Beautiful

Control

FOR SOME REASON NEW YORK STILL HAS AND PROBABLY ALWAYS WILL HAVE THAT MAGICAL MAGNETIC EFFECT ON PEOPLE. MANY DREAM TO LIVE THERE. IT IS THE CITY THAT ALL BY ITSELF IS THE EMBODIMENT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. THE CITY WHERE EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE AND ALL DREAMS CAN COME TRUE. SO, IT MUST TAKE SOME SELF-DISCIPLINE TO TURN YOUR BACK ON ALL THAT.

Benjamin Veronis has worked as a clothing designer for many years and lived for that same amount of years in New York. He has lived the life the Big Apple has to offer and enjoyed every bit of it. Until he realized he had come to the “been there and done that” point in his life. That moment that life itself tell you: enough, time to move on. And so, he did.

Benjamin doesn’t do things half. When he came to the decision to cut the umbilical cord that tied him to New York, he cut it with conviction and control and moved all the way to the West Coast. To Palm Springs to be precise. And he not only changed location. He also turned his back on his profession and started a new career. In photography this time. Today he occupies himself with several disciplines of the art. Product and real estate, and we all know that there is some beautiful real estate to be found in Palm Springs and Los Angeles where he also spends a chunk of his time, but also male photography, varying from portrait and headshots, model and fitness photography.

Sergey Korneff is living in Las Vegas, and even though he has adapted himself to American life, there can be no doubt that he of Russian decent. It is because his amazing physique, gained by hours of work out disciple and control. It is because of his short cropped blond hair. And it is because of his sombre, stoic facial expression. Benjamin has worked several times with Sergey and experienced such an ease in their collaborations that sometimes they work in almost silent communication. Sergey is the perfection himself. Benjamin: “I really wanted to capture that kind of “statuesque” quality in Sergey for these shots, because that is how he really is in person and I just wanted to convey in photo form. Although he is Russian, he has almost a classical Greek or Roman quality…so obviously, I went for that in our shoot.”

According to Benjamin Veronis photography is a constant learning experience and a constant hunger to try new things. “I do think that I have a consistency from shoot to shoot, but at the same time I always want each shoot to be very different from the last, it makes me feel like each experience is completely new. Photography for me is truly an art form.” Throughout his life Benjamin has tried many different forms of artistic expression, from illustration to painting, decorating, cooking and graphic design. But photography is really the first medium which he feels gets him close to achieving the perfect result he envisions from the beginning. “I have a scientific side and an artistic side that somehow manage to coexist. I think I am sort of unique in that I have some skills that are very opposite. I am very good at math and science in general, but, I am also very good at visual arts.”

In his search for perfection and always exploring new experiences, he decided to take a very different approach in his third shoot with Sergey Korneff. Where in his first two shoots he used only natural light, this time he decided on a more controlled studio lighting, giving himself total control over the final result. Which is a remarkable result. –BM-

BENJAMIN VERONIS | BEAUTIFULMAG
SERGEY KORNEFF | BEAUTIFULMAG

Not so normal

THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD NORMAL, ACCORDING TO THE DICTIONARY, IS CONFORMING TO A STANDARD. USUAL, TYPICAL, OR EXPECTED. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH IT, REALLY, AND THE WORLD DOES NEED A GOOD AMOUNT OF NORMALITY. BUT THEN AGAIN, NEW AND EXCITING EXPERIENCES MAKE LIFE WORTH LIVING. VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE. NO WONDER THAT NORMAL PEOPLE CAN SOMETIMES BE SCARY.

James Sutton is 27, born and living in Bolton, just north of Manchester He is the oldest of two, works in the family business doing property development where he works the books and a lot of the administration. He loves going for walks and enjoying the countryside, is a film buff so can be found often in the cinema and likes hanging out with his friends in general. Pretty normal you would say. But James is anything but normal.

James has been modelling ever since he was 19 years old so once could safely say he is quite experienced. And that shows. In his earlier work and in his most recent work with Nige Rorbach. Now we know Nige of course as a man who knows what he wants and how to get it, and he certainly got it with James. There is something special about James, that I cannot really put my finger on. He has that kinda good boy gone bad look. He’s lean. He’s well built. He has great hair. And he has that challenging look in his eyes. In other words, James is hot.

Nige and James Sutton met through the usual channel. Still after spotting him for the first time about a year ago, Nige didn’t contact him until a couple of weeks ago. I guess that time wasn’t right. Anyway, may I just say I’m are glad he eventually did contact James. He turned out to be one of the most natural models Nige has ever worked with, posing effortless and when direction is needed taking the points on board and nailing the shot. A photographer’s dream. Certainly, for Nige: “For me, as an artist, someone like James is a dream to work with. He's friendly, professional, works hard and really makes you want to pick up the camera. There is a genuine respect for each other's work, so that made us both work hard to achieve what we both wanted from the shoot.”

The location of this shoot is an abandoned warehouse, near to Nige Rorbach’s own home. It has recently opened as a studio, has 3 floors and enough backdrops to occupy you for a day, dreaming and fantasizing what could be. As is his usual style Nige discussed his ideas upfront with James and together they polished them into the concept they eventually shot. They took their time to perfect the. Asked about his favourite shot James doesn’t have to think twice: “I love the Normal People Scare Me jumper shot. You could tell we both enjoyed it as one of our early shots was nearly perfect so quick. The playfulness of the caption on the top with the surroundings and the lack of pants made for a fun and already realised concept before we even shot. It was cheeky and one of our early concepts, so much fun to do.”

James loved the collaboration with Nige: “He [Nige] set up the scenes quick but so well. As soon as I changed from one outfit to another he had everything set up and we were ready to go. He explained the ideas beforehand very well. He had a mood board for me to look over in the car on the journey to the shoot, so everything was so well prepared and understood. Made for a brilliant shoot that I look forward to doing again with him soon.” James and Nige, two normal guys, not so normal. –BM-

NIGE RORBACH | BEAUTIFULMAG
JAMES SUTTON | BEAUTIFULMAG

New kid on the block

PERSONALLY, I ALWAYS ASSOCIATE THE CHANGE OF SEASONS WITH RENEWAL. I’M MOSTLY REFERRING TO SPRING TIME AND FALL OF COURSE, WHICH ARE THE BIGGEST SEASON CHANGES. THEY ALWAYS GIVE ME THE ITCH TO TRY SOMETHING NEW, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. EVEN SEEING SOMEONE NEW.

Obviously, all the work that we publish here on BM is work we carry close to our heart. The photos. The artists. Hence the fact that many of the photographers and even models are regular guests. But sometimes it is also nice to discover new talent. Even if that talent isn’t that new.

Joem C. Bayawa is a freelance photographer and completely self-taught. While practising the art, he found his real passion in photographing people and so he takes every opportunity to do so. His website and his Tumblr and Instagram show a large variety of model shot, male and female, fashion, underwear and artistic. But also glamour, fitness and male physique. Joem also covers special events, such as birthdays, weddings and other real life events. He is based in Chicago which is good to know, if you are an aspiring model, as Joem specializes in building and creating model starter portfolios.

In the category male, underwear and artistic, Joem Bayawa presents us Andrew Morley. Originally from Minneapolis, Andrew currently resides in Austin, Texas. Last year he visited Chicago and collaborated with Joem on a shoot of which we present you the result today. Before this we didn’t know either Joem or Andrew. Our bad, obviously, but nice as well as it is exactly this fresh wind I am referring to with the change of seasons. And it is always nice to see a new kid on the block, even if Joem takes that very literally. –BM-

JOEM C. BAYAWA | BEAUTIFULMAG

Well met

HAVE YOU EVER COME HOME AFTER A LONG DAY OF WORK ONLY TO FIND YOUR APARTMENT WITH THAT BEAUTIFUL HARDWOOD FLOOR HAD SUFFERED A WATER LEAK? DISASTROUS, RIGHT? THE FIRST THING YOU WANT TO DO IS CRY AND THEN DESPAIR AS YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE IT. NOT CALVIN BROCKINGTON THOUGH. HE FOUND A VERY CREATIVE SOLUTION.

I’m being silly of course. I’m sure Calvin Brockington didn’t come home to a flooded living room. The water we see on the floor here was put there on purpose and rightfully so. But before we get to that part, let’s talk about Calvin first. And this amazing new model Joseph Carrasco. Calvin we have known for years. He has presented us many wonderful editorials and I’m happy to announce that Calvin now is a totally independent photographer, working for himself and doing the things he loves to do. And it shows. Calvin occupies himself 100% with photography, makeup, styling and model scouting. And that brings us to Joseph Carrasco.

Calvin met Joseph a few months ago through an agent from New York who, knowing Calvin’s talent and beautiful work, asked him to shoot him. Joseph Carrasco lives in New York, a city he deliberately moved to in order to explore his possibilities of becoming a model. Honestly, looking at him it is clear he has everything to be successful, but looks aren’t everything. Joseph tried for years, always getting advice on what to do and what not to do, but never managed to sign a contract. The agent who contacted Calvin was hoping that working with Calvin would be a stepping stone for Joseph.

Calvin and Joseph met in a park in Dallas where they began their shoot. Calvin coached him, offered a ton of advice, thought him the ins and outs of posing, walking, moving…He pushed him to the limits to give him what he got and when Calvin got what he needed he sent Joseph back to his agent. Low and behold after the shoot, Joseph broke down to Calvin. Telling him how much his advice meant to him and how when he was in NY, everyone kept telling him what he was doing wrong. He said by the time he left NY, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a fashion/commercial model anymore. But Calvin had somehow lifted his spirits and made him feel like he could do it.

Joseph and Calvin kept in touch. Calvin tried even connecting him with some friends he had left in Dallas, that were still heavy into the agency scene. Joseph spoke to a few of them and one friend, a stylist called me and told me, that Joseph shouldn’t try and be a model. That he should however go after his dream. When Calvin mentioned that to Joseph, he expressed to him, that he only wanted to learn modeling, so that he could pose right, learn expressions and movement. But his ultimate goal was to be the type of model who poses nude, just in a fashionable way. I explained to him that this was not a new concept. That photographers like Terry Richardson and Mario Testino, had already thought of this. Brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford and Gucci were already using this style in their campaign ads. And if he really wanted to know more about it, that he should look up the career of Fashion Editor, Carine Roitfeld (Vogue Paris).

It was this conversation that lit up Josephs soul. He no longer felt like the black sheep. Calvin invited him over to Houston for a second shoot, forgetting about mainstream agencies and shooting what he wanted, what his passion was. Calvin se the stage, the wooden floor with the puddles of what that so beautifully complement Josephs sensuality and complexion. The work is breath-taking and should launch Joseph Carrasco’s modelling career in the right direction. And it did, knowing he already has other shots under the belt that start to create the buzz on the Internet. Needless to say, Joseph and Calvin were well met. –BM-

CALVIN BROCKINGTON | BEAUTIFULMAG
JOSEPH CARRASCO | BEAUTIFULMAG

BeautifulMag #243 October 2018 | Unity

Editors letter

Next month America votes once again. Midterm elections. Meaning the elections for all of the 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and the full terms of 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate. It has been a topic for discussion since, well, Donald Trump took the Presidency as many believe that the midterms could change the balance. But that is not what I want to talk about. What I do want to talk about is the road that leads up to this and the road America has been walking ever since that unfortunate day in November 2016. A road of different, often very outspoken opinions on pretty much everything. A road that has divided a country once so proud on its strength and unity, in haters and haters. A road of intolerance and unkindness. And, I’m sure, if we look back on this a few years from now, stupidity.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella have been hailed in history as the royal couple that laid the cornerstone of a unified Spain. They were warriors, unifying Castile and Aragon through their marriage and other parts of Spain by fighting the Moors. The Moors were Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb the Iberian Peninsula later known as Spain, Sicily and Malta, initially of Arab descent. Ferdinand and Isabella successfully rid Spain or the Moors and then went on to expel all Jews as well, thus creating a unified nation under the banner of the Holy Church. They probably weren’t the first but they are the most famous and did it very effectively. True warrior as she was, it is believed that Isabella once said after conquering the Alhambra that winning a major battle doesn’t mean you have won the war. The war against the Moors was a war against unbelievers and therefor a war that would last until the end of times. How right she was.

It doesn’t matter whether it is the Republicans against the Democrats, Christians against Muslims, white against black, left against right. Intolerance, the inability or unwillingness to understand and accept that people, ideas, believes, opinions and preferences differ from person to person seems to be rooted in our DNA. IN the Middle Ages the Church and its Princes believed unity could only exist if everyone thought and believed the same (forgetting social status on the way but that’s another story). We still believe that. We still do not allow others to be different, to think different and to behave different. The story of Ferdinand and Isabella dates back more than 500 years, and of course there are other examples that are even older. And if we don’t take care there will be more examples in our future. If we don’t start understanding that unity doesn’t lie in similarities but in differences. In letting people be and learning from each other. In stopping believing that we are so much better than others. After all, we do not have to agree on everything to be kind to each other. –BM-

BEAUTIFULMAG