His work has been published in Genre, Elle, Details, Teen Vogue, GQ… But you know him for his opulent coffee table books, for the impossibly handsome men –hundreds of them– he has lensed over the years, for the fantasies of beauty and lust he created. “Rick Day doesn’t just take pictures of masculine sex appeal. His work impresses with an almost corporeal tension.”
You credit Bruce Weber’s work with getting you started on your photography.
I was 28 years old and living in Atlanta, Ga. I have always been a workaholic and was leaving one job and headed to another during a rainstorm. I went into a bookstore to wait out the rain and saw Bruce’s new book Bear Pond. I started to look through it and could not stop turning the pages. I had to have this book. I had no clue who he was and was not a fashion person at all. I was always more interested in music. I bought the book and knew this was the life I wanted….to shoot beautiful men in beautiful locations naked. The next day I bought my first camera. I worked at a tanning salon during the day and would ask any guys that remotely looked like the guys from Bear Pond if they would be interested in being photographed. Getting them comfortable with being shot nude was a totally different hurdle. I started trying to understand lighting which I always knew was the key to the images I liked the most. I really wanted to shoot men’s bodies in the way that Victor Skrebneski shot the Chicago Film Festival posters. Once I understood how to do that, I think that was the beginning of developing my own style.
Despite your work in fashion photography, you’re best known for your male nudes.
That is where it all started for me. I moved to New York city in 1994 at the age of 32. I was under contract with Ford models shooting their new face girls. I was living in Chelsea at the time which was a very convenient location for the girls to get to. But as soon as that contract was up and I could shoot for other agencies I moved to the east village. The east village at that time was considered an untamed area of New York…. A bit sketchy. I loved it. It was a Mecca for singers and artists. This is where I really started to experiment with shooting nudes. I had always grown up with women being the object of desire. Beautiful and sexy. Bruce always made the men he shot beautiful and sexy. I was not interested in trying to be Bruce. I wanted to explore men on a much more erotic level. I started shooting a lot of straight men with really well-defined, chiseled bodies: these were easier to shoot. The guys that had built their bodies to perfection were usually a bit of an exhibitionist. I shot for a fitness agency that specialized in these body types. I would take this lighting style more and more into my fashion photography. High key lighting very contrasty. Being a self-taught photographer and not having assisted any other photographer definitely made my journey slower as I had no clue how to use strobe lighting. I am not sure if I would recommend this adventure.
A Rick Day photo is always immediately recognizable. How would you characterize your style? What are the ingredients? The color palette (often on the cold end)? Composition perhaps?
I have always been into the color of a photo. Before digital I would always do my own color printing at a lab in Chelsea. I could not afford to pay someone to print. This really taught me the art of printing and color. It opened the door to how to really make a print look and feel a certain way. Many, many long hours in a lab. 6pm-midnight, Monday thru Friday every week, for years. The life of a struggling photographer. I loved the colder images of Steven Klein as well as the greenish polaroid color of Annie Leibovitz. I always look at my photos as colorful and rich. I always feel like sometimes less is more as far as composition goes. The athletic nature of the men was more of the perfection of man. At least to me. When I started photography, everything was about the perfection of fashion. The pinnacle.
Let’s talk about your relationship with publisher Bruno Gmuender and the legendary coffee table books you released. All bestsellers, all sold out.
I had a great run with Bruno Gmuender. They took a chance on me when I first wanted to publish a book. Before working with Bruno Gmuender I was known in a smaller circle of fashion. After the first book with Bruno Gmuender suddenly I was known on more of a global scale. That I will always be appreciative of. The original book was titled Voyeur. They were more interested in the big, well sculpted bodies that I had been shooting. So, Players was born. They knew their audience. I knew I wanted to keep the books I did as limited edition runs as to not ever see them in a bargain basement bin at a bookstore. Too much work, love and effort put into them to see that. This was a detail I was very insistent with. I did not originally intend on having a series of Players books but when the original Players sold out, they asked if I would do a Players Two. I am not a big fan of sequels but decided to do it. With the success of that they wanted a Players 3 but I was not into keeping that series going… so, I we decided to do All Players. This would be the end of the Players series. It was the images of Players and Players Two combined into one big heavy book, with just a few of the guys that did not make the cut for the original books added in. When I shot Bel Ami the book it was a game changer. It was fantastic. The most beautiful guys and so good in front of a camera. A perfect match for me.
You also embraced the OnlyFans revolution and successfully run your own page: so many content creators seek you out these days, as a rite-of-passage of sort. Do you miss the old days of books, calendars and magazines?
As with everything in this business and life, you have to adapt. Film to digital. Magazines to books. OnlyFans was a great new platform to showcase what I was already shooting. Also a new revenue stream. However, the platform became more known for its amateur home movies, which was a huge contrast from the style I shoot. And a lot of the men I shoot did not have an OnlyFans account and did not want to be on OnlyFans. So, I decided to create my own platform RICKDAYLAND.COM. I think a lot of the content creators want to collaborate with me as I did with them. A great way to cross promote each other and grow your audience. I obviously have never shied away from nudity as I don’t think it is something to be ashamed of. We learn that only through religious belief… A way to control people. I do sometimes miss the old days of books, calendars and magazines, but we cannot change evolution. We can learn to embrace the future of what we do.
Censorship on social media. At times, it feels we’re back to the 50s: what’s your take on today’s society and its views on sexuality?
I hate it. But I understand it, if it is a platform that allows kids on. I do think the censoring is not even across the board. I also think that if the platforms are going to censor images, they should also censor hate speech and misinformation. I think platforms’ owners should be held accountable for the content they allow. It’s a weird time in the world and particularly in America. The public is always thirsty. The less clothes a guy or girl is wearing … the more likes. I have never been a huge fan of social media in general. It tends to be a cesspool of hatred. It also gives voice to everyone and not in a good way. It is the dumbing down of America and people in general.
How do you get your models to relax in front of the camera?
At this point in my career, I think the model understands what I shoot. But getting them to relax with me usually involves music and a lot of jokes.
Who are the photographers who have influenced you the most?
Well, that depends on what I am shooting. When I was shooting women for sure Meisel, Testino, Unwerth, Lindberg. When shooting men Weber, Ritts, Klein, Skrebneski. But there are so many great photographers that influence me daily. Both young and old.
What about the men who inspired you? Amongst the many you lensed, who stands out the most?
I would not want to hurt any of the hundreds of gorgeous men I have shot throughout the years. But anyone that really knows me knows that the guy I consider my muse is Steve Benisty. I call him Olivier.
