PAUL’S PHOTOS || Noa

I will tell you the truth.  Here’s what I do.  The men come in, they remove their clothes, they go through the adjustment to being photographed and they find their poses.

And what do I do?  When they’ve found their poses I put my hands on them and, as if they were living sculpture, I run my hands over their bodies as if confirming for both of us the accuracy and wisdom of their ideas.  I hardly ever actually move them; my hands feel what their body has decided to present.

More than anything, I wish I could give every man my experience.  Not looking, although that is important.  But feeling, holding and appreciating, contacting their bodies in a way that’s not sexual but engaging, acknowledging.

Noa had just come from Wolf Creek.  He’s very spiritual, very open to the connection between spirit and body.  Every part of him was supple, soft, resilient, warm and open to touch.

I asked him to take off his japa mala.

I said “Do you mind if I touch it, if I adjust it a bit?”  He said no.  I straightened the little tassel a bit, arranged the rows of beads a tiny bit.  I felt privileged.

He said he wanted to move around.  I took random snapshots of him walking, climbing up and stepping off the green chair. He laughed when I told him I loved his small uncut cock. “It’s the only part of me that didn’t end up long and skinny.”

When I was a little boy I was thrown out of the Palace of the Legion of Honor because I wouldn’t stop fondling the genitals of the Rodin sculptures.  My hands still need to touch what my eyes love.

I was delighted when he moved into this pose.  I’m sure I said something appreciative–probably something about spending a lifetime worshiping his ass.

It’s the young men who have spiritual experience, sacred practice, who understand that the sexual or erotic element of their physicality is a gateway to something very deep, something that’s elegantly embodied in this particular moment in their lives.

With some of the men of whom I’ve taken snapshots, the end of the session is when they’re finally relaxed enough to assume more expressive, more eloquent poses.

With Noa, when we reached the last shot he simply stood facing me.  And I think it’s after all the most revelatory stance a man can take.  He presents himself simply and directly and openly.  I stand before you.

– Paul Morris