Palm Springs Road Trip, Part 4 – The Last Day

NOTE: This is Part 4. To start at Part 1, click here.

The next morning I woke up early (it was about 6:30) and looked outside. The morning air was crisp and chilly, no one was around the pool, and the place looked beautiful. I put on my swimsuit (not that I needed to), stepped outside and dove into the heated pool. It felt wonderful. I had a great swim, then got into the hot tub, which as usual was the perfect temperature. Refreshed and invigorated, I went back to my room.

What a great way to start the day!

I’d been planning to let the models sleep in because I didn’t want to get up early myself. But since I was already up, I decided to drag them out of bed and get some shots in that great early-morning light. I went to their room and knocked. And waited. Knocked again, and waited some more. Finally Jonny cracked the door, squinted at me, and let me in.

Rob hadn’t even peeked out from under his covers. It looked like he was going to be the immovable object. So because Jonny had already crawled out of bed, he became my victim. He wasn’t happy to leave his warm bed and come out into the cold morning air so I could photograph him, but he reluctantly said okay, I’ll do it. Is an hour from now okay? (Jonny needs 30 minutes just for his hair.)

I told him NO! It’s gotta be RIGHT NOW. Every minute and we lose more of this gorgeous morning light! He moaned, but he was a sport–he was out by the pool about 3 minutes later.

When he got into the pool, he relaxed a bit, because it was nice and warm. Not hot, just but the right temperature. I had him paddle around a bit and when he got to the other end of the pool I told him to get out of the pool and go get into the hot tub. He moved so fast I almost didn’t get a shot of it.

We did that a few more times before I just let him relax in the hot tub for a few minutes. I think he was finally agreeing with me that this is a nice way to begin the day. (Although after I told him okay, we’re done for now, he went right back to bed.)

By now it was still early. I think it was 7:30 or so. So I let the boys sleep some more and I went back to my room and caught up on some work I’d brought with me. (After first getting some breakfast from the Santiago Resort’s breakfast room, which had a nice selection of fruits, cereal, pastries, toast, etc., and great coffee.)

By noon I had caught up on the work I was doing and I was getting impatient to get started shooting again. I went to the boys’ room and they were STILL in bed. They let me in and I proceeded to hassle Rob, who was trying to ignore me. I told him that since he was not willing to get out of bed, we would do the next portion of the photo shoot with him IN bed. He kind of liked that idea. I did, too. So I shot for about a half hour, in low light with no flash because I wanted the natural light. That meant a lot of the photographs were a bit blurry but somehow that kind of fit the moment…

Shooting Rob and Jonny Together

After that we had some lunch and hung out for a while before starting to shoot again in the early afternoon. I asked Rob and Jonny if they’d be willing to do some shots together, and now that they knew each other and were comfortable with each other–and with me–they said sure, let’s try it.

We weren’t sure what we were going to do so just played it by ear. So what happened was, the boys did a push-up competition on the grass. (Jonny won.) Next it was walk-on-your-hands time. Then try-to-push-the-other-guy-out-of-the-hammock time. All this was exactly the kind of stuff I had been hoping for, and it got even better when I had them get in the pool and start splashing each other. I love the moments that got captured in this part of the shoot.

When I started to run out of ideas, the two of them came up with something. I’m still not sure what exactly what it was…Jonny really wanted to smoke a cigarette, so Rob went back to the rooms and got robes and they laid themselves down on a pair of the beach chairs and we created something that looked a bit like a gay naked cigarette commercial. Then Rob got mischievous and it turned into something else, still not sure what, but the whole thing was fun and funny and the kind of unpredictable I like about photo shoots where you just let things happen.

By this time the light was starting to get really nice again and I had Jonny relax because I wanted to focus on Rob for this. I did what turned out to be our final images of the photo shoot, with Rob in and out of his robe in the beautiful late-afternoon light. Great stuff!

By the time I finished shooting the last images of Rob, it was late afternoon and it felt like it was time to head back to LA. So we packed up and said goodbye to the Santiago Resort. As we drove out of Palm Springs, I felt tired but happy. The photo shoot and the road trip had been fun and successful.

I also felt really good about the experience we’d all shared. I’d brought together 3 strangers and we’d had a wonderful time working together, laughing, and bonding. Each of us had two new friends and some great stories to share.

And as always, I couldn’t wait to get back home and get started creating art inspired by these two beautiful new men I’d brought into my life.

UPDATE: NOW THERE’S A ROB AND JONNY E-BOOK!

I’ve created an e-book covering the entire Palm Springs experience with Rob and Jonny. It’s called Palm Springs Road Trip, and you can purchase it for instant download (or on CD) in my E-Books Store now.