The thing is, a lot of the key players in the fashion industry are gay, so hopefully most of the people you run into are professional.

Yeah, mostly, but sometimes you run into some that aren't.

How did you land representation with Major Models?

Well, when I got down to the Abercrombie & Fitch shoot that Adam Silver set up for me, I met another model named Brad, one of my best friends to this day. And Brad started telling me about things like campaigns, which really interested me — that there might be more to this. And then Adam set up a photo shoot with Hudson Wright and Hudson started showing my photographs to people and he told me there was more I could do. So I came back to New York with Adam and he took me to see all the agencies, and the final agency we visited was Major. And we almost didn't go because there was such a terrible rainstorm. It was an awful day.

I really don't know what Jason thought that day. I showed up soaked through to the bone, dripping wet. I looked like I had just walked in from the gutter. And he just told me straight up: 'I'm not going to make any guarantees, but if you want to do this, we can make it work for you.'

What did he say about your height?

He didn't even mention it. He told me that just a few days before he'd been talking to a photographer, Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca, and they were talking about the A&F Quarterly and my pictures, but no one knew who I was or where I'd come from. He had actually been calling around trying find out who I was when I walked into his office that day. It wasn't even their open call day or anything.

Talk about timing... you'd seen all the agents that day. What was it about Jason that impressed you?

He didn't pick me apart. He didn't say, 'what's that ridge in your nose?' 'You're short' or any of the stupid things all the other agents said. He just said straight up front, 'here's how it is.' So I called him back to confirm a week later, and within three hours he'd already sent out contracts. He was really on the ball and I've been really pleased ever since.

Let's talk about your A&F experience.

That has got to be one of my favorite images (pointing to the now-famous Bruce Weber shot of Joseph hanging nude from a metal strut.)

Why? What were you thinking?

I was thinking: 'Why is the sun in my eyes and I still have to keep my eyes open?' (laughs)

How many people on the crew?

Eight.

Did you have to climb up onto that beam?

Oh yeah. That was a decent little climb.

And you were totally naked?

I was buck-naked. As naked as the day I was born. And once I got into position they had to fix my hair and stuff so I was actually hanging there for about twenty minutes. I have to say, that was one of my best memories of the whole shoot. That photograph got everyone's attention.

It definitely launched your career.