What was next?

The very next thing I shot was the boxing story with Hudson Wright at Gleason's Gym. After that I did the Pet Shop Boys video.

How did you get that?

Bruce Weber was directing the video and called Adam to ask if I was available.

What was the video shoot like?

It was all one long day, about thirteen hours. But it was pretty fun. I met a lot of people that I still run into. I worked with Ralph, who did Polo Purple Label and owns his own music company; Dayton, who had a feature article about him in Out; and Shane. He was a wrestler too, so we had a lot to talk about.

How many guys on the shoot?

I think there were six. I wore this wierd paper suit and angel wings that were made for a really skinny Victoria's Secret model, so it was pretty different. Plus I got to stay in a nice hotel and the food was good, so it was all really cool.

Was Bruce very different to work with as a video director compared with photographing you for A&F?

I'd have to say yes. Behind a video camera Bruce is a lot more spontaneous. Like he'll just suddenly tell all the photographers to come over and start shooting this one thing, even if you're doing nothing, like once I was just tying my shoe, once I was brushing my teeth. He tended to set the stage and let you create the moments. It was totally spontaneous.

Was that when you moved to New York?

I came to New York and started doing castings. My first casting was for Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca and I met Jim Streacker, Art Director for Bloomingdales. My second casting was for Maury at Innovative Artists, my third was for Cosmo Girl, and the fourth casting was for (photograher) Joe Lalli — we have a favorite movie in common, which is Fight Club, so we got along great. It was a really hectic day because I didn't know the city at all.

But I got a very good feeling from my first week out here. Especially because I was sent to clients I'd heard of: Oscar de la Renta, Macy's, Seventeen, Men's Health, Men's Journal ... I was like 'Holy Cow. This is real.' But I still don't know how I get the jobs I do. The first job I landed with Major was for a Loehmann's catalogue with Joseph Oppedisano. We were shooting in Central Park. It was me and Jack Barley from IMG and a bunch of girls, and I was really nervous because they were such good-looking women and I'm just like some kid who came to the city. And so I asked Joseph 'How did I get this job?', because I didn't go to a casting for it. And he told me: 'I just booked you off your comp card.' And then I worked with Joseph again for Genre.

What was that like?

Joseph is awesome. If you guys ever interview him you should ask him what's the superstition about his T-shirt. It's this old Black Dog T-shirt. Everybody who shoots with him knows exactly what I'm talking about. I mean, this thing is busted. It's so full of holes it's about to tear in places. He is so attached to that thing — we were leaving New Jersey after the Genre shoot and when he thought that T-shirt was left behind he was going to turn around and drive an hour back to get it until a stylist found it in one of the bags.

That's funny. What was the shoot with Todd Oldham for Out like?

Now Todd Oldham is very lush. He likes personality. And he's very artistic. He'll label something, like he'll take your comp card and put side notes like what colors to use that will complement the person's skin. He's very meticulous. And when he's behind the camera and you're on the other side, it's just ultimate. He's acting and directing at the same time. He's telling you to feel this emotion. He'll say 'Cocky. Sneer. Stick your tongue out!' or something. He's very specific, but he likes your personality to show.

So he's constantly shaping what's happening and giving you cues?

In acting we call it a premise. He'll give you a premise and you just go out there and do it. You just feel it. My acting experience has helped me a lot because there have been modeling situations where I've had to feel something, and even if I wasn't in the mood I had to totally act as though I was. So acting has really helped me. And I realized that most when I was working with Todd Oldham.