photography models who live in California live in LA.
Did you have much discussion prior to the shoot about themes and concepts?
Yes, I could tell from his work that he had a very precise way of working with light, often with a nostalgic flair. Our first shoot together was a George Platt Lynes inspired black & white studio session. He had gathered a bunch of prints on a table for us to pull from and it was all so thoughtful!
What was your favorite part of the experience, and with working with Andrew?
Pretty quickly, we found out that we both worked in the design industry, so we just got along so well, and were both very excited by the shots we got!
What photographers/models do you look to for inspiration?
'When posing, I generally pull from my art history background. I constantly reference Michelangelo poses and classical sculpture.' I am also inspired by photographers and models I see on Instagram and I constantly save posts for reference.
If money was no option, what theme would you love to explore in a shoot?
It would be a dream to do a shoot inspired by Dutch Renaissance paintings, with lush exotic florals surrounding a nude male body with dark moody backgrounds on rich fabrics.
Before modeling, had you done any nude activities, streaking, skinny dipping?
I spent several years going to school and working in Denmark - where my mother's family is from - and where nudity is treated differently than it is in the US, so I did go bathing in the nude there, but it was unremarkable.
When modeling for a group of artists, is there much back and forth chat?
This always depends on the group. Typically, I try to remain more of an object in the room and just listen to the conversations if there are any. Many artists in the Bay Area have the most interesting conversations, ranging from color theory to AI development. I learn a lot from them just from listening.
For sculpture and painting groups I see them weekly for months at a time and some of these groups are exceptionally chatty and appreciate the model participating, some even ask me direct questions. As they've gotten to know me over many sessions they have no problem with me adding to the conversation. Over time, as I've developed relationships with more clients I've even met them for activities outside of modeling, for example at opening exhibitions for museums and galleries.
What would you say is the main difference between posing for an artist or a photographer?
Standard drawing sessions typically begin with short gestures to get artists warmed up. Because these poses are only a minute or two long, I can "push" the poses with my arms outstretched or above my head, flexed muscles, or dramatic twists which would be uncomfortable or even dangerous to hold for too long. I would say digital photographers tend to live more in this fast paced gestural space.
There is a meditative quality that is lost for me as the model when I only work in short gestural poses. However, I get to push the poses more and we can zero in on a pose/mood and work a bunch of variations on it, which feels more collaborative. I have also found that sessions with photographers that utilize old-fashioned techniques like tintypes have a slower pace and feel more akin to art modeling. There's more patience required and there's an ephemeral quality to the results, while digital photography has more of an immediate and iterative result.
Do you have any boundaries when it comes to posing and shooting?
Yes, touching without asking is a big no no, I maintain this industry standard more out of respect for myself and for other models who are in more vulnerable positions than me and don't have the confidence to speak up for themselves in the moment. I haven't ever had to leave a session over that thankfully.
Most artists/photographers I've worked with have been extremely respectful. It is also generally considered disrespectful to make comments about a model's body in a drawing session. Usually artists will remark on being overwhelmed by my musculature, which I don't have a problem with, but when someone says something about my body in an unwanted sexual way during a classical drawing session, I've had to gently remind them not to do that. In that same vein, I generally don't find erotic sessions as creatively fulfilling, but I will do it with photographers/artists that I've worked with at least once before and feel that I can trust.
Vintage Studio Art on ModelMayhem
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