'Working with Kevin was a great experience. He definitely has the right look! His dedication and hard work at the gym are clearly paying off and he is starting to enjoy showing off the results of all that work.'
Back in February, I featured a selection of images of Kevin and his work with photographer NICKET. from their first three shoots together. In that piece, (Visual Explorations) I focused on NICKET's location work, and the incredible shots he captured with Kevin around his home in the Santa Cruz area. Nicholas' work with Kevin was also featured during the summer to help FH celebrate the 4th of July with a few patriotic themed shots. Old Glory
I love NICKET's work with Kevin and was excited when he shared he had done a recent shoot with Kevin, this time a studio shoot. As much as I love his location work, one of my favorite pieces from Nicholas was his studio shoot with Zach Clemens which I featured last year during FH's 10th anniversary. (HERE:)
Nicholas had sent on a large variety of shots from the shoot and I was impressed with how many creative different poses and looks he captured. Especially given he was shooting Zach with just a stool, a plain background and a colorful array of underwear. This had me looking forward to what Nicholas might create with Kevin. I wasn't however, expecting nudes..
Although FH is focused on the male form, nudes are not a requirement with my wanting to feature a model, artist or shoot. I like a balance, and my interest lies with images that draw me in and artists that I admire I am often drawn to shoots without full nudity, especially if they tell a story, as Nicholas's first three shoots with Kevin had done. I have had artists send me shoots where every capture is a full frontal image, and unless creatively shot, without a story or include a variety of looks, I am not usually that motivated.
Kevin's nude work was a bit of a surprise, a pleasant, but unexpected one. I just wasn't anticipating them and didn't really get any indication from working on the previous pieces that was something Kevin may have wanted to explore. I did notice that with each shoot, Kevin seems to be showing a bit more skin, but assumed his focus was on fashion and fitness. Turns out, it was something Kevin had been thinking about for awhile...
'While Kevin is cautious you can see he has an exhibitionist side and does like to show off his well developed body. While he had mentioned wanting to try nude it took a while before he was ready to strip down in the comfort of the studio. It was a real privilege since he said I was the first person to see it all. No matter what he wears or doesn't wear Kevin always bares himself at each shoot, not hiding that great smile, or goofy-serious character making him a pleasure to work with.'
In some ways, his progression from the first images from the first three shoots to this, the fifth, makes the results even more satisfying. Even more so, given the year coming to an end, and 'firsts' being one of FH's themes this year. There really wasn't a better time to feature Kevin's nude debut. Sadly, not sure we will see the progression continue. Nicholas reports that Kevin got married recently forcing nude modeling to take a back seat, at least for awhile.
Some of you may have noticed that I went from shoot 3, to shoot 5, skipping the shoot between them. I was eager to feature Kevin's first nude shoot before the year, and the 'first' theme, came to and end. But in that forth shoot, a location shoot, Kevin did take his first steps towards taking it all off, and I promise to share images from that shoot in the near future.
