The past twelve years of my life has been spent photographing complete strangers that I’ve met out and about. While working on my Changing Faces under the Sun collection, I met many attractive individuals: some Asian, some White, some Black, some bi-racial or multi-ethnic, some from the Latino culture, some of Arab descent, some males, and some females. As I was photographing these strangers, I noticed that most urban males were wearing pants that were three times their body sizes, i.e., men with 30-inch waists were wearing 36-inch waist pants, so I decided to start a new project that would be more of a study of urban male behavior. My goal was to convince about a dozen men from the inner city to allow me to dress them in clothes that I know they detest, i.e., clothes that fit their bodies, e.g., slim fit, slim straight, and skinny jeans. The majority of the males adamantly objected to wearing such attire, but eventually each of them conceded to my wishes. It became obvious with some of the men that they felt very uncomfortable in pants and shirts that fit their bodies; some couldn’t wait to take the clothes off after the photo sessions. Because I dressed each male, they became known as Man-i-kens; this name derives from the word mannequin; however, I decided to create a new word that contains my own name abbreviated, since this was my own personal project dealing with the social behavior of inner city males and their aversion to fitted attire.
This book will showcase an aggressive male, who fights the photo sessions at first, but he eventually warms to the camera; I call him Alpha Male. Photography can sooth even the most aggressive of mankind. I’ve never been interested in celebrities. I’m more interested in people that I pass on the street. I like to encourage strangers throughout my city, Indianapolis, IN, to stop and be photographed by me. In the beginning of this male’s photo shoot, he is shown wearing his own attire, and he is later seen wearing the attire that I provided for his photo sessions. My male models are not allowed to wear make-up, and they’re not allowed to oil their skin. I choose naturally attractive individuals, so there is no need to enhance their appearances. I want to show real people that are easily accessible to all of us.
I chose one male for this project, because the expression “tall, dark, and handsome” totally applies to him. Each photo captures the confidence that he displays in real life. Although he’s married, most of the women that have seen his photos are instantly attracted to him; this is why he made the cover of Models and Man-i-kens II, and he now has a book of his own.
One biracial male was chosen for this project, because he’s very tall, slim, confident, and he’s a ladies’ man; he has an amazing smile, and he loves the camera. Although I never allow my male models to wear hip hop attire, which includes wave caps, an exception was made for this model, because he has a scar from a recent accident. The wave cap doesn’t detract from his charisma, so I allowed it for his sessions; I only had two photo shoots with this model, but I’m very pleased with the results of both of them.
Another male was chosen for this project, because he’s very confident, and it shows in his photos. He has so much confidence that it almost makes him seem arrogant, but I’d prefer too much confidence to too little confidence any day.
An older male was chosen for this project, because he dresses very well. I’ve never seen him wear jeans or tennis shoes; he was the perfect candidate for this project, but I still chose the attire that he wore in his photo sessions. I don’t reveal information about my models, but I can tell you that most males, within his age range, do not look like him. He is truly the visual representation of health. Younger men, including myself, hope to look like him when we reach his age.
There are more than a dozen urban males that participated in this project.
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