Qzise: a photographer with a sexy filmic sensibility

By DREW Rowsome
1 Dec 2018

"Being a film lover, my shooting style is somewhat cinematic," says photographer Qsize. "I create a story and ask my models to play the role. I always tell the models that I am not a fashion photographer and I don't photograph them like models, but as actors." It shows in Qsize's work. The men appear to be living in a movie still, immersed in an emotion or in transit to another experience. Of course they are also framed and shot seductively, whether they are seducing the camera or unaware of it. 

There is also, usually, a sense of place, of a lived-in or mysterious environment that the men exist in. "To be honest, locations give me inspiration," says Qzise. "When I see an interesting place, it creates a story in my mind. Even when I have a very good looking model with me, if I cannot find a good location that arouses me to shoot, it means nothing."

Qzise does amend that statement. "Some models inspire me as well. It depends on the situation and my mood at that moment. I admit that originally I loved shooting good-looking models with Superman-like bodies, but now that quality is just a part of what I look for. I realized that there are more important things than just appearance. A good attitude is the thing I now expect." 

He knows exactly what is required, "To work with me, models should come with a trust in me and know what they are doing. As you can see from my portfolio, some models were skinny, but it was not a problem for me at all. I worked with them because I believe that each individual has their own unique character. My challenge, my task is to bring out their character and show the viewers how special this model is."

Qzise began shooting landscapes, a byproduct of his love of travelling. "Many of my friends told me that they liked the photos of people that I photographed during my trips," says Qzise. Then friends asked him to do some "pre-wedding photography for them. After a lot of positive feedback, I  started seriously learning how to shoot portraits and I found that there were a lot of challenges and new discoveries. I studied the work of many famous photographers who inspire me, learned techniques from books and YouTube, and got support from my family and friends. From thereon, my passion for portrait photography quickly changed into an obsession."

Some of the challenges were practical matters. "When I first started to shoot models, real professional-models, I contacted the modeling agencies and asked if I could do test shoots. Sadly, the answer was silence. I could understand that as I was an unknown photographer and I did not have an official portfolio to show them. Luckily, I met a freelance model, Artem, who gave me the opportunity to photograph him. He worked very hard and professionally and I learned a lot from him. Thank you, Artem! I realized that shooting professionals was much easier than ordinary people, especially my friends. I had the chance to shoot a few more models who were Artem's friends and I felt more confident than the first time."

From there it was a natural progression. "When I had a large number of photos of those models, I started to build my own portfolio on Instagram and 500pix.com. People visited my pages and gave me likes and good feedback which encouraged me a lot. It still took many months to draw attention from modeling agencies but finally some of them gave me the chance to work with their models. Now, models contact me as they find my work online or sometimes I contact the agencies if I find that any of their models look attractive to me."

The only problem with professional models was that "some of them didn't understand what I wanted. They posed like fashion models trying to present clothes, shoes and fashion accessories. I had to remind them from time to time that they were actors. And sometimes even show them pictures from other sources that match the story." 

Qzise believes that "communication is the key. Every time, before I start to work with a model, I show him my work,. I make sure that they know and understand what I would like to do. Of course my shooting style is kind of sexy and the model must know this first. If he is not comfortable with that, I won't force him to take the job. But if he is okay with it - mostly they are - we talk about the shooting concept in advance."

Once shooting is underway, "Respect is the thing I always give to my models. I keep talking to the model in order to make him comfortable and relaxed. Another key to make it easy to shoot sexy is that I normally work alone, just me and the model, no other staff involved during the shoot." Qzise is frank with the models. "Yes, I intend the photos to be erotic, based on my personal taste. My work is 100 percent homemade. I have no team and assistance. Sometimes, I cannot do what I intend to do because of limited resources, but I'm fine with that. This is the reason why my brand is called Q(ueen) Size, not King Size." 

And he wants to make sure that the viewer, and the models, are aware that despite the deeply erotic and sensual imagery in his work, "I am not shooting porn style, so please don't expect to get to see that kind of picture in my work."

On Qzise's 500pix.com page he describes himself as a "part-time photographer," belying the commercial slickness and quality of his work. "I should have described myself as a non-commercial photographer because I work just for my own pleasure," he says. "Despite it being just my hobby, I was contacted by some companies to work for their campaigns and projects, but I refused because I could not work full time. And, unfortunately, the concepts they offered to me did not fit my interest. It's good for me to work on my own  as I can fully create what I really want to present through my lens. However I'm always open to working with other people if our working concept is similar."

Working solo with the models sometimes gives a sense of brooding or melancholy to Qsize's photos, making the stills appear to be from what we would call foreign art films. But the men, costuming (emphasis on underwear) and bulges are reminiscent of the longing camera caresses of Gus Van Sant or David DeCouteau. Qzise says that he is not trying to entice the viewer, "It is my enticement." Again Qzise emphasizes that the idea comes first, before the model or even the location. "Definitely, without it my photos would look like snapshots." 

Qzise's photos are truly international despite his home base. "Honestly, it is not easy to find the right locations suitable for my shooting style in Bangkok. Bangkok is a beautiful and charming place with lots of fun of activities to do, but I shoot sexy and I don't want to represent my home city as in anyway erotic, the culture here is not open to it. You might notice that nothing in any of my photos show the signs or visual signatures of Bangkok or Thailand. Bangkok itself does not inspire me. Instead, my inspiration mostly comes from the movies and my personal imagination."

But not always. When told that an atypical photo of Qzise's, "Chang," is my personal favourite, he agrees. "That's one of my most favorite photos too. The difficulty was we could not control the elephant well and he did not co-operate during the shoot. He tried to push my model off his back. I could have asked the elephant owner to force his baby to stay still, but I and my model didn't want that happening. We were looking for something natural and real and let the cutie be what it was. Thanks to my model for being so brave and patient."

It is the photo that Qzise says he is most proud of. "Some of my photographer friends from other countries asked me for information about the shoot, location and technique. They love this photo as it inspired them to discover Thailand." Even if Qzise has other destination dreams. "If everything was possible, I would like to us a Hollywood movie studio as my shooting location." He laughs and says, "Wake up Jay!" then explaining, "My name is Jay, but Qzise is my brand name and I prefer people to recognize my brand, instead of my name. My Instagram is Qzise and everyone is always welcome to visit. I have also occasionally set my work to be published in online magazines like HUF, Adon, VOLANT, Art of Portrait, etc."

And now MGT.