Instagram and Facebook have opened doors for me that lead to some of the most creative people that I have ever run across during my decades in the fashion business but what is exciting is that these creatives are not only in the fashion business, Case in point is Kevin Hoover who is a photographer who quite literally celebrates the male form/ male pulchritude or let’s just say well-built handsome men who are not your typical man on the street once their clothes disappear.
His term “gatekeeper” is so accurate as I had a very similar instance where I posted a photo of a fully clad Kate moss and the minute, I clicked share, I was told I was in violation which didn’t sit well with me. I have 2 Instagram accounts, long story, but not being satisfied with the first refusal of the “gatekeepers” decision I went immediately and reposted to the second account without a peep from then and later in the day posted it to the original account without any issue.
Since Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook have these monitors, so to speak, the problem is the inconsistency of their so-called purity regulations or community standards. Why are woman’s nipple grounds for violation and not men’s nipples, why is a painted or hyper realistically drawn or painted erection more acceptable than a photo? It’s frustrating, erratic. illogical and frankly ridiculous when there is so much porn online and so many images on those sites that actually are in violation of their own rules.
Anyway, I decided to speak to a few of the “artists”
who are most in the sights of these “police” and ask them about their work and
their experiences on social media so that brings us to the very talented Kevin
Hoover who will now tell us about his work, his history and run ins with the so-called”
gatekeeper” of social media......
Jeffrey Felner: How would you say the internet and social
media, especially Instagram, have affected the world of photography as to how
far you can push the envelope?
Kevin Hoover: Social media and the internet are a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you are able to almost effortlessly connect with people you might never have had the chance to meet. The curse is that the “gatekeepers” of these platforms create rules, regulations & restrictions which they enforce arbitrarily. I’ve had photographs removed from Instagram because you could see a glimpse of a guy’s pubic hair. Keep in mind, if a model is a hairy guy and you can’t really tell where the hair on his abs ends and the pubes began. I’ve seen pictures of women where you can see everything but the entrance to their vagina and that doesn’t violate their terms of service except for “nipplegate” which is almost immediately deemed a violation. Of course, you can’t get anyone on the phone to dispute the issue. Many of us independent contractors use social media to promote our business and when our images, or even worse, our accounts get disabled, it effects our livelihood.
KH: People tell me they can see an image and know it’s mine before they see the watermark. They say they can tell by how I use light. I like the idea of my work being recognizable in that way. It means that people are paying attention and have connected with what I do. There is a great amount of self-gratification in that.
JF: If you could invite any 5 people to dinner, who would
they be and why?
KH: I’d have to have 6 or I couldn’t do it at all. Photographers George Hurrell, Victor Skrebneski, Francesco Scavullo, and Rebecca Blake, make-up artist, Joey Mills and British Vogue editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful. It would be a dinner to say thank you for inspiring me in more ways than I can count.
JF: You celebrate the male body; how did you arrive
at that subject and why have you stayed with it?
KH: I’ve wanted to be a photographer since I was a sophomore in high school, but my dream was to move to New York and be a fashion photographer. Specifically, women’s fashion. Shooting the male form hadn’t even crossed my mind but the Universe had different ideas. After I finished college, I worked one soul sucking office job after another and then worse ... soul sucking retail. From retail, I started working in the music industry. I fell back into photography accidentally, thanks to a friend who asked me to come with him to a photo shoot to keep him company. The shoot was with two guys in swimwear for flyers to promote a beach event my friend was hosting. The photographer had an extra camera sitting there and it was literally calling me to pick it up. I asked him if it was ok if I shot some behind the scenes stuff and promised to stay out of his way. He said, “sure.” When my friend saw all the images from the shoot, he picked mine. That lit the spark. At the same time, social media was exploding and I started seeing images by Rick Day, Thomas Synnamon, Mark Henderson and several others and it clicked for me; you can shoot men and the images can be stylish and beautiful. The rest is as they say, history.
JF: How do you go about selecting your
subjects? Are there certain criteria you
enforce? Do the magazines impose any specific requirements from you as to
model, location etc. or do you get free rein? While we are on the subject...
does anyone pay anymore or has that become a thing of the past and what’s your feeling
about it?
KH:
It depends on the project. If I’m shooting for my
PROVOCATION book series of erotic male nudes, I ask that the models be
comfortable with nudity and having them published. I prefer the freedom to let
the Muse take us wherever. If someone books me for a shoot, we go wherever they
want to go. With that said, I don’t take on a shoot if I don’t see something in
the subject that I can capture. Money isn’t a motivating factor for me. When a
magazine commissions a layout, their criteria tend to be in regards to the
number of images, size of the images, wardrobe, and other technical aspects.
The rest is usually up to the photographer. Some publications still pay. So
many people approach you talking about “exposure” but clearly if you found me, I
am already exposed! While money isn’t a motivator for me, if people are buying
your magazine, then I say you can pay me for the content you “ordered.”
