Homoholic ^sf

On Saturday I sat down with local photographer and actor Joe Mazza. Joe’s recent photo work includes two projects for local non-profits: The annual SOMA Bare Chest Calendar, and a great piece of work for the Stop AIDS Project, a 2010 calendar entitled Black Men in the Castro. His recent acting work includes a supporting role in Speed Racer, and you can catch him on tonight’s episode of “Trauma” on NBC.

How did you first get interested in photography?

I was an actor since I was 25, so lighting and camera angles and how you cover a scene and how you cover emotions – all that stuff was really fascinating to me. And being an actor in LA, there was a long time between auditions and work. I bought a 35mm camera and got into photography. You start out shooting anything and everything that interests you and then, over time, you start to find that thing that you really like.

What were the things that you really liked to photograph?

People. It’s always been people. I mean, I like traveling and taking pictures of abstract things that interest me and finding different perspectives on them. But it was always people that I really loved. I went to Russia for a month back in the 90’s right after the Soviet Union collapsed. I brought a 35mm camera and a big zoom lens and I had to keep it under my coat so no one could see it. I would walk around Moscow, and when I would see something interesting I would shoot it… and it was always people. It was always the weathered faces and the looks in people’s eyes. And being an actor, I always found something fascinating about people’s eyes and their souls and what they conveyed through their eyes.

I like taking candid shots. I like being out and about and just shooting people when they’re not paying attention. That’s how I’ve transitioned into shooting portraits and shooting men, because that obviously interests me.

I’ve been seeing the Joe Mazza watermark on guys’ photos online, whether that’s on Manhunt or similar gay sites. Is that a large portion of your business?

I like to shoot those types of photos in between projects. Right now I’ve really been booked pretty solid on paying projects for the last eight months, so I haven’t had a chance to do too many guy photos and really cool studio shots that I really love to do. Most of my time has been working on paying clients.

So most of those sexy photos are things that you’ve done for free to build your portfolio?

Yeah. I have a joke with my friends because I tell them they owe me because my pictures have gotten them laid a lot more than they’ve gotten me laid. [Laughing]

But people could certainly hire you to take sexy pictures of them, right?

Absolutely. Right now I don’t have the time to do the free stuff unless it’s a concept or idea that I want to do, and in that case I usually approach the people who I’ve worked with before.

Let’s talk about some of the calendars you’ve shot recently.

I just shot a calendar for Stop AIDS called Black Men in the Castro. They have a project called the Our Love program that reaches out to black men in the Castro to raise awareness about HIV prevention. Also their goal and mission is to bring black gay men back into the Castro. They wanted to do a black and white fine art calendar really featuring the men. It’s for sale at Under One Roof right now.

So they feel that a lot of black gay men don’t feel at home in the Castro?

My sense is that there have been a lot of hurt feelings by some recent events. It’s been a little skewed and segmented and I think the black community doesn’t feel quite as much a part of the Castro and they might have in the past. I think Stop AIDS really felt the need to help bring pride and awareness back into that community.

These are some really beautiful shots.

Thank you.

I also did the Bare Chest Calendar this year. I’m really proud of this calendar because it’s a huge departure from all the other years. The men are out in public; they’re not hidden. I wanted San Francisco to be represented as well. It was really labor intensive to have to scout and get permits for all these locations. In doing that you realize how much of the City is supportive of the gay community and non-profits and what we’re trying to do. I have to give props to Bevan Dufty because he put me in contact with all the agencies and made personal introductions for me. And he didn’t get mentioned on the calendar, which I feel bad about.

I assume these are available in stores now?

Yes, they’re for sale in the Castro and you can buy them online. I’ll be shooting the 2011 calendar as well. I was on the calender in 2008, and once I started doing photography I made it a goal to shoot the Bare Chest calendar.

All of the proceeds from the Bare Chest Calender go to the AIDS Emergency Fund and the Positive Resource Center, and all proceeds from the Black Men in the Castro calendar go to Stop AIDS’ Our Love program.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I’m doing product shots. I’m shooting a huge inventory of wine for the Wine Club. I’m doing head shots today for one of the conductors of the gay men’s chorus. I do a lot of actor head shots. This last month I did two interior spaces. It just sort of runs the gamut. Shooting people is more rewarding for me because I like the interaction. Folsom was fun because a bunch of people came in from out of town who had seen my work and had booked shoots with me. We had a great time. It was great meeting them. They were really nice guys.

Did you shoot at the Folsom Street Fair this year?

I don’t find street fairs very interesting. A farmer’s market is more interesting to me than a street fair. To me homeless people are more interesting. They have a story to tell and I like shooting people whose faces show a story. One Christmas season I had just moved to South of Market, and I saw more homeless people in a day than I had seen in a month. So I decided to take all the money I was going to spend on gifts and I bought gift certificates for food. I went out on my bike every day with my camera and approached people who were on the street… seriously on the street. I said, “This is the deal. My family and I are foregoing gifts this year and I’d like to give you this. This is from my niece. This is her present to you. Her name is Erin.” And if they were up for it I would have them tell me their story and I would take their photo. Then I created a book with the photos and stories for my family to let them know who they helped that Christmas.

That’s really powerful.

It was really cool. And this is the moment that made me cry. I had given my niece and nephew a little bit of money in a card just so they’d have something for Christmas. When we all went up to go to bed… I’m gonna cry when I tell you this… We all go up to go to bed and my niece said, “Uncle Joe, …” Her homeless person’s name was Rhonda. She handed me the money I gave her and said, “Will you give this to Rhonda?”

Wow. That’s amazing. I’m sure your niece will never forget that Christmas.

When we first met you were doing a lot of acting and you were actually teaching acting.

I still teach maybe one class a month. I’ll go in and teach a camera workshop.

You’ve had some very interesting acting roles over the years, haven’t you?

Absolutely. Lately it seems that I play doctors or lawyers or cops. Twenty-some years of acting is like 150 commercials and a lot of bit parts on TV shows. A couple Summers ago I was in Speed Racer, a Wachowski Brothers film. It didn’t do too well, but for me it was great because as a kid I watched Speed Racer every day with my little brother, so to be in the movie was really amazing. We shot in Berlin. I played a racer called Nitro. All of my story got cut so the only thing that’s left are menacing shots of me throughout the film.

I was also in a movie called Playing Mona Lisa. I played Harvey Fierstein’s love interest. And I just did an episode of Trauma, which I think every reasonably good actor in the City has gotten some time on. I play an internal affairs investigator. It airs Monday night at 9:00 on NBC.

I did a scene with Ashley Judd in High Crimes. In the film she had a psycho husband, that sexy Jim Caveizel. We were arguing our case in front of the judge and I was the prosecuting attorney.

Let’s talk briefly about your websites. I understand you have two?

When I first started shooting men and experimenting with lighting I wanted to shoot people who I enjoyed looking at. So I created TheMaleImage.com. And that was created three years ago to have a place to show my work. It was a place that was uniquely male. And as I started booking other jobs I realized that I didn’t have a site that my mom could go to. [Laughing] So JoeMazzaPhotography.com is my business site.

Themaleimage.com is a place where I can push boundaries. I can do really erotic bondage shoots. I’m proud of that work but it’s also not the commercial side of my work.

I’m looking for someone to do a Java site for me. I’ll do a trade with someone who needs photos.

One last question that I’m sure many of our male readers are wondering. Are you single?

At the moment I’m single… Bring ‘em on

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Tags: AIDS Emergency Fund, Ashley Judd, Bare Chest Calendar, Bevan Dufty, Black Men in the Castro, gay photograpny, Harvey Fierstein, High Crimes, Jim Caveizel, Joe Mazza, NBC, physique photography, Playing Mona Lisa, Positive Resource Center, Speed Racer, Stop AIDS, Trauma, Under One Roof