An image can be a powerful tool when used to promote the perceived entertainment value of a specific male stripper.
Images can be either made on-the-fly or created with a promotional strategy in mind. I have been a photographer for the exotic male dancer entertainment industry for over 10 years. It has been my job and my pleasure to create promotional images that encourage customers to attend events at bars, clubs and other venues. I have successfully used a simple strategy throughout my career. Let me share it with you.
Plan Your Photo Shoot Poses
Powerful pics and videos work hand-in-hand in the promotional strategy for a male stripper. In social media a mix of both is best to reach your audience. In this blog we will be discussing pics only.
When using images to promote himself, the male stripper needs to create a plan for posing in a photo shoot. I've used a very simple plan for years. Plan your images as a strip-tease. Start out with poses while fully clothed. Then create poses after removing some articles of clothing. Then eventually finish with images while fully nude.
Within this simple plan, remember that it is a strip-tease. We place emphasis on the word "tease". And although we say to finish fully nude, this doesn't mean that everything is on display. An image with suggested nudity without the 'boy parts' actually being shown is enticing and definitely a tease.
For those who choose to create and maintain them, I recommend that full-nudity is saved for the only fans accounts. Keep some of the mystery to encourage the customers to attend your performances.
Options For Fully Clothed Images
When we say fully clothed, we are not forgetting that the image is of a male stripper. Fully clothed means that most of his body is covered but there is still a hint of what is underneath or an erotic tease is displayed.
Fully clothed would include street clothes or costumes. But you can also include a sheet, blanket, a flag, fabric or paper. In other words, anything that covers most of his body.
His shirt could be unbuttoned most of the way showing some of his chest. His pants could be unbuttoned displaying the color of his underwear, or skin if he isn't wearing any.
The hint of what is underneath could also be the imprint of his cock in his jeans as it goes to the right or left. Or even holes in the jeans that go very close to the cock and balls, or may even show them but they are covered in underwear or a jock strap.
A flag can be draped so that none of the 'boy parts' are uncovered but skin is showing.
Whatever the erotic tease, the focus should be on his best features. If the male stripper is well-endowed, then some images should emphasize the size of the bulge or imprint.
If he has an amazing bubble butt, then the focus would be on the curve of his ass, or fabric that is slightly tucked into the crack of his ass emphasizing fullness and roundness of the two globes.
Some Clothing And The Visual Strip-Tease
After fully-clothed images have been taken, it is time to start removing articles of clothing. This could include a fully opened shirt, top or jacket with bare skin, nipples and/or abs showing but pants still in place. You can do the same equivalent only in a costume.
Start with images that have clothing on top of underwear. A hot cowboy image would have the male stripper wearing a cowboy hat, unbuttoned shirt, underwear and boots but no jeans.
If his body has tattoo artwork that stands out, emphasize this in some of the poses. There are some customers and fans who are really into tattoos. Create at least one or two poses for their appreciation.
Step into the world of leather for a different style image. The leather fetish is popular with many fans.
A hot image of a fireman could include the hat, pants and boots with no jacket or shirt. A construction worker costume tease could include the hard hat, no shirt, construction vest, underwear or shorts, and boots.
Once again, remember to emphasize the assets of the particular male stripper. If he has a great chest, then he should dress and undress to bring attention to it. Try a wet t-shirt that fits snug either with wet underwear below or no underwear and the t-shirt is pulled down to cover 'the boys'.
With the same idea in mind, use a dry t-shirt pulled down to cover the guy's junk. This is an especially powerful image if he has muscular thighs and legs.
Posing With Less Clothing
Images of him wearing underwear are important to the male stripper for promotions such as posters for events where he'll be performing. They are just as valuable for social media posts.
Select underwear that emphasizes the male stripper's best features. If he has a nice bulge choose underwear that places 'the boys' in a pouch and presents them forward such as Andrew Christian underwear. The pouch style underwear helps to make the bulge look even larger. (Link to Andrew Christian Underwear website).
Image poses from the side with the pouch sticking out will also emphasize the size of the bulge. Solid colors will work best for this. Prints tend to disguise the size of the bulge. Also, the background needs to be a contrasting color so the bulge doesn't disappear into the background.
If the male stripper has a nice rounded bubble butt, select underwear that emphasizes this. Also, include shots with thongs, g-strings, and jock straps. These will emphasize the ass.
The first thought might be to pose with the ass facing the camera and that is ok for a couple of poses to have some variety. However, a pose from side will emphasize the curve of the ass. It will also leave a little mystery as to what the full ass back view looks like.
Unless you are promoting yourself for porn, there is never a need to show the ass hole. This shot will appeal to the gay audience but is a soft porn type pose rather than a strip-tease. If you're going to show the hole, then there isn't any tease left.
Emphasizing the VPL (Visual Penis Line) in a photo is powerful and will attract a lot of attention. If the male stripper has a penis that is thick use a pair of underwear made from a fabric that clings and shows the outline clearly. Again, solid colors will work best for this.
There are those male strippers who are very popular for other reasons than their large cock or amazing ass. If this is a case, use the underwear suggestion from above to your advantage. If you are not especially well-endowed, use print underwear to camouflage this fact.
If your ass is rather flat, find a pair of underwear that has a seam down the crack. This gives a slight impression that there is more bubble to the butt. There are very few pairs of underwear made in the U.S. that have seams. But you can find them on eBay or Amazon. Most are shipped from China.
Nude Posing For The Tease
The nude pose for the tease requires that the 'boy parts' be covered. The idea is to show without really showing.
Lighting can accomplish so much for creating an image that shows but doesn't show. Using shadows to fall across the areas you want covered is erotic and a fun tease. I can see fans of the male stripper doing everything they can to enlarge the photo in the hope they will see a little more.
If the male stripper has a large cock, he could do a pose holding a white sheet over his shoulder and down in front of his crotch. If the image is also lit from behind it will cause a shadow of the cock to appear on the sheet.
Depending on the direction he is standing, the cock shadow will be created between his legs or to one side or the other. This is a strip-tease type shot. It shows without really showing.
Mesh underwear where shadow falls across the crotch making it difficult to see clearly shows without really showing. The male stripper can be fully nude if the shadows are dark enough to hide the details.
A fully nude shot can be taken where the legs are covering 'the boys'. This works best If he has a fit well-defined muscular body. This type of photo is a combination of promotion and artistic expression.
There are many promotional photos made that show the male stripper nude while holding something in front to cover his junk. For example, at Halloween he could be holding a jack-o-lantern. For the holidays, he could be holding a Christmas present, or large ornament.
There are any number of things that could be used to cover the junk that work for a specific theme.
As in the selection of underwear with a pattern, light and shadow can be used to keep the penis size a mystery.
Final Thoughts
You might have noticed that I didn't mention anything about a professional photographer. I want to make it clear that I think a professional photographer can be a valuable asset with creating amazing promotional images.
I also realize that many male strippers, particularly those starting out, do not have the cash to hire a professional photographer. For those of you in this situation, please take the tips and ideas that I have provided in this blog, and use them for creating great images with your camera or phone.
I also realize that if you are going to post pics each week to your social media accounts, it would be way too expensive to have each one taken by a professional photographer.
Have a friend take pics for you. No one wants to constantly see pics of you looking in a mirror and holding a phone in your hand.
I do recommend that if at all possible you hire a professional photographer once per year for as long as you maintain a career as a male stripper.
Everyone ages and changes as they grow older. One of my pet peeves is a male stripper who uses photos that were taken several years ago. When they step out to perform, they do not look like their pic. If they still look great, not such a problem. If however, they have changed in some major ways, I feel cheated.
I've provided a starting point for a male stripper to create their own plan for poses and costumes for a photo shoot. Use the ideas and suggestions to make it your own.
Photo Credit: All photos by Michael Hill.
