MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL - Sandhurst

I met Sandhurst thru the modeling network site modelmayhem. He hit me up first about doing a test shoot with him. I sent him a copy paste response telling him to check my rates on my website. As months went by I kept going back to view his pics and one day I just decided to give him a free test. so later we arranged the session. Sandhurst sent me an email informing me that he was chosen to compete in Bravo television's Make Me A Supermodel hosted by supermodel ledgend Tyson Beckford. He told me as soon as he was able to, he'd hit me up and we can make this happen.


check out his blog site - http://sandhurst-tacama.blogspot.com/

In the past, I had been blown off by other models from these model reality shows, so I expected the same from Sandhurst. One day I got a message from Sandhurst informing me that he ready to shoot the next time he was in NYC. We had a few phone and internet exchanges to set up his first shoot with me. I was excited.



He arrived at my doorstep with a big ole grin on his face. He grabbed me and hugged me and told me how "tiny" I was and he expected me to be much bigger. lol. He told me how he had been following my work since he was 14 years old. I was surprised. I really didn't realize how many people were paying attention to what I do especially before I moved to NYC.



Working with Sandhurst was great. He performed effortlessly despite enduring wearing a corduroy suit in extremely hot weather, hunger, and onlookers. After the shoot we took our hungry ass to Popeye's Chicken to eat everything we had no business eating.



I think Sandhurst is destined to do great things in this industry andI'm glad I had the opportunity to work with him.





Sandhurst was one of the finally three contestants on the show. At first I didn't expect him to make it so far more so because he was black. His consistantly good performance had me more hopeful, week after week I had my fingers crossed. He didn't win but in my eyes he was the winner. Congratulations to the most deserving muthaphuxah I know, lol!

Edgar Feliciano - model/ dancer/ actor

Edgar Feliciano @ CDP model mgmt. has been modeling and dancing for a long time. He's worked with some of the best photographers in the business and I had several opportunities to work with the amazingly dynamic individual. He has walked the runways of some of the top urbanwear designers and appeared in countless national campaigns including the current l'oreal hair campaign. He was most know for his long, beautiful tresses.



He recently cut all his hair off and I was very excited about deing the first to photograph his new look.

introducing: Nerissa Kamoy

i worked with Nerissa Kamoy @ World Model mgmt. for an artistic project. Dragging those glorious locks around, she has traveled the world modeling for some of the most exciting photographers, appearing in a few music videos, and even appearing in Playboy magazine. Nerissa was great to work with and very respectful and patient. Here are some of the shots...

INSPIRATIONS

i decided to share my inspirations......

my wall.

this is my wall of visual influences that are the center core of my ideas. i have been doing the wall every since i was 13 years old. When i was a kid, i began feeding my addiction to magazines. I would put the tearsheets of shit I liked on my wall near my bed so when i woke up in the mornings the first thing I would see is all the things I was inspired by. It was also the last thing I would see before i fell asleep so my love of beauty, art, and fashion would fill my dreams. As the years went by, models I worked with in memphis would stare at the wall to get an idea of what direction I was on and try to give me that.

Everytime I go home to memphis I bring some of my wall back with me.

music videos in the 80's and 90's was a big influence.

i remember anticipating the MTV World Premiere videos and being blown away by my favorite artist visual interpretations of there music. its funny now you can hardly catch a music video on MTV or BET. i can't post every video that inspired me, but i will include a few that really rocked my world.

heavy d - nuttin but love

i loved this video because it was packed with beautiful models and this was the first time i saw fashion models in a music video. It was eye-poppin colorful and filled with personality.

9th wonder - digable planets

this video made me wanna live in brooklyn soooo bad. I live on the A train line and this video was shot on the a train line. :)

flavor in ya ear - craig mack

all i can say this is one of the first hype williams videos i saw taht made me eel like i was watching a black and white photo come to life.

rain - madonna

i like alot of madonna videos but this is the first to come to mind when i think is most inspiring. it is a like absorbing the pages of a high fashion magazine....

anything - swv

this video is hood fabulous. i love the song and tyson beckford is all up in this video during his pre-ralph lauren days.

artist:
Richard Avedon

I was watching a documenary on Avedon. He was shooting Lauren Hutton for the Chanel no.5 fragrance ad from his hospital bed after having a heart attack. I thought this is one cold muthafucka - lying in a hospital bed, hooked to machines and shit...and he still killin us with the hot shit. Thats some serious passion for what you do. gotta respect that.

Ernie Barnes

THE JJ PAINTINGS...if it wasn't for Good Times i would have never got to appreciate to fine work of Ernie Barnes.

Alaia

i love for the human body and Azzedine Alaia designs compliment the body better than any other designer. they are sexy and fun. his designs have "inspired" herve leger and many others. I love Alaia because he dosen't follow trends, he does whatever he want in an industry that trys to tell you what you gotta....gotta respect that.


these are just some of the things i look at to reference ideas for my work.

anonymously speaking....

I have created this blog to welcome you, the viewer, into my world to share with you my life, my experiences, and my work as an artist. I knew that doing so opens up the floodgates for people to criticize and judge me. I'm ready for it and prepared to take serious criticisms to help make my work better and me a better person. I wasn't prepared for jealousy, hatred, and personal attacks on my character hidden behind " Anonymous".

There is no room for negativity in my life.

With that said, I no longer will allow comments that appear malicious and negative to be posted on my blog under the screen name Anonymous. Criticism is usually followed by suggestions for improvement. I recognize positive comments and honest criticisms with hopes that they help me make my art better. If you hide behind Anonymous screen names to assault my character and maliciously speak negatively of my work, it is because it is easy to hide instead of facing me straight on. It is also the actions of people who are threaten by me and my gifts and insecure about themselves. People who are positive and happy don't have time or interest in being maliciously negative. I will not allow my blog to be the forum for cowards to express their negativity. If you don't have nothing constructive to say, you can take that shit somewhere else because you will be deleted from my blog world...

DANCING MACHINE - dancer/ actor/ model George Alexander

I contacted professional hiphop and break dancer George Alexander aka B-Boy Gee, thru modeling network modelmayhem.com to pose for an artistic project I'm working on. I'm heavily inspired by dance and often use it as a reference for posing and movement. Lately I have been bored with new models who have to be guided and directed thru a photoshoot, so the opportunity to work with a dancer was something I was very happy about. Dancers are usually very aware of their body and how to move so I was anxious to work with him. I also liked his look. Gee kinda puts me in the mind of Diddy meets 50 Cent, lol. He also has a ridiculously amazing body that's ripped like corn cob.

Everytime I work with Gee we do images that are exciting and hopefully effective for both of our careers. I think the images we create have had a major impact on how people see him. The images give him the versatility and range he needs to branch his career into acting and modeling. He is currently represented by Clear Talent Group , one of the top dance agencies in the country.





check out his blog - http://geeplus.blogspot.com/
   

one to watch: Ryan McDonald

Ryan is one of those guys you should watch out for because he represents a return to men who look like men....

pictorial #006 - IN BED WITH ME- featuring Darrell Walden Jr. @ Next Model Mgmt.

photographed by Tarrice Love
featuring Darrell Walden Jr @ Next Model mgmt.
styled by Tarrice Love

I wanted to create a series of images that felt more intimate and personal than my studio work. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the empty room in my apartment before someone moved into it. I also felt this series was the perfect for me to experiment with using natural light.

MODELING is like SEX

My patience has gotten very short with "models" who think showing up and being good looking is all they haveta do. They wait for the photographer to tell them step by step what to do. I am so tired of having people standing in front of me who have no idea how to move and serve me something that is inspiring.
Its like having bad sex.
Imagine how fun it is to have sex with a person you have to tell them everything to do....."move your leg over here, twist this way, grab that, push this in, stick this out, tighten this ..." I spend all my time tell you what to do, I don't get to concentrate on what i am doing. Good modeling is about vibing and having a good connection to work together.... the same components involved with good sex, lol.

I am yearning for the day when I can work with models who understand angles, light, shadow, and proportion and how they can use those things to inspire me.

The video below is an example of a model who understands how to move in front of a camera. She moves to accentuate the lines of her body while doing a continuous "shimmey" to compliment the movement and texture of the dress. She is totally aware of her body, her face , and her clothes. I show this video to every model i shoot so they know where they should be as a professional.

Naomi Campbell fotoshoot by Steven Klein


Watch and listen..

This is a recent episode of Tyra Bank's America Next Top Model provides some great tips for models.Pay attention to the what Tyra and her panel of judges have to say because they provide some great advice to help any model in front of the camera..

click here

SUGGESTIONS...
* stand in front of the mirror butt ass naked and pose. Learn your body and the shapes and lines it makes. you can't make clothes look good if you don't know what your body looks like or understand what happens when you move. If you know what your body looks like then you can see the shot in your mind. knowing what your body looks like also give you power and some control. We ( photographers) can only shoot what you do infront of our cameras. If you don't know anything it forces us to think for you ...

*study your face, it's your tool to convey personality and range.

think about modeling like acting and dance without a script or choreography...
in terms of sex...if you know what you got and how to use it, the sex will always be good and you'll have 'em feening for more. If you got all the physical components and you just lying there... just know you suck!