Thoughts on photographing men...

I recently was discussing photographing models with a photographer in Philadelphia (Kenny Lee), and I mentioned some small anecdote about my experiences shooting men. Up until this past weekend, I'd never shot a male model. I'd shot a few men, and I'd shot two of them nude. Both of my experiences shooting men were less than wonderful. 

Male subject one had turned out to be a sexual exhibitionist who, subsequent to undressing, had a major issue hiding a very obvious erection. This carried on through the duration of the shoot until he dressed again. The only real qualm I had at the time was that he kept, at varying intervals, requesting that his penis be hidden in all of the photos - a hard feat to accomplish given the circumstances.

Male subject two was a photographer I'd had a pervious good shooting experience with. He wanted a document of his weight loss and of his new tattoo. He had no idea how to model, and was a bit too open with his penis...now, I'd never suggest a nude subject cover their genitalia with their hands and cower in the corner, but whipping your clothes off and prominently walking about before I'm even ready to shoot is strange given he'd never modeled nude before for another photographer. Or perhaps I've just never seen a very confident man parade about this way. I don't know. Then he later accused me of being a lesbian when I didn't want to sleep with him after hearing about his very open marriage and relationships with other models. 

So, these two experiences and a host of messages with male models about shooting, have led me to believe that the experience of photographing men can be one that is fraught with strange sexual undertones, bound to lead to some inappropriate behavior, or even that they do not model as well as women. To which a photographer friend of mine said, "This is why you shoot with gay guys." I don't know how accurate this is as I'm sure there are many wonderful straight male models as well. From a woman's perspective, it is the easy route though. They clearly won't be attracted to me in a sexual way, so they generally won't be inappropriate in any sexual way. I have hope though...I'm shooting a straight man in California in September. 

In any case, I shot with the above model, Christian Alan, the other day while in Philadelphia, and it was really great. He is an amazing model - after I took art nudes and portraits, Kenny Lee and Jeff Scott (Scott Worldwide Photo) also photographed him. Kenny took a lot of photos of Christian showing off his heels and fashion wear. It was very illustrative of what men are capable of in front of the camera - without any direction for the most part. And I'll admit I was afraid of overly focusing on his genitalia...it's a bit easier with girls as it's hidden a bit. Internal versus external and all of that. I'm not into men tucking their penis (to each their own, but it's not my thing), so I was thinking beforehand that I hoped no one would be looking at the photos thinking "Well, there's a dick...and another dick" because that's not the point and would be strange. I think though, that it was pretty hidden from the standpoint of being blatant or too in a viewer's face. My friend Diana Schenkel even requested a print - I often run my photos by her before posting them anywhere. So, I think it was good. 

I'm actually going to try to start photographing more men. I think it's something people ignore or don't show as much in the art nude community. It's sort of funny how few people I know photograph men. I completely understand it from a certain perspective. Women are "prettier" many times, so it makes sense to feature them in images and art. But, I liked the new experience. It was a bit of a change for me, which is a good thing I think. 

I know there are photographers following me here, and I'd love to hear your thoughts about this if you care to share them :) 

And of course, anyone should feel free to share thoughts as well.

Image above is of Christian Alan.