Model "Austin" |
I thought I had better get another entry up for October. Didn't want to leave a bummer entry up for too long!
But first I want to thank everyone again who wrote about Kitty! I had a ton of condolence letters, many with their own stories, so that entry definitely struck a cord with many people.
Honestly, I sometimes think that no one still reads this thing. It's one of the reasons I don't update as much. With Blogs all over the place, what I started seven years ago seems so common place. On many sites it's just an extra feature as part of your membership to their email service. Truly ubiquitous
So it is good to hear from a lot of people again. Let's me know you all are still out there.
I did take some time to just chill out after putting Kitty! to sleep. I still feel her letting go and just dying in my arms. It wasn't emotionally taxing, but it is something that has lingered, and not necessarily in a bad way, it's just there.
The weirdest part has been how quiet the house is. She never made a lot of noise, only barked at the doorbell, so I don't know why the house seems so quiet. I also realized what a pig I am about food. I would drop crumbs all over the place, knowing full well that she would snarf them up- my own personal Hoover. The floor is much dirtier these days. Ick.
The other strange thing I keep doing to myself is expecting her to come to the door when I get home. I've left a black sweatshirt on the floor or my black backpack was sitting in one corner, and I would walk in to the room and think it was her, get a quick zing, then realize that she's not here. Kinda sad.
Friends at work are teasing me about getting another dog, but I am sure as heck not going to go look for one. A dog usually ends up in my lap somehow. As I mentioned in the last entry, having a puppy or even a mildly spastic dog around just doesn't work with models coming and going.
Ok, so enough about my dog.
I have been working a lot lately. Practically every night I have a shoot. Getting a little burned out. We're stepping up the updates at SeanCody too, so that means even more shoots there as well.
In fact I have had so many shoots, I really can only show you a couple guys in this entry.
Ben has been real good about calling me and getting me out of the house. We usually just go to dinner, but we have also been re-decorating my house.
The house has become one big studio, with 5-6 different sets. I am moving more in to the earth tones and everything is looking good. I got a couple new couches that you can see hints of them in some of the new nude photos at the end of the entry. Yeeks! My first Macy's credit card bill came. . .26% interest! I gotta get those couches paid off quick!
I have kind of given up on really trying for a lot of new locations and changing things up too much. It IS assembly line, but frankly, most people want to just see the guy naked with a hard on, and they don't care whether the sheets are dark blue or maroon. Getting jaded I guess. But I am still trying to mix it up a bit.
I have also been filming a lot more video here. It is coming along nicely, although a few of the guys are not as marketable as I would like. (Had a few scary incidences with addicts showing up. Scary!) It is so hard to compete here in San Diego. But Ben and a few other friends are doing really well, and I have had some smokin' hot boys come my way.
Money is REALLY a big issue right now.
When is it not I guess?
I closed down the Theatre section so I could add a recurring method of video membership. It's taking forever.
One of the things I don't want to happen is to lose the members I have that can see the photos. $10 a month is pretty cheap, considering there are 8-12 spreads a month. If I cancel all those members and say "Guess what, the site now costs $24.95, but you get video too!" I would have a riot on my hands.
So I am trying to set it up so that there will always be the cheap Photos Only membership, and offer a Premium membership that allows both video and photos.
One stumbling block is with CCBill. It's easy to setup two types of memberships, but not after you have been running the site one way already. So they are trying to figure out how to offer both membership levels and not lose anyone.
I am pretty sure it will work, but dang, is it going slow.
In my own defense, I have all the movies done, I have the area completed, I even have Visa approval (that cost $750 bucks!). So it's just waiting on third parties to get it all going.
I have been filming these guys, and ya know, paying guys for video is expensive. I can spend my entire month's budget in just a week or so. If I can just get the door open, and convince a few of ya to upgrade to the Premium membership, I can pay the guys more and I guess pay them to do more things. (Yes, most of these guys are in fact straight, and it takes a big wallet to convince them to perform with a guy). It's a good circle, but getting the circle started is taking a chunk of investment money.
So money is pouring out the door, but it is all "investment" and hopefully will someday come back. ~sigh~
Ok, so back to the overhaul on the house. Ben helped me paint my living room. I have it setup so that I can use it two different ways, but basically need to move the TV to a wall that has no cable output for it to work for photos. One of the new couches needs to go where the TV is now.
My parents are coming this Friday, so I am leaving the TV there, cuz well, don't all Dads watch TV all the time? So after they leave, I will move things around and basically my entire house will be impractical to live in, but totally practical for photos and video.
I need to get some studio space, that's for sure.
Ben and I also did one of the Jet Set parties.
The last one was at Airport Lounge. Neat place right in the flight path of planes landing. Very loud!
It was a fun venue. We got a little dressed up for it, but left early cuz we got hungry for dinner.
There was another party last weekend, but I had a video shoot so I missed it. I hope I keep getting invited!
Halloween was a bit of a bust. Once again I found myself not all excited about it. With the holiday falling on a Monday, most everyone was planning on doing events on Saturday. When this happens, no one seems to be on their "A" game.
We went over to the Nightmare on Normal street, and no one was there. (Back to Normal...get it?) They had a $5 donation cover, and no one wanted to go in.
We walked over to Baja Betty's and had dinner instead.
There we ran in to Tom, who is my electrician and also trains with Ben. (who is a personal trainer in case you forgots!)
Tom was hilarious as always, and kept us entertained while we ate dinner.
Baja Betty's had some nice decorations going, and the staff looked awesome in their costumes, but the Kleenex Ghost was way over the top. I got escarred by it!
The doorman had one of the best costumes we saw. Attack of the killer boobs.
I guess he couldn't restrain himself, and just had to pick up the diminutive Ben. Poor baby!
The next morning, we went to Talus for breakfast. One of my models works there, and he invited us to have brunch. The food was awesome, and of course the service was not only excellent, but sexy!
Ok, so here is the bevy of boys I promised. Hopefully this will make up for the morbidly sad entry I had up last week.
CAUTION: There are a lot of pee pees in these photos. Most of the guys have already had layouts, so I assume most of you have seen it all, plus most of the photos are pretty artsy, so don't freak out!
I invited Ryan to come out from Austin and do a video and photoshoot. He had done some photos for me before, and even did a solo for SeanCody.com. But I wanted one with him for my own site. I adore Ryan. He is one of the nicest, friendliest guys. He stayed over only one night, but he could have stayed all week for all I cared.
Ben has this really cool chair and I have been trying to find guys with just the right build to pull it off. I think Ryan did quite nicely!
Lateem was a non-nude shoot. Sweet guy, and I am hoping one day he will come back and do more. He is Indian, so it would be great to get a little more variety going.
Sergei is a hunky Nordic boy. I have done four shoots with him. The first shoot he needed a haircut and the second one was like night and day. He also was a little freaked out coming to some strange gay guys house, and after the first shoot, he totally “got” the whole modeling thing. We did two solos, one with longer hair and one with the spikier hair. Both are amazing. I can't wait for you guys to see him!
What a smile!
Zackary and I did photos, and he has done a lot of Adult work for the major studios. We clicked and he wanted to do something more artsy than porny. He wanted to do something with milk, like lounging in a tub of it (I told him it had been done by Leibowitz and Whoppi) he thought about it and suggested doing it in a tub of ice. Um..ok!
This is the kind of stuff I want to do, but how do you suggest to a model you are going to have to sit in a tub of ice?
I thought it would work, but I told him the key was he had to do it with an erection! As if to say “He is so smoking hot, that even lounging in a tub of ice, he's got wood!” I oiled him up to also give the appearance he is over-heated, and not freezing.
Lot of people haven't “got” this image. Only a few other photographers picked up on it, and many don't even notice the ice or if they do, they think it is faked.
Let me assure you, Zack was in the water four times, each for three or four minutes and he has zero fat on him, and boy was he ever cold. But he kept his expression rock solid, along with his penis.
I love these shots even though most people don't get it. I am hoping people will notice it.
Austin was a referral from a model scout.
He is really on the fence about doing adult work. You can tell he has a big ole unit, and want to show it off, but family and friends are keeping him at by.
Anyway, I loved working with him on my new brown leather couch (which looks like the black leather couch, defeating the purpose of having another couch!)
He is very expressive and we spent a lot of time finding some good outdoor locations.
CJ came down from Northern California, doing a tour of Southern California, hitting some key photographers up.
He will do nudes, but not aroused, but has a lot of modeling experience so it was great working with someone who also wanted to invest time in cool images.
I got to do some nice silhouette shots on the other new couch.
I guess it is not really a couch, more of a daybed. It is a nice neutral cream colore, though you can't really tell by these shots. I deliberately shot these with the white balance fucked up so that it would give a cool hue. It's not a Photoshop filter.
Finally there is Alexander from New York. He is a surfer dude here, and thankfully he has all his hair intact. He is pretty much a straight guy, but has done a few guy on guy things when he grew up. He is very open minded.
This shot is not really a good facial expression, and you cant tell how amazing his eyes are, but I love uh..how his ginormous unit is "stuck" coming out of his jeans. All the potential about to burst out!
He did a solo, and I am hoping to get him back to work with one of the other male models. Sergei and him are close in size and build, but I dunno if I can convince him to let a guy suck his dick.
I need to start a relief fund. "Help me get this guy a gay blow job!"
Hmmm….my life is strange.
bry
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