Artists covers models in honey for bizarre

A baby, a dog and a young couple embracing each other are among the models used in a remarkable new photo series which captures people as they are drenched in honey from head to toe.

Photographer Blake Little was photographing one of his subjects, who he said looked 'bear-ish', when the sweet idea came to him.

Little said he originally planned to shoot the model as he was eating honey, but found it too cliche and planned to scrap the idea. That is until he became captivated by the way the substance looked dripping off the man's hands.

 

Little used 1,000 pounds of honey every week he shot for the collection, and found models that ranged from a one-and-a-half year old child to an 85-year-old woman using both Craigslist and professional model and dance agencies

 

The honey was shipped in five-pound containers, and was collected to be re-used as it dripped off the models

 

Because the honey forces the models to shut their eyes, Little said the most important part of the photographs is how they show the subjects' physical reaction to the act of being covered in the substance

 

A model lies contorted in a pool of honey as the substance can be seen cascading down her hair and off her face

One model said she didn't feel that the honey was heavy but that it had 'a very weird feeling'. 

'Its very cold,' she said. 'But then once its on you, you feel warmth coming up, like you feel protected in a way.'  Little told Slate that some of the models were comfortable being photographed in the honey for an hour - others, not so much. Kenneth Lapatin, who wrote the introduction to the collection, said the pictures show that the experience 'can be suffocating'. 'Many of the subjects seem to struggle,' he wrote. 'While others surrender themselves to it.' The full collection can be viewed at the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles until April 18.