Embrace:
-press to the bosom; hug.
-to take in with the eye or the mind.
-to encircle; surround, enclose
-to include or contain
Jed by Gordon Nebeker
'We initially met up at a local state park. It was really hot, so we gathered under the only available shade, a large communal structure. I have no doubt the sight of four older men ( the photographers ) and three hot young guys ( the models ) caused a few comments amongst families sharing the rest area; especially when Gordon started collecting the modeling fees from the photographers and counting them out and distributing them to the models.'
Mike Tossy
Aaron by Mark Grantham
'Next day we headed for one of the slot canyons for which this area is famous. Dry most of the time, slot canyons are subjected to flash floods that scour and shape the rock. In the narrows there a sections where to avoid scraping shoulders on both sides of the slot, the models needed to walk sideways. Privacy was ensured by sending a photographer ahead of the group to act as lookout and having a second lookout lag behind. A signal word was suppose to be used to tell the models to put on shorts. For reasons i never understood, our signal word was "pineapple". Pineapple is an exceptionally hard word to work into a natural sounding sentence in southern Utah. So the absurd shout of "pineapple" did nothing to mask what was going on from other hikers; but, at least, none of the models were caught with their, umm, pineapples hanging out.'
Mike Tossy
Aaron by Gordon Nebeker
'Choosing remote locations is important, given the work we all do with nude models, and with only a few exceptions where “pineapple” had to be yelled out (which meant someone was coming), we were left to our work without interruptions.'
Gordon Nebeker
John by Mike Tossy
Aaron by Mike Tossy
Jed & Aaron by Mike Tossy
John & Aaron by Mike Tossy
'The natural beauty of Utah wowed me again this year. I’d been amazed last year when we’d driven to Salt Lake City for another of Tom’s photo workshops on the Great Salt Lake. This year the scenery was completely different, and once again wondrous. Mountains rising straight out of the plains, striated buttes in reds and golds and greys and every color in between. Narrow bands of greenery cut through the valleys following streams while undulating grasses swept across the plains. All of this under vibrant blue skies and the occasional fluffy white cloud. The journey being part of the fun, our route had taken us through the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas, more desert, and finally Capitol Reef National Park. The hot spot was the Mojave at 110, but probably the lowest daytime temperature we’d seen anywhere was 90. The southwest was hot this summer!
Mark Grantham
Next two images from Mark Grantham
'With four photographers, it was a challenge to not appear in each other’s photographs, especially when we got to the stone pedestal since one could move 360 degrees around the pedestal and in the slot canyons where one had to walk single file to pass through. In the slot canyon, Mark and I ended up with almost the identical photograph of Aaron as he had to shoot over my shoulder while I was shooting because there simply was no room for either of us to step to the side. Fortunately, it was a good photograph for both of us!'
Gordon Nebeker
John by Gordon Nebeker
'With four of us photographers all focused on the same three guys in the same settings one would think that the images would be overlapping and perhaps even repetitive. But each of us sees things differently and our resulting images from two days of shooting clearly indicate a unique and personal style no matter the sameness of what was going on in front of us.'
3 images below from Tom Clark
Letting go of ego when tandem shooting with other photographers is something I learned to enjoy a few years back because it's so satisfying to watch them work and interact with these models that I've had so much experience with on my own. There is always enough of what the models are doing for each of us photographers to get what we want and come home sated and thrilled. Stepping back often throughout the shoot and letting the other photographers take charge is a lot more gratifying than one would imagine and on this shoot perhaps more than ever before I really enjoyed doing it.'
Tom Clark
