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I’m the featured pin-down boy in the Oct/Nov 2011 issue of Auxiliary Magazine, photographed by Ron Douglas. New photos and some Q&A. Very exciting!

Available for purchase, viewing or download by clicking above.

Manzin is a unique individual if there ever was one. His gender bending model madness has appeared in print and online so much that it’ll make your eyes bleed. You know him, know of him, or have at least seen his face somewhere. We took the time to go in and see what makes this man tick.

How do you keep up with all the fans? Do you ever feel threatened by any?
Admittedly it’s become a lot more difficult to keep up with people, fans and friends alike. Take Facebook, for example. I have profiles on most of the major networking sites and I really wanted a profile that I could keep just for my friends and the people who matter to me, but little by little it was infiltrated and I’m up over 1000 on there now. Maybe closing in on 1500 by the time this goes to press. This past week I was the featured member on VampireFreaks and the traffic over there skyrocketed as a direct result, I’ve had my hands full replying to all the messages from that. The number of people I interact with on a daily basis can be alternately enjoyable and overwhelming. Sometimes I welcome it, sometimes I avoid it. I’ve never felt like I was in serious danger from any of them, though. Granted there have been a few who have been a bit stifling and excessive with their attentions and I felt like they were definitely pushing some boundaries I wasn’t willing to let them cross. It’s difficult to gauge online where you stand with people, some seem to take my standard level of friendliness to be a genuine friendship and that never ends well. For them, I mean.

What magazines have you been in?
I’ve been in BIZARRE, Gothic Beauty, American Gothique, Devolution Magazine, Auxiliary Magazine and Alt NOIR to date. Many more to come, I’m hoping. 2010 has been very generous so far and I intend to ride it out and use the momentum to make 2011 my bitch as well.

What was the turning point in your life?
Personally my life hit the brakes when I first got ahold of Marilyn Manson, that first time I heard Sweet Dreams. The deeper I got into the band and the man and the messages in the music the more I felt empowered enough to grab the wheel and get everything on a track that worked for me. It was a long skid, ahaha. I spent a long, long time thinking there was a lot wrong with me. Not to say that there wasn’t, or even that what was wrong with me still isn’t an issue. But I was able to own it, to come to grips that maybe if other people felt the way I did, especially someone as beautiful and smart and dynamic and powerful as Manson, that maybe there was hope. Dressing like him was my way of cementing the bond I felt with him, photographing the results was my attempt at striking up a conversation with other fans, and it all came from that. The professional turning point came somewhere in there, when other people started to see what I was doing and wanted a piece of me for themselves. Then things really started cranking along once I started networking more. It’s been wild.

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A 24 year-old American alternative model, MANZIN is probably one of the most Marilyn Manson-influenced artists, which afflicted him with irreversible consequences, both mental and physical. Indeed, MANZIN is featured on numerous photographic works in the spirit of his legendary homonym (earning him the title ‘look-alike’ or doppelgänger), but also appears in more personal shots and alternative work for several photographers, magazines and websites.

When did you start photography, I mean as a model?

My first photoshoots took place somewhere around 2003-2004 with a local photographer whose work I appreciated. He did a lot of gritty and beautiful shots and was prolific in the local S&M scene so we ran with the same crowd. I liked the shots he’d taken of some of my friends and when he approached me to shoot I took him up on it. These were just regular photos, though. I didn’t shoot Manson-styled anything with another photographer until later on and I still prefer to do my MM photos on my own only because I’m more confident that they’ll feel and look more true to life because I understand all the aspects of it better than another photographer who is probably not as big a fan as I am. Bob Mussell being the exception to that rule, he can shoot me as Manson anytime.

(C) Bob Mussell

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