Returning to the studio again with inspiration from the work of Yoshiyuki pushed me to reveal more activity in the Dark Room environment. Bringing in a second individual so that they can interact, and it may be worth mentioning at this point that although there are not any actually sexual interactions occurring, these are both consenting adults who know each other personally and are more than comfortable acting this way with each other.
I think It is worth addressing the models body types as well, as they may not necessarily conform to what we often see. These are both larger, older men, and while this was not a prerequisite of mine for these photos, I am finding that it fits well with the overall theme of the project. It would be too easy to look for young attractive men to pose in fetish where, get the shirts off and ask them to kiss and touch in front of the camera, perhaps even easier with women given the rise of platforms such as purple port. But this feels much more real, it feels raw, and it feels honest to work with men who are not of the commercially "Perfect" age and body type. The people in Yoshiyuki's work were all normal average people, with bodies that followed suit.
For my initial shots during this session, I stuck with the back lighting and smoke that I had been using before, though this time gelled blue, to hint at perhaps being somewhere other than a darkroom, maybe even hinting at moonlight, the outside. Several of Yoshiyuki's photos appeared to be to spotlight the figures against the darkness and I wanted to emulate this in a small way.
I then added fill light to reveal even more. At first I was concerned that perhaps this was showing to much, perhaps this would be perceived as trying to achieve the shock factor. On reflection, I see this as one of my strongest images so far, to me it feels intimate and bold. The contrast between the smooth skin and the texture of the hair on the two bodies, the imperfections in there skin and the force with with they hold each other is not unaware but uncaring of the audiences thoughts. I think this image, like Yoshiyuki's makes a yoyeur out of the audience whether they intend to be or not.
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