Ryan here is a regular client of ours and an excellent electrician. Some call him Zippy. We do. That fiery natural red of his and his ability to hike the giant sand dunes with less huffing and puffing than we crew made him the perfect pirate for our reworked Dragonsea pirate shoot.

While now it's hard to imagine any other being the face of Dragonsea, Ryan was not our original choice of model. That was Steve, who we lovingly referred to as Beefcake until we knew his real name. Steve was what his nickname implied, a hulk of a superhuman, but more Thor than Hulk. The plan was to put him in a kilt, give him a claymore, and take him to the dunes.

Big Steve passed suddenly, and tragically, days before the originally planned shoot date. Part of being a barber for many years is clients passing, but nothing ever prepares you for the ones that go so far before their times, or the ones that were as bursting with love and life as Steve was.

His photos will always grace the walls of the shop here, and when we think of Dragonsea or the dunes, we will think of both Steve and Ryan with warm hearts.