'Early to bed, early to rise...'
I have never stayed over night at a Bed & Breakfast but I have spent quite a bit of time in one. My cousin used to run a B & B and I spent many evenings there for parties, weddings and functions. They would often hire me when I was a kid to help out when they were having a big party or murder mystery night. I had always thought of B & B's as a place older people would gravitate to and was surprised how many young couples would choose to stay there.
Although I think that I would prefer the ease, and insociable nature of a hotel or motel, some people gravitate to the friendly atmosphere, interesting architecture and social aspect that many B & B's offer. My cousin often mentioned how much of her business was made of up guests on their honeymoons. As odd as this seemed at first, in some ways I guess it makes perfect sense.
B & B's seem more relational in nature than a motel. I can understand that a motel room might make the perfect location for sex, I can also see that for a couple, especially one that just committed to a lifetime together, a B & B might seem a more erotically comfortable location.
But what if you're not in a couple? I wouldn't guess that many people, especially many men, would choose to make their reservations at a Bed and Breakfast. Yet, as you can see from these images from Arlington photographer David Ehrlich of Images Male, it makes the perfect setting, and opulent background for for shooting the male form.
David's images had be imagining the six men featured were brought together at the B & B by their boss for a work related weekend retreat. With no spouses or partners allowed, each of the men are on their own, with a room to themselves for the weekend. Meetings and workshops take up their days, but their evenings are all their own. You can imagine that many of the guys rarely get an entire evening to themselves. Inevitably, most up end up out of their clothes, enjoying the room, the vintage cast iron tubs, and especially... their erotic solitude.
Although David actually their boss, he did bring a group of models, including the six featured here, for a work related photography weekend shoot. The workshop event came together thanks to a member of David's photography workshop group who had a friend who was in the process of selling his Bed and Breakfast. Luckily, he was open and supportive of using the location for a workshop photo shoot with a group of male models.
'I maintain an active group of over 100 male models in the Washington DC metro area and whenever I'm arranging a workshop, I put out a casting notice to the entire group. Guys respond and I try to choose a nice balance that will complement each other and provide a range of looks for the photographers.'
I love the feel and detail each of the rooms and how the David was able to capture the personality of both model and the environment around them. The colors were many, but soft and distracting or competing with the model they surround. Most of the rooms contained a large window, perfect for inclusion in many of the shots. The windows also provided David with a great source of natural light that he used in combination with fill (strobe) light in the shoot.
All of the models involved in the workshop brought their own clothes to use as wardrobe for their shoot. They each worked with at least three different photographers throughout the four hour shoot. David shares that one of the of the most popular models in attendance wasn't one that he had actually planned or arranged to be there.
The model was a surprise guest, the Brazilian boyfriend of the B & B who stepped in front of the cameras with great results! There were so many incredible shots from the shoot in fact, I found it difficult to narrow down my choices for both models and images to feature. If you want to see more from the B & B shoot, check out some bonus images on the OVER-FLOWHERE, and on Images Male HERE:
