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Last Shot

This was towards the end of the 'return to key west' shoot, and we were all sunburned and weary from too much work and even more play. We'd spent the day in the back country--anytime you get on a boat you get so nice and tired after. We drank through it, naturally, and after dinner at 915 we headed upstairs to their cool little lounge called point five. Of course I was shooting pictures the whole time, obeying my urge to somehow bridge the staged scenario with a spontaneous snapshot sensibility. "Never not being watched," observed Ryan, wryly but also good-naturedly. After we were "done" we retreated to the back porch where my assistant Che promptly fell asleep, and Ryan sort of reclined against him. I pulled out my G9 and snapped it. I finally broke through the preconceived image and found something 100% real.

Moving Photographs

About 400 photos in about 4 minutes. For all 'return to key west' posts click here.

The Shower Shots

One of my favorite set of photos from return to key west are the ones we did in a friend's outdoor shower--one of the great benefits of life in the sub tropics. I think we hit it when the light was just right, too. More shots here (NSFW).

More below.

A Rake's Gallery

 When I was first casting around for 'return to key west' I sent an e-mail around to a ton of people, an open call to help me find a "hot uncle type". Not quite daddy, but well into his thirties or beyond and still sexy and fit and game. I like working with non pros and wanted this shoot to be more naturalistic, so I wanted to find a "real" guy as opposed to a model. Somebody fun and good to go and  looked it. When a friend shot me an e-mail back asking the universal casting shortcut question: if he were an actor who would he be? My response was immediate: Dennis  Quaid. Fit, vital, even rowdy. These Peggy Sirota shots from GQ capture all that, and are just great photos, nicely straddling that line between portraiture and fashion/lifestyle/posed stuff

I was striking out on my non-pro hot uncle type until I remembered Ryan Findlay. Ryan had been a big model in the nineties, and I'd met him once--in Key West actually, where he was on holiday with a mutual friend. I'd spotted a great late 70s polyester shirt with a line drawing of a sailboat on it-very 'Dazed and Confused'-but didn't think I could pull it off. When Ryan walked into wearing the shirt that first night, he pulled it off. He also clearly had a highly cultivated sense of fun, and seemed to exist in his own perpetual comofort zone. Cool dude, the kind you want to party with and who you can't help but admire for their total ease and confidence.

Years passed-ten, at least, and then I was casting for this shoot. Ryan had gotten out of the modeling game a few years back. When I wrote the words Dennis Quaid Ryan's face popped into my mind. Aside from a more-than-passing resemblance, there was that raffish charm. I contacted him and pitched him on the whole concept, positioning it as a fun, easy shoot with lots of sun, great food and booze-"Purina Model Chow" is how I referred to liquor, I believe-and was very pleasantly surprised when he said yes. His energy and ease informed the tone of the whole production and made it fun, and made it look fun. As another friend wrote: "Ryan is like a modern Pan- your photos of him are a great mix of mischief and mirth". Which sums up the whole weeklong shoot, pretty much. More Ryan in the second half of the post.

More below

Four Days In Key West

The web spread featuring the shots I did with Levi Poulter at Island House in Key West is live today-check it out at fourdaysinkeywest.com.

The Third Life of 'room 103'

The photos I did in May with model Scott Wilson for reFRESH Magazine have had several lives. First they were used in a spread in reFRESH, then they had a second life on blogs like DudeTube and Beautiful, who crafted a whole new storyline with some exclusive shots I shared with them.

At the request of the Island House my designer co-hort Greg Needham and I went ahead and created a whole new layout and concept for room103keywest.com, and greatly expanded the original design. We also took 601 of the thousands of photos we shot and compressed them into this sexy little two minute and thirteen second film. We chose not to include any music but a fun little thing I like to do is to just manually synch the film up with something tasty; Prince’s ‘The Ballad of Dorothy Parker’ works nicely, as does Justin Timberlake’s ‘What Goes Around (Comes Around)'.

Room 103 Round Up Part Two

My photo essay on a dreamy, sex-drenched weekend at the Island House for reFRESH has taken on a life of its own online. The spread and shots got mentioned on a ton of blogs which was really cool including my beloved DudeTube as well as Kenneth in the 212, who made the little collage below that I think is pretty spiffy. Now Beautiful has created a three part weekly series complete with an original narrative, inspired by some additional shots I’d sent them. I'm not quite sure what they're doing but I'm pretty excited to be entering the realm of the telenovela. That debuts Tuseday the 22^nd and will continue for the following two Tuesdays. There are also more outtakes at Beautiful and I’ve got more shots here and here, as well as a 'room 103' album to your right.