Photography Amber McKee
Words Sophia Razvi
Models Martin Myaka, Jack Dione & Avie Acosta at Photogenics LA, Tyus-Immanuel Berry at Wilhelmina Models and Lucas Machado at Storm LA
They're back. They're free. And they're somewhere other than 'in here'. It's the dawning of a new day for Martin, Ty, Jack, Avie, and Lucas as photographer Amber McKee coaxes the creatives outside, documenting the shift from 'ceiling' to 'sky'.
Cigarette-littered surfaces replaced with suncream, swimming pools, and the smudged windscreen of an old Mercedes in the California heat. Marvel as they now shelter from the big blue and drink in the colours of the county that drew them here. Five boys. Models. Dotted across the sun-bleached streets of LA.
Martin. He's the softly-spoken one. Watch how he swings his feet. Eyes now able to admire the clothes he has quietly been crafting away.
Ty. The military kid. Most sensitive to "false assumptions". Now free to walk and talk, making and unmaking conclusions as the world opens up and he can observe it around him.
Jack. Orange County, college kid. Never been in love but feels most free in friendship. Together Amber and he whittle the hours away shooting his story. A young soul with a retro view of life; there are only good things to come.
Avie. From Kansas to New York to LA. Came for the sushi and sunshine. Stayed for the outdoor hedonism.
Lucas. So much promise in the air. Turn on the faucet and let the cool water wash the cobwebs away.
When asked to put it down on paper, each boy had their own short story to tell. If the story was told in pictures: the tale would look a lot like this.
A familiar narrative. It's a transition from ceiling to sky. One that rests on the hope encapsulated in the silly one-minute musings of Avie, one of our protagonists:
LIPS
DRY
AFTER
A
LONG NIGHT
of
KISSINGrite.
