PAUL’S PHOTOS || Tongan

This was a week of challenging shoots.

His parents were from Tonga. He was born in Tonga but raised in the Bay Area. I’ve spent a lot of time in the South Pacific—in Fiji, mostly—and nudity for men is almost unheard of. To cut through the tangible awkwardness at the beginning of the shoot I started in complete darkness and shot this with a flash(hence the awkward framing). In the dark I told him to pose any way he wanted. This is how he started.

After a while I had Trevor turn on a single light. I’ve found that when men are reticent about being photographed it helps to focus on their tattoos. As I recorded his tattoos I moved him and posed him in tiny ways. I said “You’re very religious, yes?” He nodded seriously. From my experience in the South Pacific, religion is taken extremely seriously. If I had to chose a single word to describe how he felt at this point it would be “sober”.

And then we came to this tattoo.  I asked what it signified.  “It’s for my brother.  He’s in prison.”  I asked how long he would be locked up.  “He’s in San Quentin for life.”

As I posed him, I was honestly overwhelmed by his beauty.  My reaction–and this surprised me–wasn’t erotic but almost entirely aesthetic.  What a wonder, I thought.  What a wonder a man is.

In many South Pacific cultures, the hair is considered extremely private. I asked him if he felt this way and he said “No. There are lots of old beliefs, but I don’t believe them.” I asked him to let his hair loose for this shot.

Almost immediately he tied his hair back up. On a strange whim, I decided to finish as we’d started. I positioned the camera straight toward the chair. I had Trevor turn off the lights and told the young man to pose however he wanted.

This is how he posed. I think it’s by far the most revealing of all the shots I took.

– PAUL MORRIS