Figure in a Chair

A long story; I'll try to make it short.  Talking to a young photographer friend years ago when male models were scarce and difficult to come by; he suggested that we pose for each other.  It seemed a good idea, so I agreed, and went first.  That's another story. 

Then I photographed him.  Since he worked in a professional photo lab, I gave him the film to develop.  He did, and gave me a 35mm contact sheet. 

I was excited by the results, and was anxious to make prints, but I waited and waited for him to give me the negatives.  Afer several weeks of waiting, I called him.  He was very sorry, but he either "lost" them or "damaged" them.   He never got the story straight.  In short, he got cold feet and kept them.

I was pissed, but there was nothing I could do, so I eventually forgot about them.

Flash forward nearly twenty years - digital was hitting its prime, the digital scanner had been perfected, and guess what I came across in some old files?  The contact sheet.

This image and the one below are the result of a painstaking scan and restoration of the original 35mm contacts.

The moral of the story?  Don't f**k with me, fellas.

BTW, the model has prints of both images hanging in his house, and loves them.  He should; he doesn't look like that anymore.