Summer Boys

von RJ Sebastian & Jake Jaxson

Hardcover, 240 × 320 mm, 160 Seiten
Texte auf Deutsch und Englisch

Zum Buch im Salzgeber.Shop

Summer Boys

Einen Ort, an dem der Sommer nie zu Ende geht, wollten Jake Jaxson und RJ Sebastian, die Macher des US-Adult-Labels Cockyboys, mit ihrem neuen Buch schaffen. „Summer Boys“ ist für die beiden Partner und Filmemacher weit mehr als nur die Fortsetzung ihrer Fotoband-Erfolge „A Thing of Beauty“ und „Sixty Nine“. Der Band ist der Versuch einer Utopie. In knapp hundert sonnendurchfluteten Fotografien fangen Jaxson und Sebastian die verschiedenen Stimmungen der warmen Jahreszeit in all ihrer Schönheit, Wärme und Lebenslust, aber auch in ihrer Melancholie und Vergänglichkeit ein. Die Bilder wärmen, funkeln und beglücken wie der Sommer selbst. Ein strahlender Morgen am See, ein heißes Rendez-vous am Strand von Malibu, eine Pool-Party in den üppig grünen Wäldern des Cockyboys-Camps, ein Date im kühlenden Schatten einer Ferienhütte – die gezeigten Szenarien zeichnen ein Bild des Sommers, das gleichzeitig ideal und authentisch ist. Darin gleichen sie den eigentlichen Stars des Buches: den 20 Cockyboys-Models, die sich für das Projekt als „Summer Boys“ outeten und ihm zu seinem Namen verhalfen.

Photographers’ Note

The pictures in this book have many different layers: joy and melancholy; strength and vulnerability; love and lust; longing and freedom. Since taking over and reinventing CockyBoys in 2010, we’ve tried to stress these diverse aspects of life and sexuality. Our work has resonated with our private lives, and our lives have found expression in our work. This has given us the opportunity to grow both professionally and personally with every new challenge, with every new project, and with every new performer. It’s strange that realizations like this seem to become clearest in wintertime. When the darkness and cold envelope our country house in downstate New York, when the stripped trees, silent lakes and sometimes snow-covered hills on our property hold their breath for a while, we’re forced to do most of our shooting indoors. But there is always material left to work on from the last summer — scenes we shot in the woods when the trees were still lush and green, pictures we took by the pool when it was still a refuge from the heat, images of our performers when they arrived at our house in shorts and tank-tops instead of coats, beanies and scarfs. Then they caressed, cuddled and fucked each other in the open air of endless sunny afternoons. Their skin was covered with sweat instead of goosebumps. They were summer boys.

But it’s not only the weather that makes a summer boy; it’s also a state of mind. We both come from places where even in wintertime the temperature never falls below the freezing point. Jake grew up in the subtropical climate of New Orleans, RJ in the mild Mediterranean vibe of L.A., the City of Angels. Los Angeles is where we met, fell in love and, in the first decade of the new millennium, decided to quit our thriving careers as actor/model (RJ) and TV producer (Jake) and make a daring but liberating move: we became full-time pornographers. This also involved a physical move, to the tolerant, cosmopolitan and relaxed atmosphere of New York City. The freezing winters were definitely not what attracted us, but at least Jake can appreciate them as a time for contemplation and for gathering creative resources. For RJ it’s a little different. Even after ten years, he struggles with the darkness and cold in the season from November to April. He misses the sunlight, the long warm days and the energy they set free. Every time we travel to L.A. in winter for work or for play, our arrival there is like a sigh of relief for his whole organism. The summer boy within him comes back to life.

It is this special, lustful energy that we´ve tried to capture and celebrate in the pictures of this book. Shot partly in the woods which surround our house in New York State and partly by the piers and beaches of Malibu, there is a touch of both worlds in this project: the everlasting summer in Southern California and the transitory summers on the Northern East Coast. But these two places only set the scene for the essence that CockyBoys stands for: our performers, our friends, our companions, our summer boys. We chose almost 30 of them (and a cute dog) to be part of this project, forming couples who tell their own little stories of physical and spiritual rapprochement. In contrast to other porn studios, from the very beginning our philosophy at CockyBoys has been only to pair men who feel a genuine attraction for each other. That’s why our performers’ encounters convey real tension, affection and excitement. We hope our viewers will discover all of that in this book, and much more.

RJ’s photographs for this project express the freedom, joy and inner peace that maybe only summertime can give us. If you really pay attention, you can feel the tender warmth of a summer wind as you turn the pages. If this book awakens the summer boy within you, no matter what the season or in what part of the world you find yourself, our mission is accomplished. Endless summer for everybody.

Love,
RJ Sebastian & Jake Jaxson