Monday, August 15, 2005

"What were you thinking Ocean"?? :-)

When I show people this photo, the question about my use of the watermelon is usually the first that is asked. I much prefer this question, than the one asking for the model's telephone number. LOL!

When I shoot male nudes, very rarely do I begin with "set" ideas. My creative process is very organic, and the ideas arise and flow as I work with the "model". On this particular shoot with Hercules, I had just eaten a slice of watermelon...very sloppily, I might add. :-) I was instantly flooded with images and caricatures that I had seen represented on TV, cards, and books of black people eating watermelon. A stereotypical image that obviously didn't represent black people in a good light! SO, I stuck a knife in the watermelon and asked Hercules to pose with it. I wanted an image that read: END THE WATERMELON STEREOTYPE!

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