ON TOP OF THE WORLD feat. BRANDON PARKER @ FORD NYC.

Brandon Parker currently represented by Specimen/ Ford Models NYC has a body that is sculpted to sleek perfection and i thought is was time to show off his amazing form.

brandon parker @ ford models nyc

photographed by Tarrice Love

featuring Brandon Parker @ Ford Models NYC.

shorts by American Apparel

styling/ grooming by Tarrice Love

 

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE... congrats: face of Calvin Klein - - artist/ model DAVID AGBODJI @ Re:QUEST MODEL MGMT.

David Rgbodji @ Re:quest model mgmt. photographed by Steven Klein

It is great to see another fashion door swing open and model/ artist David Agbodji @ Request Model Mgmt has kicked it off its hinges. Being the current face of Calvin Klein, David has definitely hit a milestone in his modeling career. Last fashion week he was the first black male model to open the Calvin Klein Spring 2010 show. This season David closed out the Fall 2010 show. ... a big break for any male model.

It is interesting to see the black male image being associated with the standards of American beauty.

The Calvin Klein images took me back to when I was a photography student at the University of Memphis. They reminded me of my own photographic works. Every semester I created images that I felt celebrated black beauty. This sparked many heated debates in my art classes. I was the only Black person in my photography classes and I fought for my classmates to acknowledge and recognize the beauty we as black people brought to this world. I wanted them to respect and appreciate our beauty instead of objectify us.

Just as Trace magazine's Black Girl's Rule issue gave power to Black female beauty, I hope my work gives power and validation to the Black male image and forced viewers to see us in an artistic way. I always hoped for change and wanted my work to contribute to the big picture. I was not surprised that validation of Black beauty would have to come from someone like  the  people at Calvin Klein and photographer Steven Klein. Truthfully, its no different than Steven Miesel's collaboration with Italian Vogue's "Black" issue celebrating black female models. We as black people have for so long spent most of our time trying to fit into a social standard of beauty that never included us. Instead of taking our own image and creating our own standard of beauty...we sit back and wait for society to hand us their version of beauty.

 images from my art projects during my college days at University of Memphis

Brandon Parker shot by Tarrice Love in 2006

When I first came to New York, my style and approach on male beauty weren't received with open arms. Agents, stylist, and others told me that my style was too artistic and no one was interested in seeing black male models photographed that way. I was told to focus on shooting the black guys in a more upscale "catalogy" way.  In the past, the Black male image was urban - street hoodlum.  The election of Obama has made a black man the spokeperson of this country which has reinforced the black male image as commercial, safe, and boring. (if you don't believe me, go look at the top agencies (with the exception of Red NYC) and check out the black guys books).

Pierre Woods@ New York Models 

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE..... keep watching. I am excited to see where all of this is going.

A NEW BEGINNING featuring BRANDON PARKER

photographed by Tarrice Love

featuring Brandon Parker (unsigned)

styled by Tarrice Love

grooming by Tarrice Love

I first met Brandon Parker about five years ago in the Hickory Ridge Mall in Memphis, TN. My assistant, Aisha Edwards, spotted him and thought he would be great to shoot. We exchanged phone numbers and by the end of that day had set up his first shoot.

Standing at 6ft and weighing a whooping 200lbs, Brandon is a semi-pro football player for the Tennessee Hurricanes. He plays the position of wide receiver. He has dabbled in acting and modeling appearing a a few local tv commercials and traveling all over the country posing for many photographers.

The images you see posted are a set I recently shot when Brandon made the trip to the Big Apple to celebrate his birthday and visit friends. I am glad that he made time to grace my lens. We shot the fashion images in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Thanks to photographer, Sidney Etienne, for letting us use his rooftop to shoot the nude shots. His rooftop overlooked the Halsey Street subway station and their were about 40 onlookers.

 

For this set of images I wanted to capture him in a way he hadn't seen himself. I mainly wanted to photograph him in a suit but his big ass could only fit one of my suits. Despite the fact that I was terrified that he was gonna rip thru my suit like the Incredible Hulk, I think the shots turned out amazing for him. The nudes - I wanted to have a very light and graceful feeling. Using the Brooklyn sky as his backdrop seem to be perfect for him.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about working with Brandon is his level of comfort in front of the camera. Finding a male model who was comfortable naked in the Bible-belt mecca of Memphis was very rare. His natural ability to convey grace, masculinity, and sex appeal has made him a longtime favorite to work with. He is a great guy and fun to photograph I look forward to working with him the next time he comes to NYC and will make sure to do a video with him.

(Brandon Parker was so tired after the shoot, he fell asleep on the train heading back to my place in Brooklyn, lol)

CHANGE.....

Its real easy to get images that the industry will accept when the model is already validated by the industry with representation, tearsheets, editorials and major campaigns. Clothes with designer labels attached to them also help make images get the thumbs up in the business. It is more of a challenge to work with new talent who hasn't received the seal of approval from the fashion powers that be. I do that with the models I have selected for my work. I have worked with unsigned (at the time) models like Brian Peters, Andre Douglas, Brandon Parker, Joseph/ Laurence McCrea, Gene Grady, Geremy Alexander, Christian Dubosse and so many other because I truly believe in their potential to be forerunners helping me redefining black man's image in this industry to be more than a one dimensional hip hop caricature.
I dressed them ( and undressed them) and put them in the same circumstances their leading white counter parts so that the fashion industry can see black men are strong enough and capable of representing a relevant fashion vision.


Given the opportunity to choose from models from an agency board, I chose guys like Pierre Woods, Darrell Walden Jr., Wendell Lissimore, Art Stroman, Marcus LLoyd, Lamar James, Lawrence Annunziata, and so many men of color because no one else was choosing them. Their images weren't as strong as the white boys and were dated. They were going to castings with the same pictures they had from when they first signed with their agencies. Some even found it difficult to get a photo test because most photographers felt they had enough black guys in their portfolio. i wanted my collaboration with the black guys to show they could do more than just commercial and urban shit. I wanted to show that they could do the same type of work that set these white guys up for prestigious and lasting careers.



AS a black fashion photographer, I don't think people realize how much pressure we are under to NOT work with black models. The industry is constantly telling us that black models are NOT fashion and that they are commercial and to focus on working with the mostly white ones if we want credibility and prestige. I have constantly been pressured to conform to this idea. If I had listened, there would be no Brian Peters, Andre Douglas, Christian ect because I would have never worked with them. I never believed in the idea that same = change. If you want to see opportunities swing in your favor you haveta take some responsibility and make steps toward making that happening.



I recall shooting Seandon Robertson @ Boss models whose portfolio contained mostly pictures of him wearing baggy jeans, hair braided to the back, and mean mugging the camera. I wanted to show a totally different side of him and focused on giving him images that showed him with a more fashiony edge. The agents weren't very happy with the images I shot of him because felt they could do nothing with them since they were only interested in marketing him as an urban model. According to them they felt that my work was too stylized and made Seandon look "soft" and "gay." I wanted to show that Seandon could do more than be a "nigga with braids." I know that my images changed Seandon's view of himself and the way clients saw him.



When Uptown Magazine was doing a feature on Pierre Woods and was looking for a photographer to shoot it. They were considering using a prominent white photographer that Pierre had worked with in the past. The pictures with this photographer were some of the worst work Pierre had done. Pierre saw this as an opportunity to suggest me since the work I had done with him portrayed him in the best light. Pierre then round up Polo stylist Kelli Browning and Randal Jacobs and makeup artist Crystal Clark to create some hot editorial images for this feature. I remember Kelli commented that this was her first time working with this many black people on a project. I totally applaud the effort Pierre made to pull up other talented black people who really could use the opportunity to show what they could do. I wish more black models would use their opportunities to help bring other deserving talents (black and white) through the door.

Although I have conscientiously made definite efforts toward change with some positive results, mine are baby steps. Its gonna take the models reaching out and helping each other instead of fighting each other for that "token" spot. The photographers, fashion stylist, muas, and hair dressers are gonna haveta start opening the door wider so more black talents can take advantage of opportunities. Its definitely gonna take modeling agents and bookers to broaden their view of their black models to extend beyond the commercial market for them to be considered for the editorial and high-end prestigious jobs. I must applaud agencies like Red models and Major Model mgmt. who, thru their presentation, present their ethnic models in the same light as the white ones. Most agencies only see their black models doing catalog and commercial work and never put their muscle behind them for editorial/ high fashion opportunities.

I'm not saying we should become anti-white or anything like that. I most certainly enjoy working with all types of people. I just want to see myself reflected and represented in this industry and have the opportunity to become the next Bruce Weber, Steven Miesel, Patrick Demarchelier, or Steven Klien. I don't see that happening if we continue to feed the machine the same ol things.