Billy / Kody

I'm a pretty straight up kinda guy.

At least, I like to think I am.

But I suppose, in a way, that the whole basis of my job is really fooling people.

I'm a photographer, you see.

And most of my time is spent doing everything I can with light - or the lack of it - props and general trickery to make not so good looking people look fabulous.

That can be tough.

Very tough.

But in my spare time I've got a hobby.

It's still photography - but I just take shots of beautiful boys.

The sort who probably wouldn't be able to afford one of my portrait sittings.

Now you might think that they're a bit rough looking, rather than beautiful as such.

But that's the type I like.

And that's where I sometimes have to be a little underhand - because that's exactly the sort of kid who's most likely to run a mile as soon as he sees a lens cap being taken off or a roll of film being taken out of its box.

That's how it was with Cody.

He was the sort of boy who wanted everyone to treat him as a hard man - even before he had a touch of fuzz on his upper lip.

But I could see through it.

And I knew I could make him look vulnerable and sexy if I got the chance to take some pictures.

Getting that opportunity, though, was going to be a problem.

Thankfully I had an ally.

Billy.

Billy was Cody's best friend. They'd grown up together and did everything together.

Well, maybe not quite everything.

Because, unknown to Cody, Billy had posed for me already.

He'd been short of money a few months back when he needed to get a spare part for his bike.

And, like almost all the kids in town, he'd heard that I paid well for boys who were prepared to work with me.

And even better for any who were prepared to play with me a little too.

So it was Billy who suggested to Cody that I take a set or two of pictures of the pair of them.

The plan I'd agreed with him was that, as I took the shots, he would take the lead in getting his clothes off and would encourage Cody to join in as he went along.

I don't recall now what excuse he planned to use to get his friend's co-operation, but it was probably that, as usual, they were both real short of cash.

And, in any case, whatever happened would be a secret between them (and, of course, me).

We took a drive out of town for the pictures.

We needed to.

As you'll see, they weren't the sort you could just go ahead and shoot in the town square.

The scenario I'd planned around this particular set of pictures was that Billy was a kid who was pretending to be tough - but was actually soft underneath.

Just like in real life, really.

And Cody was going to be a vicious punk who comes along and humiliates him.

OK, OK… I know that's not going to win an Oscar for the best script.

After all, it didn't when Bob Mizer used it over and over again for his Athletic Model Guild movies in the '50s either…

But I hoped it would work out for me this time.

We began with Cody strutting his stuff and trying to look mean, rough and tough.

As you'll see, he actually asked if he could wear a cap for most of the shoot as he didn't want his face to be so recognisable - but that was OK as it made him look even rougher anyway.

First of all I got the pair of them to stage a fight…

It might not be Tyson v Lennox Lewis, but as long as you don't look too closely it's reasonably convincing stuff.