
Rafael is a Latino twink I photographed a while back. In fact, it was so long ago I was still in my phase of merely "experimenting" with a still camera and I scheduled a shoot with him primarily to get more practice. Digital cameras were so new they weren't really practical yet, so I was shooting with a Nikon N-60 using slide film. Gawd, that seems so long ago...
We started shooting outdoors and I got some beautiful shots in the lush backyard of my old house in Oakland. However, when we moved indoors and I had to jump between the still camera and the video camera, I forgot to change my settings for indoor shooting. The big plus of shooting digital is you can review your shots to make sure everything is okay. Unfortunately, many of the photos in the living room were over exposed or out of whack because I didn't have the option to preview them without sending the film to a lab.
I was kind of embarrassed about these photos and never really showed them on Lavender Lounge, but after many years of working with vintage porn, I've picked up a few tricks to "rescue" old photos. I learned that if a color photo is too over exposed, it can sometimes still be saved. My trick is to take out all the color and turn it black and white. Once you do that, black and white photos give you much more latitude to adjust the brightness and contrast. And as an added bonus, your photo goes from amateur "birthday party" photography to suddenly becoming "art".
Take a look at the over-exposed color versions below and you'll see how I was able to "rescue" these shots which would otherwise would have been unacceptable to be shown in public or on a website. By simply tweeking the photos a little rather than discarding them, they suddenly take on a bit of a Diane Arbus look, and Viola! It's art!


I've seen plenty of art exhibits featuring black and white photos that people ooh and aah over, but if you displayed those same photos in color, they'd look mundane and pedestrian. I don't want to start a debate about what is and what is not "art", but I think it's funny how some people are allowed to label something as art simply because they say so.
To see more of this artistic endeavor, become a VIP Member of Lavender Lounge and look for Rafael in the Solo Studs section. You find 60 "art" photos and a 10 minute video of him jerking off that I can confidently say is not art - just pure unadulterated obscene pornography.
JOIN LAVENDER LOUNGE, VINTAGE BAREBACK OR MUSCLE BEAR CUB
AND GET FULL ACCESS TO ALL THREE SITES

See also:
My Theory of Michael Jackson Story