PHOTO SHOOT! A Taste of Dark Colombian: Camilo

The long wait is over. I’ve found and photographed a new model here in Mexico!

Up until now, my model search in Mexico has been very frustrating. I’ve lived in Puerto Vallarta for over 2 years, and I’ve talked to or interviewed several potential models. Yet with every one of them, something has either not worked or fallen through. Miguel was handsome and looked really good in clothes but not so good out of them. Cesar wanted to model and looked great in the test shots, but his gringo daddy vetoed it (even though he evidently has no problem with Cesar working as a naked lap-dancer at the local rent-boy bar!). Others either had too much attitude, were scared of posing nude, or were completely unreliable and didn’t show up.

To complicate matters, Mexican men generally don’t seem to be as interested in working out and fine-tuning their bodies, at least not as much as the men in Hawaii and Brazil. Which means finding a good-looking guy with a defined body in Puerto Vallarta is a challenge.

Camilo was just another one of my model-search frustrations, until recently. About a year ago I was at a local bar called Fiesta and saw this shirtless waiter I hadn’t seen before. He was striking: dark, handsome, lean, muscular, great abs. I gave him my card. His name was Camilo and he was from Colombia.

A few days later, he came for an interview—arriving 2 hours late. I took some test shots and he did look pretty amazing. But then he proceeded to tell me I wasn’t paying enough, and that he had a lot of problems with posing nude—and he told me all of them. I decided I didn’t care how great the test shots were, this was way too much drama, and sent him on his way.

But the story wasn’t over. Camilo checked out my website and realized I was legit, and some of his attitude fell away. Over the next several months, I would see him around town and we would say hi, then he would message me, wanting to set up a photo shoot, but I kept saying no.

I was starting to warm up to him, though. He was being polite and respectful and not pushy, just persistent. And it had been a LONG time without a model. Plus I kept looking around at the place where I live, a big apartment with lots of cool Mexican touches and lots of light. It was a perfect photo-shoot location and I still hadn’t used it! So I decided to give Camilo one more chance.

This time, though, I was less polite and more direct. I messaged him and said, “Okay, this is the date, this is the time, this is how much I’m paying. Be on time or a bit early, or don’t show up. I’m not interested in discussing it—just give me a yes or no.”

He said yes.

Then when the day arrived, to my amazement, he showed up not only on time, but early!

What followed was a smooth, productive, exciting session. Camilo was eager, cooperative and looked great in the morning light. I was happy to be able to confirm that yes, my apartment is indeed a great photo-shoot location. Right from the start I knew this was going to be a good session.

I shot photos of Camilo for about two and a half hours. At the end of that time I had shot about 1100 images and already knew I had some terrific possibilities for future paintings. When I said goodbye to Camilo, we were both happy: he because he had some cash for his next travel adventure, and me because I was inspired again!

Watch my website over the next few weeks and you’re sure to see some exciting new Camilo-inspired images–and possibly an e-book.

E-BOOK NOW AVAILABLE! The Camilo E-Book was published in April 2017 and it’s now available for download (or on CD). More info here.