Friday, December 21, 2012

Polysemous: Jason Rafael by Carl Proctor


Polysemous refers to a word or phrase with different, but related meanings. The theme, of same - yet different, certainly applied to the beginnings of my putting together a post featuring Carl Proctor's work with Ohio model Jason Rafael.


If your a regular reader of FH you know Carl Proctor's work is a favorite of mine to feature. One of the things I love so much about working with Carl's images is how extensive the selection of poses, concepts and looks he creates with each individual model that he shoots. The large selection of images Carl sent on of Jason was so diverse I had to divide the images into two posts to insure I captured all of my favorite's.


I love so many of the images Carl and Jason created! Carl is of course known for his exceptional nudes and captures of the male form. With this shoot, I love the so many of the body shots. Through lines and pose, through the photographers lens, the 20 year old physics student turns into Baryshnikov with strong dramatic results. I also especially love Carl's portrait shots of Jason. Whether smiling or more serious, Jason expresses such emotion through his face and eyes.


What is exceptional about Jason as a model is how seamlessly he moves in front of the lens; from dancer, to boxer from light hearted to more serious. At the time Carl sent on Jason's images I was working on a piece featuring ClearEye photography. It was not until I finished that piece and went back to the images from Carl that I realized the model in both sets of images were of Jason.


It was not that Jason looked so very different, it was more a distinctly different mood and fee within his work with each of the two photographers. In the piece with ClearEye, I loved the feel created with the use of darkness darkness and of course location. Contemplative and very precise. With Carl, there was brightness, smiles and more freedom of expression. Both sets had a different take and focus on body and use of nudity. It was a testiment to the skill of botth model and artists to discover the man in focus in both shoots, although conveying very different emotions, was one in the same.


'Working with Carl was a delightful privilege. His kindheartedness was easy to see even before meeting him, which really put me at ease throughout the entire day's worth of shooting, and his sense of humor had me laughing all the while. I hope I get to work with him again soon!'







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