This week I’m going to write a series of posts on the inner workings of UNB. Some stories you may or may not have heard. I hope
you all enjoy them and get to know why I have done things over the years.
We have done our own shoots since 2010/2011. I always felt we needed to do shoots. The early shoots had more real guys. They were not classified or had ever worked as models. But we got negative feed back from some in the industry and readers. I wanted ‘real guys” and that was my vision for the earlier shoots.
The Early Shoots
These we kinda struggled on. Having never done shoots it was a little bit of getting thrown in the deep end. We had too many pairs in the begging. In one shoot we had 70+ pairs. It was a pure nightmare. The shoot went for hours. After that shoot I said never again. And so far we have kept to that.
We had a lot of models just drop out or no show. We had several shoots that almost weren’t. The 2012 and 2013 holiday shoots almost didn’t happen. Models fell out the night before and that day. We had Matt who got on his phone and found some great guys. It got to the point instead of booking 2-3 models I would book a minimum of 6 in hopes 2 would show up.
One thing I learned quickly is you have to be organized before the shoot. The first really didn’t have a shoot list. It was here is Brand A then Brand B and so on. Now I create a document that lists all and the shoot order. So there is no question on what the guys will wear or what we will shoot.
The Current Shoots
The current shoots are a dream to do and manage. Taylor Campbell, our photog we use, can get the most amazing shots. He will take some and go ok done.The first time I was worried we didn’t get the shot. After seeing the pics I was like “Damn he got several shots.” So now when he says he got it, we move on. I trust him with pics we need.
Our current group of models is amazing. Andrew, Martin, Jacob, Chandler have been the core of the guys. They are always dependable. They aren’t in every shoot because I like to rotate guys in major shoots. I don’t want you guys to go “oh it’s Andrew and Martin again, seen it.” I want you to go “Oh Andrew and Martin are BACK!”
One thing I want to up our game on is video. I am the videographer and run the shoot. It’s a bit much for me to do all myself. I need to branch out and get someone to do the video for me. Some videos have been amazing and others I get the footage and go “Dear God, what the hell is this.” I can say this because I took the video. I have a few ideas for the future.
The Future Shoots
One thing I want in future shoots is more autonomy. More doing our own thing and taking it back to our roots. In previous shoots from 2013ish on we have brands pay to be in the shoot. This time we are going to allow brands in for free but we will pick what we want to shoot. So just because a brand submits it doesn’t mean we show everything we received.
I was planning a few shoots in my mind. Now note these are planned and not set in stone. But there are a few shoots I want to do:
- Real guy shoot – that has a very body positive message
- Thong shoot – thongs are very popular among all guys.
- Swim Thong Shoot – a real shoot of guys on the beach in thongs
- Superhero shoot – this has been long in the works no details just know I’m going to make this happen
- Work out wear shoot – Set in a gym and locker room
Video is big in the future. I want to do a true behind the scenes with talking to the guys and showing fun moments of the shoot. I also want to create our own short length videos as well. But video is a whole nother beast.
These are my insights into the world of UNB photos and videos past, present and future.
