I like to think about you late at night when no one is awake
I wonder what it is you do
If you feel, can you break?
Will you wake up?
Do you fall down?
Is it hard now
Living what we live in your sleep?
Steel Train
Almost exactly a month ago, I featured studioAtruong's images of Warren Russell (DirtRoad). In that series of images, Shine & Rise, Warren was beginning the morning and greeting the day with both expectations and hope for a day better than the one that preceded it. When Alain first sent on the images from his work with Warren I saw a complete day, both the start of it, and the ending.
I love taking a shower before bed, and equally love the metaphor of washing away the sins of the day and ending it as you began it, clean with a fresh start. I have always wondered if insomnia or other sleep issues are at all connected to one's failure to properly rid the body of the toxins, both real and emotional that our body must carry around during our waking hours.
Many photographers who capture the male form shoot models naked in front of hotel room windows, models in showers and almost all have placed them in a bed. I love the visual completeness that Alain captured with Warren by shooting the the sequence of events of a day, so mundane for most of us, getting up, showering, heading to work in the morning, quick shower and getting into bed at night.
Alain's work is always creative, stylish and erotically powerful. Warren's work is consistently story based and always resonates with me. In some ways, they seem to contrast one another in style, but both being artists, they together have created some of my favorite images over the last while. They are clearly favorites of many FH readers as well as Shine & Rise joined the list of most popular posts over the last few months. I look forward to featuring the work of both artists, and hope they come together to work again soon.
