NOW my relationship with the model

I am beginning to realize that my relationship with the model is at the core of the final image of them. The two pictures that i am working on at the moment totally drive that home. "Little Bird Joe" and "Leo" i know both leo and joe from school. Leo is the security guard on during saturday studios. Joe is in The Gay / Straight Alliance with me. I was particularly interested in Leo because of david hockneys portraits of the security gaurds using the camera lucida. Although i am not a huge fan of hockney's i do recognize him as the reigning queer figurative painter and feel a connection should be established between his work and my own. but the whole relationship fucked that up. Leo is a great guy but i do not have the emotional reserves to draw upon in shaping his face. Joe i not only have a familiarity of his emotional repertoire but i have an emotion portrait of him already established from our conversations. the fact that he is younger and gay makes me both sympathetic and protective. Could that be a variation of the Identification versus objectification? leo has a very linear feel to it bordering on coloring book and i find my interest in his back ground.