'Modeling was a new area for Kylan, but one he embraced very quickly and naturally.'
I think some might assume that modeling would be a breeze for a porn star, but that's not always the case. Sure, they have experience being nude in front of a camera, but the purpose of an image is far more nuanced than that of an adult film. With a film, you expect to be fully satisfied while watching, the purpose is to meet a need. An image on the other hand, is more like a sensual beginning, an visual invitation to a party, not necessarily the party itself.
Like a great book cover or film poster, a great image stimulates the viewer to want to see more. To open that book, to see that movie, to learn more about the person in the image, and the person who created it. My favorite images are more subtle than sexual, more erotic than explicit, more seductive than climatic. Yes, they can often lead to a climax, but as an initial provoking, stimulating our imaginations to then take over.
Most of all, the images that I tend to be drawn to arouse. They arouse a sensual excitement for sure, but more specifically for me, they arouse curiosity, and the desire to see and learn more. That's exactly what happened when I saw images of porn star Kylan Boyd from photographer Michael von Redlich. I first one of Michael's shots of Kylan on Michael's Twitter.
I'd never seen any of Kylan's films, but I knew his name. A quick Google search brought forth a series of images, mostly caps and still from his films. I was struct with how different Kylan looked on 'film', compared to the images that Michael had captured. In the screen captures from his films, Kylan looked 'busy'. Most were moments in which his body and facial expressions were frozen moments of erotic frenzy while in the midst of sex.
In Michael's images, there's a beautifully paradoxical perspective of Kylan captured. A quieter, more peaceful and personal perspective, one that your average porn flick doesn't usually provide. Porn is just a job, and we all act differently at work than we do behind the safety and privacy of our front door.
Michael's images capture that safe side, a vulnerability with a focus on beauty and form, far from the heightened sexual frenzy of Kylan's day job. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with sexual frenzy, but with photographs, I'm drawn to something more sensual and subtle, something that provokes my mind flow along with my blood flow.
When Michael sent on a folder of his work with Kylan, I was struct that almost three quarters of the shots featured Kylan with his pants on. I was a little surprised, as given his work in porn, I'm sure he'd have jettisoned the jeans without a second thought, as soon as Michael started shooting. Although those jeans do come off, Michael set a tone with the clothed shots, capturing sides of Kylan that might have missed if he'd been nude in every shot.
Given the folder had hundreds of images, if they'd all been nudes, it would have gotten boring. Instead, my initial focus was on Kylan's beautiful face and eyes. Michael captured an array of beautiful looks and emotional expressions. I loved the range of perspectives that Michel captured, going from an almost boyish innocence through a knowing sensuality, enticing the in viewers with eyes and poses.
Of course those jeans did eventually come off, in a slow, seductive strip. You can check out that series, as well as Michael's thoughts on his work with Kylan, on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
