I had the chance to help a friend realise a vision he had. A shoot that meant a lot to him as it is about a part of his life that he doesn't hide but which usually is not spoken about.

This one is going to have a lot of words to be read, but I think it is important that people get an understanding of the why behind this shoot.

All I can say is that we spoke about doing this shoot a couple of months ago and as soon as he told me what he wanted I envisioned the direction the images should take. The images below are just a teaser of the shoot we did and the final product will be added to the main gallery soon.

So without any further ado. Here is Diab Metry telling us about the shoot.

HOT TRANNY MESS.

"The concept of this shoot is a personal one. It stems from my personal life experiences and all that has been said and done to me up until this day and continues to happen. Not a day goes by where I am not harassed, spoken about or attacked for simply living my life as who I am.

I am often approached by other “outsiders” or those who witness this and ask how I live my life so happily, with so much freedom and a lack of awareness toward this hatred that is so blatantly placed upon me.

In my opinion words cannot hurt us. Yes, a physical attack can, but words? …Everybody has an opinion. I decided to take the negativity from those words so generously given to me and celebrate all that is unique within me by adopting the nickname “Hot Tranny Mess”. To my surprise it was quickly embraced as a term of endearment and something synonymous with myself incredibly within the industry in which I work where so many are afraid of exploring, or being defined by gender.

This is by no means a dig at my trans brothers and sisters as I myself am not transgender. It is a major facet of the bullying I have come to live in my daily life and I simply never saw a negative in that. Since childhood I have never seen the divide in gender and for someone to think of me as “female” or having “feminine attributes” despite what is between my legs never came to my mind as something to be frowned upon. Classifying me as one of these tremendously courageous and strong willed individuals who are choosing to live their lives as the person they believe to be is nothing short of a compliment. In that facet we are truly kindred spirits.

The “Hot”? Well it speaks for itself! The “Mess” comes from everyone’s lack of understanding of me. Whilst I am blessed to be embraced by so many, even the majority of those close to me struggle to define who I am.

I approached Will with the concept and he immediately understood. Being a personal friend of mine who also shares an incredibly open mind and sick sense of humour made him the perfect person to present this to. He understood the celebration behind it and the fact that it should also contain an element of filth, almost a sense of a phoenix rising from the ashes. He understood that this was about owning all that is placed upon us. That these differences don’t define us by what others say and are what truly make us special. He understood the importance of support.

This shoot saw me play into sides of myself but obviously to the extreme. The heavier beard as an element of embracing my masculine side, which really brought a sense of “male” to my usually quite feminine features. The female through elements of the glamorous presented in a “trashy” way which also presents the rough idea of bullying. Apart from the shoes, the entire wardrobe was sourced from clothing in my regular rotation!

I hope to take this work and use it as a way of raising money to support violence toward the LGBT community. No one should live in fear of being who they are, who they were born as, despite many who dispute this. To them I ask, try choosing to be an outsider, try living your life in fear and despair and then tell me it’s a choice. I am aware that I am one of the blessed few to not care about others as I said before, but one more death cannot happen at the hands of others or by an individual at the end of their tether simply for being true to themselves. I say this also as a devout Christian who believes God made all his children the way he wanted.