PAUL’S PHOTOS || Dylan

A business meeting made me very late. When I walked in, it was extremely obvious that he was angry. I put the chair in front of him. He turned it around and stood behind it like this. At first the middle finger of both hands were out. He was flipping me off. I said “Let’s put the fingers away, ok?” He did, but the tension was thick.

I had him turn the chair around and sit down. Even though he was obviously angry, I immediately liked him. Maybe it was because he was making his feelings clear. I asked where he was from. “York.” One word. “New York?” I asked. “No. Old York. Very old.” His accent made his words sound like honey.

Joey came in to tell me I had a phone call I had to take.  I left for a few minutes.  When I came back Dylan was standing just behind a hanging piece of paper.  Now the anger seemed gone, but he’d gone deep inside himself.  It was as though I’d abandoned him. I noticed a book almost covered by his clothes.  I pulled it out and handed it to him.  As I snapped shots of him holding the book I asked whether he liked poetry.  “Good poetry,” he said.

We talked about poetry for a while.  It seemed to relax him–though not much.  He’s a world-traveler, hopes to become a journalist.  He’s extremely intelligent, 25, and has just moved to San Francisco to reinvent himself.  “You have so much freedom here.  You can be anyone you want.”  For money he walks dogs, a fact that endeared him to me even more.

I wanted to get some shots of his beautiful genitals, but this is as close as I could get without his bridling and stepping back. So I settled for having Pony shine bright lights on him.

I asked him what it’s like to have such an extended foreskin. “It gets scrunched up a lot when I sit down.” I couldn’t believe he used the word “scrunched”. Everything about him was so dark, moody, serious.

For the last shot I had Trevor and Pony stand on either side and hold lights like this, pointed directly at his midsection. Dylan had gone from an angry young man through several dark moods and was finally a stoic soldier being inspected.

Afterward, I expected him to flee. Instead he came to my office and asked if he could interview me. He said that if I wanted, he’d be nude during the interview.

Trevor scheduled the interview for next week. I’ll be amazed if it happens.

– PAUL MORRIS