'My favorite shots of him I think are definitely the ones of him with the jockstrap by the window. I think those are the ones everybody likes!'
The great thing about a photographer sending on 100+ images from a shoot, is the amount of images there are to choose from for piece. It is also the worst thing, especially when you want to use almost every single one of them. That's how I felt the other day as I attempted to narrow down to 10 or 15 of my favorite images of Jonny from photographer Alex Hilbert.
Although there were so many images that I loved, Alex made it easy with a mention of these shots in the last sentence of his most recent e-mail. FH readers know I love windows within photography, especially when a model as hot as 21 year old Jonny Reinhart, is dressing, or in this case, undressing that window up so beautifully.
'I'm trying to find a balance between making sure the models are comfortable but also pushing them, and myself ,to get out of our comfort zone. I am still working on it.'
Out of his comfort zone certainly applies to how Alex felt during his work with Jonny. Although he had always wanted to do an underwear/jockstrap shoot, and despite the incredible results, this was really one of the first times Alex stepped into this area of photography. Although a visual artists, photography is still fairly new to Alex, he is by profession, a filmmaker.
'I've done a few narrative short films as well as a feature. But to pay the bills I started doing social event video and photography, so weddings, etc. So that led me into photography. I started photographing my actors, and I loved it! '
Although they are both on Model Mayhem, Alex first connected with Jonny about a shoot through Craigslist. Jonny ended up being the perfect model for Alex to try out a new theme within his work. Although they only met on the day of the shoot, Alex says they had great chemistry. Even though each shot was not perfectly planned, Jonny used his skills as a performer, giving a 110% in each and every image.
You can see Jonny's stage and performance skills at play in so many of his shots. It's not just in his confidence, but in his poses, facial expressions and the sexy and 'knowing' look coming from his beautiful brown eyes. Jonny clearly knows how to use his body to achieve the optimum results in front of the camera. Although Alex was pushing his boundaries, the results were eye popping and incredibly sensual. As soon as I saw one of Alex's shots of Jonny, I wanted to see more.
' It is still very difficult for me to do the underwear/implied shoots. I am trying to come out of my shell, but I get very shy, a lot of the times I am more shy than the models. But I do like to make sure that the models are always comfortable. Jonny was a great model to work with because he was very comfortable with the more intimate aspect and he actually gave me a lot more than I was expecting.'
'Before this shoot with Jonny, I had tried another swimwear with another model. It was a lot of negotiating with the model, one of my actors,, ecause I was being overly cautious. I realized afterwards that the model would've been comfortable doing more, but I was too shy to ask. But like I said, I'm still learning. I am so glad this shoot was with Jonny because I don't think I would have gotten such great shots with another model.'
