Ryan McGinley - the cheesy OMG does do him justice in a way

Have been listening to Tania Ketenjian's interview with Ryan McGinley on theunobserved.com. Apart from the fact that the guy has a wonderful voice, his photos are simply mind-blowing. Before I heard the interview, I thought that this is the life he lives, some crazy drug-fueled parties, with lots of free love, unexpected situations, like climbing trees naked, jumping through fireworks, and falling from the sky. Yes, it is. It is part of his life. He says " I make these things happen." So, they do happen. 

His idea of this long-term project is to go around the USA and spend a year in total, photographing every day. So far, he's been on three road trips, and he'll usually spend 2 months or so working with the models he chooses to work with. Last time they were on the road he shot 4000 rolls of film and edited all the photos down to 50 he made an exhibition of!!! that is very impressive! He's extremely determined to get exactly what he wants, to get the exact size and colour of each photo he has taken. he says everything he does is excessive. He has 50 different prints of a photo made and then, once he's chosen the right colour, he prints the photo in 8 different sizes. 

Nice things he says (not exact quotes):

I love the body, I love the way it moves. When asked how he feels about nudity, he explains he grew up in a big family where he was the youngest of 9 kids. He has 5 brothers and 2 sisters and the age difference between him and the next youngest brother is 11 years and the oldest 18 years, so he grew up in the company of teenagers, and they were always naked... And he says he doesn't know why. I love it, i love the fact that the body was part of growing up for him. And that he loves it and that he loves photographing it.

I do what I want to do. I am the happiest when I am with my camera and can shoot naked people running around, jumping, falling.

I never think when something good happens. I am onto the next thing. Ok, this exhibition is opening now but I have been taking photos for it for the last year. And have 5 more projects going on.

I see my photos as fantasy, as movies of my life. Utopia - the life I wish I was having. The camera makes me a happy man, it gives me access to special places.

I love the idea of falling. It's spontaneous, graceful, there's an element of surprise in it. 

ALl images taken from ryanmcginley.com where you can check the photos' titles and dates, but most of all, see some of the most extraordinary US photographers' work (as if I knew them all:)