A crumbling alley on the 500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is a surprisingly unpicturesque place for a photo shoot. Especially one featuring buff male models. But photographer Michael Anthony Downs wants to capture the contrast between the dead grass and pockmarked pavement and the chiseled young men tossing around a football.
"Sometimes a rugged background that you think looks like hell ends up being awesome for a picture," says Downs' business associate, Chris Wescott.
Downs continues to angle his lenses at the two models in gym shorts as a bearded homeless man rides past on his bike.
"Throw it to each other," Downs orders. They do, though not all that comfortably.
This parking lot is just one of the many backdrops Wescott and Downs will use today while photographing models for their popular online magazine and multimedia showcase: allamericanguys.com. Almost daily, the website founders Wescott and Downs frequent area construction sites, parks and beaches with their hunky models, snapping provocative pictures and uploading them for the world to see — after subscribers pay the $14.95 fee, of course.
What started off in 1999 as a place where agents could find the next hot male fitness model quickly turned into a subscription-based service attracting oglers of all stripes: young and old, gay and straight, men and women. It's become the premiere "beefcake" website, attracting over 11 million hits a month.
"We're the biggest in the world by far in terms of that genre," Wescott boasts.
Its success has spun off into calendars, DVDs and even Hallmark cards. Anna Nicole Smith got drunk with models from the site on her former show. Saved By the Bell star Mario Lopez partied with some all-American guys on a cruise ship. Budweiser and Clear Channel list them as clients.
And where is the headquarters for this glitzy, glamorous modeling empire? New York? Los Angeles? Try a modest two-story house behind an ice cream shop off of Fourth Street in St. Petersburg.
"It may look deceivingly small," Wescott says, leading me to his sparse office with bare walls, a file cabinet and a simple desktop computer in one corner. There's no need for extra people or space, he says, other than 50 or so freelance photographers in hotspots like New York and Los Angeles. And despite Tampa Bay's less-than-prominent place in the modeling world, Wescott says he couldn't think of a better place to be.
"We knew to do this well we needed beaches, we needed a large pool of potential models, and we didn't want to be in one of those big, big cities," the former mortgage broker says. "When you put it all together, this is the best place to be."
Wescott opens a file cabinet and pulls out clippings like a proud parent.
"Most of the guys we worked with are now male supermodels," he boasts, rifling through magazines whose covers feature models Wescott and Downs discovered. He rattles off what sounds like the entire magazine catalog at GNC: American Health and Fitness, Men's Workout, Exercise, Muscle Media and Men's Fitness. Some of the site's models have been featured on the cover of Instinct, a popular gay magazine, and, ever so often, they make it to the pages of the National Enquirer, too.
Wescott estimates 30 percent of the models on the website are homegrown hunks from Hillsborough, Pinellas or Manatee counties.
"It's obviously easier to work with them if they're right here," he says while pulling out a dozen Undergear catalogues with St. Petersburg resident and supermodel George Hintenberger on the cover.
Even if Wescott and Downs get over 1,000 applicants a month through the site, they usually only end up contacting two, and they still always keep an eye out for potential models in the area.
While some men might be a little skeptical of a 6-foot, 235-pound 39-year-old telling them they could be the next big thing, Wescott says people are usually very receptive when he approaches them.
"It's good to see a musclehead-type guy get all flattered because you told him 'You could be a model,'" he says. "People down here aren't jaded like they would be in L.A. or New York."
Although his site has both gay and straight fans, Wescott estimates that 95 percent of the models he uses are heterosexual. He doesn't usually ask, though; he's primarily interested in whether a guy shows promise. Some men just need to gear up their gym regimen or whiten their teeth to pass the grade. Farmer tans and unkempt toenails are a frequent but easily passed barrier.
"I've never met a 100 percent model," he says.
But you'd never know it looking at Thomas Konzem and Brett Grossman. Inside the small studio at Graham Photography on MLK, dark-skinned Konzem, a 26-year-old South Tampa resident, poses with perfectly tanned Grossman, an 18-year-old from Clearwater. Their bodies are cut, smooth and flawless.
"Rip the abs," Downs says, prodding them to get into character. "Give me the tough look."
Konzem can't stop smiling.
"I'm not a fighter, I'm a lover," he protests.
After a few more clicks from his camera, Downs lets the models take a break. Downs already has the pictures he needs for Instinct magazine's October cover, so he lets Konzem leave. But he wants to spend more time with Grossman, who is new to the modeling business.
"I'm a little uncomfortable with this, but I'm doing okay," Grossman says, changing from a shiny blue shirt to a black one. "I've been waiting to do it for a long time."
He got his chance when a gym friend recommended he contact Wescott at allamericanguys.com. After Wescott and Downs met him, they decided he fit the "All-American Guy" image.
"An all-American guy is a good-looking, clean-cut guy-next-door who somebody wishes was their boyfriend," Wescott says. "It's somebody who is good-looking, physically fit and theoretically attainable."
Wescott says Grossman's age is already a plus.
"Brett's got 12 years to go," he says. "It's like buying a car with 12,000 miles on it."
Downs wants to change settings again, so they head for Lassing Park. Sand and surf always produce good shots, he says. But snapping sexy pictures of strapping young lads in public does have its drawbacks. As they lather Brett up with tanning lotion, passersby stop and stare. One man seems particularly disturbed at the scene. A Honda Civic blaring reggae music distracts the photo shoot.
"It's not a big deal if a few people are looking at me and laughing," Grossman says.
The whole episode would have made a great scene in the reality TV series Wescott says is in the works. (A pilot for the series was shot at the Vinoy hotel a month ago.) If negotiations with Stuart Krasnow, the producer for the reality show Average Joe, pan out, the series could be poised to become the biggest muscle-bound show in the area since Hulk Hogan's Hogan Knows Best.
In fact, the way things are going, All-American Guys may soon become a household name all across the world.
"Our fastest-growing market is China," Wescott says. "And today, I was on the phone helping one of our customers with a username/password issue she was having. She happens to be a grandmother, 60 years old and loves our website."
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2006.