Above:
Alin by Frank Joseph
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Sunday, September 21, 2025
So Long, Sweet Summer
With Autumn upon us, it's time to say good-bye to the summer themed seasonal sightings. As much as I love hot guys with tan lines, summer moon and summer sunsets, I also love change. One of my favorite seasonal changes is summer into fall with the brilliant color pallet that comes with it.
As some FH readers may remember, I also like clear out my 'Season' folder each year, posting the images I didn't get a chance to include the last three months. Check out the finals seasonal sightings from summer on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
One to Watch: Austin P. McKenzie
I've been following actor Kevin McHale on social media for awhile now. Not only because of his role on Glee, but because I support his political posts, not to mention those previous thirst traps he posted. Last week, some you may have noticed one of Kevin's Tweets made the news. I took off as it was critical, and spot-on response, to the FCC chair about the fascist firing of late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
As much as supported Kevin's political Tweet, it was another of his Tweets that really caught my eye. It featured the image above of his Kevin's talented boyfriend with beauty school dropout Didi Conn. Kevin was celebrating the new movie featuring Conn and actor and musician Austin P. McKenzie. Along with the image, Kevin linked to a Variety article about the upcoming film, Actual Nobodies.
I didn't really know much about Austin until reading the description of film from writer and director Alex Wyse. I knew the performer as the hot 'blonde for now' boyfriend, who often posed nude with Kevin. Seeing his beautiful face in the image with Conn, and then reading beautiful description of the film, had me wanting to learn more. I just finished the first season of Somebody, Somewhere, and really loved the central relationship between the main characters.
We've seen shows like Will & Grace focus on the connection between a woman and a gay man, but it's still a relatively untapped topic in mainstream films and television. The relationship is often more intimate, and many times more complicated, than the relationship between two lovers. It certainly was with me and my best female friend.
'Actual Nobodies’ tells the story of two loners who find belonging in the most unexpected of places. Joyce (Conn), a whimsical woman in her seventies, rents out her spare room on a vacation rental website to Anthony (McKenzie), a young gay man recently cast out of his family home. What results is a comedic and dramatic whirlwind of two opposing souls who butt heads, yearn for connection, and ultimately overcome their own emotional hurdles to accept kindness into their own lives.'
I know I titled this piece, One to Watch, but I know many have already been watching and enjoying McKenzie and his performances on film and on stage. Many of you know McKenzie from his music, and his critically lauded role as Melchior Gabor in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 Broadway revival of Spring Awakening. Some may also remember the young actor for his turns on television, (When We Rise) and on film, co-starring alongside Russell Crow in 2020's Unhinged.
Some of my favorite shots of McKenzie are from Los Angeles based celebrity and musician photographer Rowan Daly. Daly has shot McKenzie numerous times, but I especially love their work for Daly's Fever and Form series. These are some of the tamer issues from the shoot, but I love the location, the lighting, and mood and feel Daly sets, not to mention McKenzie's erotically elegant poses.
I think McKenzie's only on-screen nudity was in the 2019 comedy short, The Time it Takes to Get There. (Caps thanks to ausCaps) I did however, also read another Tweet that makes me think we may see a little more of McKenzie in Actual Nobodies. That Tweet, from someone else that I follow, was promoting the project. They, also happen to have the job as intimacy coordinator on film.
Fit & Trimmed: Alin by Frank Joseph
'Alin was one of my favorites to shoot and work with.'
Some of you may recognize the beautiful Alin from a piece on the site I did last spring. (The Daily Grind) In that piece, you enjoyed some of the finished images from his time shooting with photographer Frank Joseph. For this piece, I wanted to go back to the beginning, of Alin's arrival in Amsterdam, his time in the capital city, and his prep work before the 'official' shoot with Frank began.
FH viewers know that I love including behind the scenes images when possible. When I recently again visited Frank's work with Alin, as hot as Alin looked in the final images, it was the behind the scenes shots that this time really stood out. Frank is sort of 'total' photographer, in that he often shoots the entire experience of the shoot. This includes shots of the location, often the model's arrival, and of course many great behind the scenes shots during set-ups and all those hot moments in-between the planned shots and final poses.
Frank's work with Alin occurred during his early days of shooting, just after beginning his photography journey. Because of his work with a charter airline, Frank does a lot of travel, and as a bit of Nomatic artist, often plans to meet models on the road. Frank first met and shot Alin during a trip to Bucharest. These shots, are from their second shoot while Frank was visiting and working in Amsterdam.
Frank shares that Alin was cool with most ideas and thing he threw at him, and had no issue with Frank snapping away as he prepared for the shoot. As you can see, one of Alin's pre-shoot rituals was shaving pretty much all of his beautiful body. Since Frank had been shooting pretty much since he arrived in Amsterdam, having his body shaving captured was just another part of the shoot.
Alin really does a thorough job, using both tweezers and the razer to ensure his body is smooth and camera ready. I really loved the little elastic he used to ensure his bangs didn't prevent him from getting a close-up look at his body of work.
Because this was an early shoot, Frank sadly hadn't yet incorporated video into his work. Most of his later shoots also included behind the scenes video and I think we all would have enjoyed a video of Alin prepping for the shoot! Frank attempted to contact Alin for a third trip, but by then he had basically left social media and given up modeling for Monday to Friday job and a quieter, more structured life.
'The crew that I was working with in Amsterdam were all smitten with Alin - both the boys and the girls.'
Although Frank and Alin covered a lot in their time collaborating together, there were more themes Frank had intended to explore. In between shooting however, they also wanted to spend time exploring the city and enjoying the local dining and drinking establishments. This meant, some plans, and some intended themes, didn't come to fruition.
'The night before Alin left, I had bought tulips and wanted to shoot him in bed with those, but we went out and got wasted. By the time we got back to the hotel, neither of us were really up for another shoot.'
Be sure to check out more of Frank's work with Alin on his website HERE: You can also sign up for his regular e-mails in his Daily Grind and Butt Lovers series. You can also check out his Patreon, (HERE:) and new Instagram HERE: Like so many photographers of the male form, Frank's had his Instagram deleted for showing a wee too much male skin...
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