Blog #182   11/3/16

I needed to do a casting for a fashion editorial. The focus of the feature was women’s avant-garde, modern fashions. The editors wanted to include men who would serve as ornaments for the women models – accessories, decorations. I spent a day casting male models and saw and learned a few things.

I had decided to use the casting to experiment with a few “styling” ideas. I asked our fashion stylist, Mia Morgan, to spend an entire day collecting all sorts of things that we could use to “dress” and accessorize the models who came in for the casting. I wanted her to try everything and anything, to reach creatively in every direction. “Nothing will be rejected,” I told her. “We’ll learn a lot and can use ideas for the formal fashion shoot with the women.”

When the agencies sent models, the physical variety of the men was rather startling. They ranged from well-built, athletic and very masculine to the outer reaches of something else.

Turned loose creatively, Mia brought an amazing amount of accessories and accoutrements.

Most of the men who came in were willing to put on almost anything.  A few refused to try anything that felt feminine. Some were rather freaked out by certain of our stylist’s choices. Nevertheless, we had an innovative, creative and fun experience and I was able make many unique photographs.

This fellow had the most remarkable abdominal tattoo.

It was the phenomenally wide range of male human expression that impressed me.

Here are some of the others we saw that day.

Whenever a cohort involves a large number of individuals, there are inevitably occurences and thus discoveries of the “unusual.” The greater the number of the sampling, the more likely that there will be fascinating, extreme, and rare outliers. This casting was certainly that.

Many of the casting images have been published on their own given the results of this unusual and intriguing one-day casting experience.

Glitterati Incorporated, the publisher of the Retrospective, Schatz Images: 25 Years is now offering the two- book boxed set at a discount from the original price. The set comes with an 11″x14” print of the buyer’s choice.
http://schatzimages25years-glitterati.com