'Through my shoots I open up a little window into the lives of these 'every day' gentlemen so we can take an intimate peek beneath the clothes and under the skin of each man, seeing them in a way very few people have done before. As the surface veneer is stripped away I aim reveal each gentlemen’s hopes, fears, thoughts and feelings on things going on in their lives at the moment of the shoot.'
I am pleased to be able to feature my third gentlemen from photographer Octo from gentlemenONLY, this time with English model Stefan Braydon. I first contacted Stefan last year after coming across his images on Model Mayhem. Stefan has a great body and presence in front of the camera, but I was especially taken with his beautiful blue eyes and face that weaves a classic GQ look with an incredibly sexy edge. Stefan noticed I had featured Octo's work in the past and it was him who suggested focusing on their work together.
Stefan began modeling a few years ago, but stopped after a bad experience on a shoot. His girlfriend at the time encouraged him to give it another try and acted as his stylist during his first shoot with Octo. A professional actor, Stefan has appeared in a number of productions from Rent to a touring production of The Full Monty. If you haven't already noticed, Stefan is often compared to another actor, one also not shy to share both his talent, and his body on the big screen. Many people have commented on Stefan's resemblance to the incredible Michael Fassbender.
'Stefan is very confident with his body and nakedness and being an actor he's always looking to push his boundaries.'
'Stefan and Marie know each other from working together on various acting projects. Marie was very similar to Stefan in her approach to nudity and pushing boundaries. Working in the creative industry you have to be prepared for all sorts of experiences in the name of art, so Marie had no issues with doing a photo shoot with a naked man, even if that naked man just so happened to be her friend.'
'I've worked with Octo on three occasions. I always enjoy working with Octo - he is always friendly and polite and I feel totally at ease during the photo shoots. His work is great!
Stefan Braydon
'At one of his previous shoots Stefan had mentioned that his favourite TV show was True Blood and I said that I would create an image of him as homage to the show (last image below). Whilst I was taking some pictures to create that image, Stefan starting messing about in the bathroom and I thought this was a bit of fun and snapped away as Stefan started stripping off. These images were completely random and spontaneous but I thought why not share them as bit of behind the scenes fun!'
'I love the the TV series and had a dream that one day I could appear in it (shame it's finished). I've been compared to Jason Stackhouse and Sam Merlotte in the past. However I wanted to play the part of a human who gets turned into a vampire.'
The images for this piece come from each of the three of Stefan's shoots with Octo. They are but a small sample of the work they have done together and you can see more, much more of Stefan on gentlemenOnly!
