The Art of Filming Really Sexy People.

Ramon J. Goni on set with Shawn Mendes

I was born in Madrid. 

As a child, I loved building cities and structuring organizations with games. I was always moving, active with sports. Playing “Strategy”… even filmmaking video games! I grew up playing Steven Spielberg’s “The Director’s Chair”. A video game where you play the director and organize a whole production. 

The last 20 years of my life is basically the adult version of all the games.

My work spans across fashion and entertainment to sci-fi, film, and LGBTQ+ narratives. Generally, I film either some of the most beautiful or the most skilled people on Earth. These are people who are filmed and photographed all the time. So, what is my extra touch to it? How do I make it different? It’s the art of establishing human connection. 

“I make them into demi-gods. They’re not gods (laughs) they’re as human as you and I. But we try to elevate them into an olympus of beauty.”

The sexually attractive human body can be beautiful! But only when you film it with wonder and respect. 

For example - Shawn Mendes. He is perhaps one of the sexiest men on Earth. When I stepped on set with him, it just took two minutes to establish a connection. 

Here’s how it happened. At one point during the shoot, I did not have anything particular to do.  So I sat meditating for a few minutes. He picked up on that. He came up to me and was like, “Yeah, I feel you. I relate to that.” We had a connection, a conversation, without words. 

Then, when we returned to work… that connection without words happened again. 

Ramon J Goni’s work featuring Shawn Mendes for Man About Town’s AW21 Issue.

That spark of connection flows through the entire project. Later during the edit, I constantly see how I can honor that connection or story that he told me, without words. 

My approach here comes from my past as a BBC journalist. I used to interview people who live in very difficult circumstances. Within thirty minutes, I would hear their stories. They would bare their truths out in the open for me. After that, my job was to be honest. To honor their unique story and share it with the world. 

With Shawn Mendes, I got to know a vulnerable part of him. A part that he does not get to share very often- say, in obnoxious interviews and tabloids which are aiming to “catch” him slipup.  

As an artist, it is my responsibility to honor that rare side of Shawn Mendes that I experienced. 

“The sexually attractive human body can be beautiful! But only when you film it with wonder and respect.”

Ramon J Goni’s work featuring Gisele for Natura. Filmed in Costa Rica.

I film men with the appreciation that they seldom receive from other men.  I film women with the respect and wonder that they seldom receive from men, who desire them. Same goes for everyone in between that qualifies as non-binary. 

This approach brings a different integrity and wholesomeness to my work too. 

The extractive, colonial, capitalistic way is: “I desire this body and I want to own it.” Then, art is no longer an exchange of energies, or a symbiosis, with the talent. 

When you see my work, you are transported to my experience of the talent or celebrity. I focus on maybe a corner of the eye, the neck, the arm - and how I see that in the context of a beautiful space. I make them into demi-gods. They’re not gods (laughs) they’re as human as you and I. But we try to elevate them into an olympus of beauty. 

“With Shawn Mendes, I got to know a vulnerable part of him. A part that he does not get to share very often- say, in obnoxious interviews and tabloids which are aiming to “catch” him slipup.”

That comes through making a human connection. Something beyond purely skin, possession and desire. A connection of love and admiration. Even if it is just for two minutes. 

The window of opportunity is there in almost every shoot. 

Ramon J. Goni’s work featuring Shawn Mendes for Rollacoaster Magazine - Fall/Winter 21 issues.