'We brought everything we needed for a professional shoot in a suitcase that can work in any hotel room.'
Since I first began featuring the work of ANNE Photography last year, he has been on the road. Mike, and his creative partner, and husband, Fred, (THOM Graphophoton) have supported me to join them virtually on many of their journey's and shoots. FH has joined the photography duo in cities throughout the US, all the way to Johannesburg to shoot Kyros and most recently to Australia with Simon and Kedori.
Although there is sometimes an Australian beach or river to use a location, shooting on the road, often means using a hotel room as a location. Although I have loved many of ANNE Photography's hotel shoots, especially some of the great shower and bathroom shots, Mike has wanted to be able to replicate the studio experience while on the road.
'Fred and I have been working on perfecting the studio in a suitcase idea we came up with a while ago. We brought everything we needed for a professional shoot in a suitcase that can work in any hotel room. We could do low lighting or high key, using only portable equipment.'
I think the results with Francesco, speak visually, and beautifully, for themselves. Originally from Italy, the professional dancer and model now lives and works in New York. Francesco has elegantly masculine look, blending graceful lines and poses along with a serious, even intense glare from his fiery green eyes. Francesco also has an incredible butt, curved and crafted from hundreds of hours on the dance floor.
Since Mike, along with Fred and his family, were going to be in New York City, he decided to put together a couple of shoots with NYC models while he was there. Unfortunately a couple of them didn't pan out, but thankfully one, Francesco, worked out perfectly.
'I was very keen on shooting a dancer, because I have been trying to work on some ballet themes--minimalist shoots using stark backgrounds and only the barest of clothes. After my very productive shoot with Kince in a tutu, I wanted to shoot a dancer wearing either nothing or just the under garments of a ballet dancer.'
Mike says that Francesco arrived at the shoot unshaved, something he normally doesn't like when shooting. Francesco however, looked so hot with his facial hair, they shot the first half with facial hair, then the second half without. Mike ended up preferring the beard in the final images, Fred on the other hand liked the shaved look. It ended up feeling like they shot two different models given they ended up capturing two very distinct looks.
'Francesco was fun to work with. He is Italian, who actually came to New York from Italy. It was fun to use my sparse knowledge of Italian with him. The first half of the shoot went off without a hitch, The second half of the shoot however, in the shower, wasn't without a few complications.'
I know I know, now everyone wants to join Francesco in that shower.... but for a little while, you'll have to stay just a little bit dirty. I'll feature images from the second half of the shoot next week. In the meantime, you can see a bit more of Francesco on ANNE Photography's tumblr HERE:
