Fridae

Kal has spent over fifteen years as one of the primary body/fashion photographers on the west coast of the US photographing the likes of Rod Stewart, Cindy Crawford, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rachel Hunter, Mickey Rourke and Reichen of The Amazing Race fame for a wall calendar.

LA-based celebrity photographer, Kal Yee, has a new photo book, Slide, out this week.

Readers get a glimpse of his new book in more than a decade, Slide, the third after Perfect Form (1991) and Perfect Face (1992). He has since photographed over 100 fitness magazine covers, 175 posters, and 90 calendars. Kal tells us about how he got into photography and why David Beckham is the guy he wants most to photograph despite warning the gay community of its "excessive adoration of the 'hot straight guy.'"

æ: ASOL (Age, Sex, Occupation, Location)
Kal : Male, Photographer, Los Angeles.

æ: Congrats on launching your new photo book, Slide, this month. Tell us what it's about and why the title?
Kal: Thanks. Slide is a compilation of photos of handsome male models from Los Angeles, New York and Miami. The models are in underwear or non-frontal nude. I have developed an energetic process which when I photograph models, they are drawn towards the camera. The model actually feels like he is sliding towards the camera, therefore the name of the book - Slide. When a model slides while I shoot, his image and energetic state are captured more vividly so the viewer has a stronger interaction with the model's image: the model seems to come off the page.

æ: How did the idea come about?
Kal: Well, I do Tai Qi and am quite sensitive to energetics. One day I was preparing to photograph someone I knew quite well and I noticed the person sliding energetically towards me. I saw the possibilities of this for my photography and began to experiment on how to enhance the effect.

æ: What can readers expect?
Kal: The viewer will probably notice that he has a strong reaction to the images: a greater sense of reality and sexual response to the images because they are energetically charged.

æ: You've shot countless posters, calendars, fitness covers, ads and hundreds of editorial pages in GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Playboy, etc. How did you get into photography? How old were you when you got your first camera? And what camera was it?
Kal: I picked up a camera in college, took headshots of friends and loved seeing them appear in the darkroom. I was 21 when I got my first camera - a completely manual Nikon F 35mm.

Slide will be available for sale or order from Sept 19 on www.slidethebook.com.

æ: Tell us more about your first two books, Perfect Form (1991) and Perfect Face (1992).
Kal: I have photographed over 100 fitness magazine covers, 175 posters, and 90 calendars. I was known for photographing the body and the images were commercially successful. I accessed much of the work I had done and thought that magazines, posters, and calendars had a very short lifespan- they were usually discarded rather quickly. So, I decided to do a book, Perfect Form, as my more durable statement on how I view and present the male body. A year later I did the same for faces in Perfect Face. Well, two years ago a friend of mine does an internet search and informs me that Perfect Face is selling for over $1,000 USD. I felt there must be a demand and decided to photograph Slide.

æ: You've shot a number of celebrities including Reichen, one half of the winning team on reality travel show, The Amazing Race 4, for a 2005 wall calendar. Any anecdotes to share?
Kal: When I met Reichen he knew the dialogue to the film Mommy Dearest verbatim and did an amazing impression of Joan Crawford. Here is this hunky, ex-US Air Force officer and pilot doing Joan Crawford. Now, I ask him to do a little of the impression every time we meet.

æ: Who would you like to photograph?
Kal: David Beckham. I think he naturally Slides toward the camera in a powerful way. That said, I think the gay community should focus more on gay icons as there is excessive adoration of the "hot straight guy." However, I think Beckham is somewhat more "accessible" to the gay audience also because of his not-so-straight styling or "metrosexuality." I think this further underlines the fact that there are so few gay icons - I can hardly think of any hot gay icons.

æ: What tips do you have for photographers who want to get into fashion and celebrity photography?
Kal: Develop a passion and keep that fire going.

æ: What inspires you?
Kal: Beautiful design - architectural, graphic, fashion and food.

æ: If you could do it all over again, what would you change?
Kal: Early on I had a strong response for my fashion photography in Milan but I wanted to return to California. If I could do it all over again, I would have stayed in Europe longer and developed my fashion style and body of fashion work.

æ: What was the most important thing that happened to you in the last 12 months?
Kal: I began to focus on the importance of developing friendships more.

æ: What do you think is important in a relationship?
Kal: Honesty and the renewal of commitment which involves seeing the good in the other person and the relationship.

æ: What (or who) turns you on?
Kal: Being a photographer, I would say a handsome face, athletic body, and an overall sexy "vibe."

æ: Tell us about a cause that you support?
Kal: I have supported APLA through the years (Aids Project Los Angeles).

Slide arrives on September 19 and will be available for order on www.slidethebook.com.