What is Sean Kahlil doing Now?
That’s the question I've heard most in my life. Let me explain it this way…I was a very frail kid, paralyzed by polio and not allowed out of my backyard til I was 12. I trained and rebuilt my body to run state track by 15…and was a professional dancer internationally before my 21st birthday. I've traveled the world many times…seeking out the largest life I could find,far from that damn backyard. I danced, acted and modeled until I picked up a camera at 34…and then it was love. Love with the camera, with the models, with the life.
Most people know me for my fitness and body photography. I've shot everything from beauty campaigns for Revlon, to muscle marketing for MetRx, scores of magazines, supplements and health aids worldwide. Some people know me for the hundreds of racy photos I created for New York nightclubs like Limelight, Splash, Roxy and the Palladium, or clubs in Paris and Rome, besides my ad campaigns for gyms like American Fitness, David Barton, Athletic Complex, Crunch and Equinox.
No stranger to sensual photography, I have shot many times for Playgirl and Oui . Selected people know me for talent development. I direct, help create and photograph new images for musicians, singers, actors and fashion and fitness physique models.
I've been lucky to be able to photograph people like actors Mandy Moore and Vin Diesel, boxer Evander Holyfield and fitness celebrity Frank Sepe. I've shot John Edwards (the psychic) and recently Mercedes Ellington, gifted dancer, choreographer & director, (grand daughter of jazz great Duke Ellington) and I always have a project going on with Darby Dizard... jazz, pop rock & opera diva.
I am blessed to have been in the right place at the right time often in my life…which is the karma payoff for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't help it, I like adventure. What do they say, a man's life is his story. When it's all said and done what remains is your story. I like big stories…so if it's running with the bulls in Pamplona, photographing in the Valley of the Kings, running for my life with my wild cohort and editor Deborah Stucker in Istanbul, or shooting a models first portfolio…I try to keep the joy of life and the fire of this moment, hot and alive.
My last studio in the city kept me prisoner…shoots late into the night and early in the morning. Building sets of waterfalls, walls of birds, jungles and bedrooms. It was very cool and sexy…but like life, things change. I got the wanderlust. I had it as a young hippie crazy man and roamed everywhere my passport would allow me. I was like that again…LA, Phoenix, Miami, Turkey, Egypt, Anguila…running for 3 years.
I needed to land and recharge. I found a 150 year old 14 room stone house in the foothills of the Catskill mountains. It is a magical house called "Sandcastle" I'm doing much of the renovation myself, with friends, models and whoever else I can bambamboozle. It is an incredible background for shoots. Stone lions, a pond with a gazebo and ancient trees. I still shoot in New York, but my plan is to make this house a sanctuary, where I can photograph models and other projects invigorated by the energy of the mountains.
I just completed writing Champion Fit Man. A health and fitness lifestyle guide for men over 40. This is a complete guide for personal reinvention…nutrition, workouts, visualization and self empowerment secrets I learned from the pros. It also includes information written specifically for Champion Fit Man by ten doctors and health professionals, with a special focus on physical and mental maintenance. Lastly this book chronicles my own personal battle and victory over paralysis from polio…using much of the information I included in this book.
Of course now is the really hard part…finding a literary agent or publisher. If you have any contacts or ideas let me know. Starting next month I will post small excerpts of the book. I hope you will read them, and send me your thoughts.
I still shoot models portfolios and actor headshots…mostly thru agent recommendation…but I am always open to making new friends and working with promising new talent. Thanks for reading this...May love, success and beauty be a part of your life every day.
