Friday, February 26, 2021

King of the Mountain: Chris Bell by Richard Rothstein


'He pretended he was a mountain-climber. He climbed up a great big tall heaping mountain of snow.'


'I am king of the mountain!'
Peter


'Kids and families love Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day so much that they’ve checked it out of the New York Public Library system more than any other book in the NYPL’s 125 years of existence—485,583 times since it was published in 1962. That’s more than The Cat in the Hat, Where the Wild Things Are, Charlotte’s Web, and even Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.'
The Atlantic


The book's popularity speaks to impact on generations of children, and reinforces that I'm not the only wack job excited, even as an adult, about a snowy day.  In addition to celebrating the book, I also love being able to celebrated this shoot.  I love and follow all of Richard Rothstein's work, and have been drawn to many of the models, shoots and themes that he's captured.  This snow shoot with Chris Bell remains a favorite. 


It's beauty encompasses so much of what I love about Richard's work.  His passion for his city, his blend of model and location, his expertise at captured men and movement.   Chris' snow dance matches Richard's passion perfectly.  It also has you feeling the quietness of snow, the the cool wind in the air, and coolness of the frozen snow on his bare skin.  Has me, for a moment anyway, wanting to run outside and dive into the snow.


'Snow has always been joyful for me. Surely that sense of joy comes from my childhood. Snow days. Sledding. Wrestling and playing tag with my childhood best friend, Brandy, my boxer.' 

'
When Richard has an idea of how he wants the shoot to go and then allows me to be free as I explore the concept.The ambient temperature that day was not warm but once we started working, the body heats up quickly. The only problem was the snow that was still freezing... which explains the doc martins. I tried going barefoot but my feet soon told me that was not going to work lol, Holding it in my hands and throwing it around was a chilling experience.'
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Thursday, February 25, 2021

Favorite Pic of the Day for February 26th

Above:
-See More Below-
 
~Check out today's BIRTHDAYS HERE:~

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Seasonal Sightings:


Snow Sculptures

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Quaternate: Mount Photography


Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?  In the case of FH, the answers would be the model or the photographer.  All of the pieces I work on  start with an image, but the perspective in which I view that image, can come from the model in front of the camera, or the artist behind it.  In the case of photographer Mark Montovio, (Mount Photography) the initial focus was on model. 


It was back in 2009 that I was putting together a piece on model Antonio Garcia. (HERE:) Many of the shots of Antonio were taken along the beaches of one of Portugals incredible beaches.  If you check out FH regularly, you know that Mark often traveled to Portugal to shoot.  This piece, began the many creative collaborations with Mark Montovio I've enjoyed working on over the last twelve years. 

In addition to enjoying the many beautiful locations in Portugal, Gibraltar and Spain, I've also loved the models that Mark work's with.  I love the diversity of the men Mark's works with and some of them, (Cristian, Antonin) we've watched grow with multiple shoots over multiple years.  Mark's dance background has led to a focus on movement and pose, something he does equally well in both spectacular location shoots, or in more limited spaces and in studio. 


2020-2021 


 2019 

2015-2017


 2009-2013 

MOUNT PHOTOGRAPHY on Instagram 
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A Man of Substance: Max by RMark Photography


'As Max's body developed more muscle, he became more confident, and comfortable in his skin.'


Whenever I feature the work of RMark Photography, I'm always struct the artistry and elegance with Roger's use of classic physique poses.  There's a reason these poses became classic, they highlight both a model's inner and outer strengths.  The inner, the muscle and physical attributes, both which help illuminate the outer, the shapes and curves uniquely created by the male form. 


Whenever I think of these classic poses, I think of statues of Greek God, and Michelangelo's David.  Many of these poses from Max were inspired by Michelangelo, but of this shoot, the inspirations came from the many poses painted by the artist on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.


For me, a model channelling classic physique poses must have both confidence, and physical substance.  Many of today's male models are slender and lean great for fashion, but not necessarily right to embody the men on Michelangelo's masterpiece.  When I saw Roger's images images of Max, I saw substance, strong arms, great chest and arms, and a magnificent round butt, more than worthy of capturing permanently in an art piece.


It's interesting that when the Savannah photographer first met and photographed Max, his new model shared with him that his body wasn't in top form.  Max had injured his arms, and had not been able to work out as much as he usually did.


'Max and I got together to shoot about every six or seven months. Each time I photographed him, his body showed the evidence of having worked out quite a bit.  As his body developed more muscle, he became more confident, and comfortable in his skin. '


As his confidence grew, Max became more and more relaxed, and although he started out rather quiet, but the end, was throwing out creative suggestions and ideas.  Some of these were humorous poses and idea's for themes.  Roger shared some of these lighter shots, but I wanted to stick with the classic poses for this piece.  I have tucked away some of the shots to share int he future.



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