'Rock was bounding with energy. He was like a finely tuned race car that simply needed a track.'
It is always difficult to describe precisely why I am drawn to a model or an image. When I first saw photos of 21 year old model Rock Carter I was instantly hit with the positive energy coming from each of his images. Rock has an magnificent body, but it was also his face, his poses and the twinkle in his eye that made the images both sexy, as well as incredibly fun.
Some of my favorite images of Rock come from Pearland Texas photographer Gary A. from MQO Photo Studio. When I contacted Gary about featuring his work, his first comment about working with Rock was that it was magical. Magical perfectly describes the results of the interaction between Rock with Gary's camera. Within Rock you can feel a bit of Donald O'Conner mixed with a dash of Disney.
Gary was in Oregon visiting family when he and Rock planned to shoot so he was in need of a studio space to rent. The building he rented was gorgeous and had all kinds of interesting backdrops and textures to work with. The only drawback was that it was a very cold Oregon day and the heaters in the building were not working. In the end, they did find some space heaters to use but Gary says it was a testament to Rock that he gave some of his best shots while he was still getting warm. Rock says that even though he was freezing, and it was his first nude shoot, it was his favorite, and his most enjoyable experience in front of the camera thus far.
'Gary's an easy going guy, and great fun to work with. He's mostly photographed products for companies and has wanted to get into model photography. With Gary's photography skills the images turned out amazing and the experience was awesome! I look forward to working with him again!'
Gary calls Rock absolute pro and said he has never worked with a model who was who was so supremely confident in his body and his manner. Both photographer and model had ideas and a vision of the shots they wanted, and Gary feels that together they accomplished both of their goals. It was Rock's idea to use his fedora, and what a fantastic addition to some of the images it was. The simple prop added a great dimension to some of the images and one of Gary's favorite photos from the shoot came from that sequence of images with the fedora.
'I tend to want to use natural lighting when photographing people. However, for this shoot I used various lights and I'm so glad I did. Using lights and mostly solid backgrounds allowed me to make the focus Rock and his perfectly defined body. I know people always think they can develop their bodies more or be more defined here or there. I get that but Rock's body was perfect for a nude shoot because he is so well defined. I think muscles that are too developed detract from all the other things that may be going on in a photograph.'
'It goes without saying that Rock is a handsome man. And, of course, it's all about the eyes when doing this type of photography and he's blessed with soul revealing eyes. I just knew I had to find a way to bring those qualities to life. Rock's torso, and legs, for that matter, are exactly right for the type of photos I was hoping to get. I so loved Rock's ability to play and be spontaneous. At several different points he was, literally, dancing. Talk about filling a room with energy. At the same time, he was also able to dial things down to get some more intimate shots. Rock also had a kindness and warmth about him that was profoundly endearing. I felt we did a solid job at capturing that.'
Athletic, toned, and agile, Rock helps maintain his physique through climbing and parkour. The Oregon model describes modeling as a passion and feels fitness compliments it well. His workouts aren't meant to necessarily make his body bigger or more muscular, but instead are designed help lift and move his body quickly and efficiently for extended periods of time.
When shooting the human form, Gary's priority is creating an atmosphere that is comfortable for his models. It is essential to remove any roadblocks so models feel relaxed and at ease. Then, the creation of images can begin with the creating of photographs that Gary hopes people will come back to again and again. Gary understands this doesn't happen often, but when art is interesting, the work has a shot at living forever, beyond a quick glance or look. Gary’s work with Rock had me more than just glancing, but stopping, paying attention and wanting to see, and maybe more importantly, wanting to find out more.
