Haley’s sizzling Male Portraiture...

By Jason Kelpenger @jasonk27

Photographer and Friend, Ross Haley has captured the male form in this sizzling series of portraits featuring fashion and underwear models like the late and great Jorge Ilich who lead the way for him to work with models like Rilley Jacob, Jackson Grant, Jack Vidra, Sergio, and Cory Frederick… to portray the stunning beauty of the male form.

Ross has done work for weddings and landscapes in Montana, but his main focus has been with portraits. Traveling to Houston and Columbus, Ross captures the male form in model Rilley Jacob.

He is excited to use his skills and gear to mimic natural light and to capture the natural beauty of his subjects in portrait form. In Ross’ own words he brings the background to the creation of this amazing work of male art.

I started photography in college at Northern Illinois University, and made it my major with a minor study in Journalism. In school I worked with old-school film processes that taught me to slow down, plan ahead, and shoot with more preparation when I knew I could get the shot. Although my studies usually revolved around landscapes, macro work, and the occasion abstract, I had a growing interest in shooting the human form.

Since I was enrolled in Life Drawing classes, I took a chance and started hiring some of the male models from class, to pose for photos on days when they would be there already. Using the orange tungsten lamps on the wall for drawing class, I had the models pose while I fumbled around with the camera, desperately trying to learn this “digital photography thing”.

Being a semi-closeted mid-western gay man in college, I didn’t really show these pics to any friends, but found some simple feedback on a website called DeviantArt. I can’t say I’ve really learned anything from DeviantArt, but it was there for me to showcase my ‘work’ and get some general feedback. As my skills improved I started doing more basic portraiture, practicing with speedlights and portable lights, anything I could use to learn about lighting and the technical side.

After I graduated I decided to step more into photographing people, and still had my secret focus on men’s fitness and underwear photography. Since then, for the past few years I have gradually stepped more into underwear photography as a means of life; shooting catalogs and editorials, and some general promotion for multiple companies. As my skills improve, and I can afford more equipment, I have been enjoying traveling a bit, and photographing with companies across the U.S.

You can follow and see more of Ross’ work in his social media:

The models featured (and shown in the same order) below are: