Gay Bloggies

My guilty pleasures have varied considerably over the years. My earliest memory of a guilty pleasure would be Twinkies dunked in Yoo-hoo. As my tastes and needs and desires have evolved--or devolved--guilty pleasures have included watch and fountain pen collecting, hideously over-priced bed linens, nude bathing in the Caribbean, Chinatown Dim Sum until my tummy explodes, Mojitos and Keith Copley, the most beautiful and sexually attractive idiot I've ever known.

My guilty pleasure du jour (or should I say au jus?) is photographing shirtless (and sometimes naked) men in public places throughout Manhattan. It's a complex pleasure that demands commitment, guts, seduction, subversion, research, deception and will power.

And it's not just a guilty pleasure (even though my penis would tell you so), it's been an intellectual, emotional and artistic adventure.

I've been exploring the synthesis of two of my most persistent obsessions: Manhattan and beautiful men. Initially, I was partly motivated by comments on my photography questioning the absence of people, As a result of that, I started to pursue people, studying men on the streets of Manhattan.

After a while, I then found myself wondering about their bodies. Imagine that. So I started to politely suggest to acquaintances, friends and even random strangers that they should consider supporting my artistic endeavors. I pointed out that I'm very old and could be dead within days so now was not the time to say no. Now they line up to strip on the streets.

Truth be told, I rarely enjoy nude male photography, it leaves me cold. Too obvious. On the other hand, the naked city in all of its hardness, rigid angles and cubist statements is to my eye powerfully masculine and quite arousing. So I wondered if I could use my camera to create some kind of visual and emotional communication between the stone, steel and glass architecture, textures and colors of my adored metropolis and the architecture, textures and colors of beautiful men.

I'm not sure I've succeeded quite yet, but I do feel I am on the right path. And I must confess--not surprisingly--the exploration has been great fun.

Perhaps the strangest part of this experience has been that the sexual and visual pleasure that I've been experiencing during this process of exploration has been unique and extraordinarily intense in ways I had not imagined. Furthermore, the experience has given rise to intense personal feelings that I've not experienced during the actual act of sex. Partly this is because--with one exception--I have not indulged in sex with my models despite the fact that one of the criteria I've used to select my models has been powerful sexual attraction. Limiting myself to the visual experience has opened the door on new sensations and a much more powerful visual experience than I've ever had before.

Have I discovered my inner voyeur? Perhaps, but it is something much more. The combined beauty of the male form and texture and elements of the city has taken me to a very new place emotionally, sexually and aesthetically.

I suppose I've come a long way from Twinkies and Yoo-hoo--or maybe not.