Who Wants A Moustache Ride? (I'm going to regret that title...)

Hey Peeps,

I can bet you know at least one dude, be it your friend, brother, father, son or some other label that connects their life to yours.

I can also bet that at least one of those guys has suffered from a fight with prostate cancer or some form of mental health like depression and/or anxiety.

If not, well you do now.  Me.

For an explanation of the moustache, keep reading.

I haven't had prostate cancer - thank goodness, and it may not look like it from the image above, but I have suffered from large struggles with anxiety and depression.  Bottomless pits that left me in a world that was flat and colorless, without substance or meaning of any sort.  

But I fought.  

I still fight today.

And this month, I'm hoping you will join me in that fight by joining/donating Movember & Sons.  They are a great organization in these struggles and I am proud to be part of a team of men who support it.

Our team, the League of Extraordinary Moustaches, is made up of over a dozen guys in my local area, led by our Team Captain and fellow photographer, Adam Graham.

We have raised several hundred dollars in just these few days and are continuing to collect more with your help.

You can see my progress on my Fanpage every two days as I update my moustaches growth.

Check it out so far.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

Okay, okay, not much growth right?  Well it's only been 5 days - cut me some slack, it will get better.

One of the many fun things with Movember are the free, customizable cards you can order, here's a shot of ours that I just received today and I also hope to grow by the end of the month.

Man, that makes me look old...

Also, I wanted to generate more fundraising by using my photography, so I am donating 10% of every shoot I take in Movember towards this cause.

How my Holiday Special helps Movember

I challenge all of you, whether an artist or whatever it is you do to do something similar in support of Movember.


So please listen, care, grow and give.

Oh, before I go, a quick "Good voting" to my American readers, I hope you all the best in your leadership choosing and sincerely enjoy the democracy that so many in this world don't get to.

And I hope Obama wins.  BAM!!  ;) 

Laters,
Michael Carty

Michael Carty Website
Michael Carty Email

Model Shoot: Spencer Robertson

Maybe it's just me, but I find it awfully hard to find male models in this industry. 

I'm sure that I'm wrong, I'm sure there are lots of male models out there saying,"Michael! Here I am! Why don't you take my photos?"  And why would they say that? 

Because it is hard to find male models in this industry, so it should be easy to find the few who exist.

Maybe it's my location.  Maybe there is just such a huge overflow of female models in the industry that it makes the number of males seem non-existent.  I don't know, but what I do know is that I got to shoot with an extremely determined and fun male model earlier this month, Spencer Robertson.

You may have seen my work with Spencer in a previous post here.

Spencer isn't your average teenage model.  Although he is energetic, active, tall, funny and smart, he surprises me with little things.  For one, until I took his photo with my phone during lunch, he didn't know what Instagram was.

I was floored.

Not because I think everyone should use Instagram - because I don't - but because I believed in the usual stereotype that all teens were plugged into their phones and the countless apps they can have.

And then, today, while writing this post, he surprised me again by telling me with a laugh that he didn't know how to send me his FB fanpage link.

Que?  No hablo Facebook?

I actually find this refreshing in, well, anyone I guess.  He's not always plugged in, which not only makes him a better model to interact with but also a better person.  He hasn't slipped into that socially inept category that is so easy for us to fall into when we spend all of our time with our laptops, cell phones, smart phones, devices, etc.

So back to Spencer.

We shot in several locations - including instudio, and spanning from the morning until late afternoon.

We even got permission to use someones sailboat for our marina location, which was fun and nerve-racking at once(ever pass $2000+ worth of gear over salt water while trying to balance with the waves?)

Here is a small taste of what we got:

How can you say no to this guy, eh?

Cheers,

Michael Carty

Michael Carty Website
Michael Carty Email