He’s a radical faerie and came to the shoot righteously stoned. I thought it might be a problem, but it just made him playful and funny. I said “Let’s start with you slowly stripping off your pants for me.”
I asked about the word tattooed on his hands. He said “It’s the Yiddish word for faggot.” I said, surprised, “You’re Jewish?” He laughed and said “Yeah, the world’s only uncut Jew.”
He sat down and continued to slowly peel his pants down for me. The whole time he was grinning and making jokes. He said “You don’t take me seriously enough.” I said “You couldn’t be more wrong.” Which made him roar with laughter.
His pants were finally off and tossed to the side, but he covered himself. I made a hand gesture signifying that he should spread his legs wide. He did, but nervously scratched his finger.
I realized I’d taken almost no snapshots that included his wonderful face. I raised the camera up and—he suddenly became serious. In a funny kind of confrontation I took shot after shot of his face. All of them were variants of a serious (albeit stoned) young man.
He’d finally had enough and told me to stop shooting his face. He jumped up and grabbed this toy frog that happened to be in the studio. “Take a picture of my friend,” he said.
It was one of the most enjoyable shoots I’ve experienced. At the end I said “Last shot.” He said “Here: a bird in the nest.” And he laughed.
– PAUL MORRIS
