Rodney

Rodney (all of his friends call him 'Rod' but I won't go there...) is a hot little gymnast boy. I hadn't met him but for two minutes before he was doing the splits right in front of me.

I thought to myself, "Now this is going to be interesting!"

He's a college guy and he claims that he hasn't done gymnastics in a while. I think he's actually currently on a collegiate team and didn't want to let on for fear that doing dirty films might interfere. Just my opinion.

Video work with this guy was a breeze. We had him in the park, smiling and doing backflips. We had him in the SUV, smiling and showing off his balls. We had him in the studio, smiling and doing... well, splits.

Oddly enough, though, once the still camera came out the smile disappeared. He got this worried "deer-in-the-headlights" look every time I held the camera up to shoot.

"OK, relax your face and give me a smile," I told him. Click. What I got looked like a cheesy high school yearbook photo.

"No, you're doing great but just relax and give me a nice little smile." Click. Another uncomfortable grin.

So I stopped and asked him why he wasn't comfortable with the camera. Turns out he's one of those hot guys who doesn't know he's hot and has never been comfortable having his picture taken. Go figure.

So we did some face exercises (really!) and finally got a cocky, boy-next-door look that worked for him.

At any rate, his flexibility is pretty darn impressive and I'm really, really hoping that we can put it to good use!

Published May 15, 2007