DAVISICON: Meeting Tarek

It it is always a joy to feature the work of William from DAVISICON. There is such grace and beauty within William's work, in part because of the passion and care he brings to his work. Recently when revisiting William's site, a particular model stood out to me. Tarek has an incredible body and face, and almost an organic, and very powerful sexuality that can be seen, and felt through William's images. I immediately sent off an e-mail, William thankfully jumped on board. Whenever I start a feature, after choosing a subject and images, the next step is figuring out story. With William being not just a photographer, but a writer, I got a story, the entire story of their work together. Made my job on this post so much easier. Enjoy the images below, and the day DAVISICON met up with Tarek.



I was looking forward to a new shoot. Two weeks ago I had gone through several of my emails and realized that one had been unopened it was from a guy named Tarek. I read his email and I reviewed his selfies that he sent me that I had asked for previously, as I do with all models. In his photos he had a wonderful smile and a very toned muscular athletic body. He looked to be the perfect model for my newest ideas. That evening I emailed my phone number to Tarek and within a few minutes I received phone call, this I always consider usually one of my final steps when considering a new model to photograph most times during the conversation I can sort of gauge the model and tell how comfortable he is with posing and his attitude and disposition. Tarek seemed very polite and excited about a new shoot and was open to all of concepts that I described. We scheduled a time for the following week and Tarek replied that he was looking forward to meeting me in person and being photographed by me, I was looking forward to it as well, especially because of the enthusiasm he expressed over the phone.


On the morning of the shoot, Tarek called to confirm he would be there at the time we had scheduled. I informed him that I was finished with my idea sheet and was pulling a few things from inventory and that he was welcome to bring some stuff of his own for us to use during the photo shoot. I told him that there were a few ideas that we would use props for, but usually the props are minimal because I like to focus on the model. I rushed around the patio to make sure everything was in place, batteries were charged, screens were ready to be set up and the sunroom was ready for all of the possible concepts I had planned for. 45 minutes later, the bell rang. I finished everything out in the sunroom and walked across the double patio to unlock the side gate. There was a car at the bottom of the driveway. I waved and Tarik got out wearing a red cap, worn blue jeans and carrying a backpack. He came around to the other side of the car to the window to say thank you and goodbye to his friend who had given him a ride. His friend waved goodbye and I began to explain to Tarik that most all my photo shoots took place outdoors and that we would be using the second patio and the sunroom for our particular photo shoot. Tarek had a big smile on his face and said that he was very excited as his last, and only photoshoot, was in a studio setting.


I explained to Tarik after looking at the idea sheet that we would probably do a few nudes, some underwear, and a few creative ideas using liquid latex or body paint. I wanted to keep it simple so we could focus on his wonderful physique. Tarek smiled and set down his duffel bag and unzipped it, he reached inside and started pulling out a selection of underwear and shorts. He had 2 really nice belt buckles that I thought would go well with the boots that he was wearing. While I was going over the idea sheet, I asked Tarik about himself. He told me that he was a great cook and he was dancing part-time on the weekends, he also loves rock climbing. Given his incredible physique, I asked if he had to work out constantly. Tarek replied that he was fortunate and has always been thin and athletic all of his life. Tarek said that his dancing also helps stay in shape and also brings in some money on the side for him to pay bills. My response was a smile which led Tarek to pull out his cell phone, put on some music, fling off his jeans and boots to give me a demonstration of how he moves when performing. I said that I really hadn't expected that much entertainment so early in the day. Tarek's response was laughter.


As our photo shoot began I knew right away that we were going to get great results. I asked Tarik to help me set up the screens on the main patio, he was eager to help in any way he could. We began shooting and as usual I talk during my photo shoots which makes for a lot of missed blinking and smiling shots. but I usually enjoy it anyway. Tarek was wearing a pair of gray underwear and as he looked over at the pond with fish in it and he asked about taking a few photographs inside the pond, I knew the bottom would be slick and slimy, and didn't think he would enjoy spending any time in there. We shot him in the underwear and then moved on to some nudes. I asked Tarik to lay on chaise as if he was sun bathing and with the spray of water to add some wet, and some shine the images turned out beautifully sensual.


We finished up a few nudes on the chaise and I decided that we would move on to the second patio with the screens so maybe we could do something a little Western-style. I told him I picked out the belt buckle that he showed me and asked him to put on his cowboy boots. I picked out another cap for him and Tarek laughed when ten I reached into the props and pulled out a whip. His flexibility was amazing. Not only could you tell by his looks that he was athletic but he was already standing on his head stretching across, flexing his arms and making all kinds of wonderful poses for our photographs. It was very easy to direct him. I gave him some poses that I thought would look great and he created some of his own. It ended up working out very well.


After about 30 minutes of shooting, we were both ready to move on to the next concept. I walked up to the sunroom grabbed the shower gel, a gallon of water and a crate full of liquid latex paint in different colors. I handed Tarik a towel so he could dry off his chest then slowly started to drip colors on him, one at a time, stopping halfway through to take a couple shots, then continuing till we finished dripping paint. I pulled the fan and plugged it in and turned it on from the other side of the patio and pointed it at him so the paint would dry quickly. I directed Tarik into place and started snapping away. I asked him to flex and smile. After removing the paint, and a short break, I handed him the shower gel and asked him to stand in place will I poured water on him. This is when it got tricky, I had to keep him wet enough in the full sun and get enough suds so they would show in the photographs. It took us a while to work up to get the final look, but as you can see from the image below, the process ended with some spectacular results.


Close to an hour and 45 minutes in, we were about close our shoot. I knew because of how well the shoot had gone, the images were going to turn out great. Tarek had done some very athletic poses and we did some very creative stuff together. As Tarik finished towelling off and began to get dressed he made sure to let me know what a wonderful time he had. He was excited and really enjoyed the process and couldn't wait to shoot together again. As he waited for his friend to return to pick him up, I made sure to let him know that he was pretty the perfect model to work with. Not only his look, but his positive and adventurous attitude which I knew would serve him well in the future. There are so many guys that contact me for shoots but after that initial phone call, I unfortunately have to turn them down. I can tell that they are either very uncomfortable with being photographed or have a attitude that won't fit with creative way I like to work.

The processing was very minimal given Tarik photographed so beautifully, and later that night, after editing 6 of the images that we worked on, I emailed them on to him. About 20 minutes later I got a response. 'Wow they look amazing!, I'm so grateful for the the shoot, I can't wait to use them!' I thanked him again for such a great session and that I would probably have a few more images over the next few days and that we would talk soon about planning that second shoot.