The Many Faces of Joshua Maliszewski

Among other things, models often serve a double role as a muse. They can become the inspiration behind the work and in some cases help me elevate my work to a new level. Such was the case with Joshua Maliszewski.

A more natural born model would be difficult to find. With each snap of the shutter, Josh would slide effortlessly into a new pose. He connected so completely with me as the photographer and the shoot that I would do no more than think of the pose I wanted and Josh would adopt it before I could speak the words.

In one scene, Josh projected the innocence of a delighted young man receiving a kiss, in the next the joy of a romantic afternoon in the mountains and in the next a raw sensuality that made the camera sweat!

Add to that a look of playful, devilish mischief and eyes that change from a sparkling blue to smoldering dark embers that burn a hole through the lens …

and you have a 5′ 9″, 165 lb, blond, blue-eyed package that quickly caught the attention of several publications and the world.

Our first shoot was near the end of last summer and within days publications were scrambling to get him in print. I e-mailed photos from that shoot to reFresh magazine in London and within minutes the editor-in-chief responded with the words, “He’s got something! We want to run the photos in our Nov/Dec issue.”

Connex247.com and BeautifulMag.eu rushed to get photos of my shoots with Josh onto their publications, each with the conclusion that he was the next big thing. This was followed with a calendar shoot for On Display Men where he is now one of the most popular models and two appearances on DNA Magazine’s website. Josh recently completed a fashion editorial shoot on the Caribbean Islands with the French photographer, Ian Holmes. Photos from recent shoot I completed with Josh and another model, Joe Wegner (more on Joe coming soon), landed a photoshoot for Sweat Undergear’s advertising campaign in May and a fashion editorial I shot with the two will soon be published in Fantastics Mag.

The victories haven’t come without an equal share of letdowns. As with all of us in the business, I’ve seen his hopes soar with the promise of fantastic opportunities, only to have them dashed when the project never materializes: Landing a part in a cable TV movie, only to have the film canceled; the magazine cover that was knocked out of the running by a more “newsworthy” photo days before going to press… to name a few. And there are the naysayers and critics who say “you’ll never make it” or “you don’t have a chance.” With each of these, Josh has only come back stronger. Many times I’ve heard him say, “They are wrong. I CAN do it,” and he takes the next step toward his dream.

~ by markstout on April 13, 2008.