Ah, New York City taxi drivers. They're our best friends when we're drunk, and our worst enemies when we're sitting in traffic running late for work.
Because Uber is creating less of a demand for yellow taxi drivers, a group of them have turned to a side job: modeling.
That's right – the 2017 NYC Taxi Drivers Calendar is here, featuring photos of real New York cab drivers satirizing pin-up photoshoots.
SEE ALSO:Super hot Pakistani tea vendor now has a modeling sponsorship"The original idea came from a tongue-in-cheek calendar we made of my oldest brother as a Christmas gift to his wife/our sister-in-law back in 2012," Philip Kirkman, one half of the power couple who created the calendar, wrote in an email to Mashable. The other half is his wife Shannon Kirkman.
"The calendar was well received by family and friends and being that I recently left my career in finance to pursue the creative/comedic path, Shannon and I brainstormed on how we could expand the idea for a larger audience," he said. "We considered other groups (e.g. sanitation workers), but ultimately landed on yellow cab drivers due to their iconic status, yet relative lack of visibility (or appreciation)."
The set is "always a fun environment," Kirkman told Mashable. "Each shoot definitely begins with nerves on both ends, but once we get settled in there’s a lot of back and forth in terms of what faces to make, poses, their comfort level with showing some skin, etc."
An inset in the calendar.Credit: Shannon KirkmanThis year's calendar only features male taxi drivers, but Kirkman explained that they've photographed female drivers before. He wanted to include them in this year's calendar, but unfortunately it didn't work out.
"We’ve had female drivers before (2015 and 2016) and would have liked to have them represented in 2017. We had preliminary discussions with two female drivers, but they decided not to partake," Kirkman told Mashable. "Unfortunately since we're not backed by a larger organization... we're unable to coordinate an open casting call so we go with the first 12 drivers who respond to our online ad or are referred from other drivers."
And without further ado, here are some of the fresh faces ready to greet you in 2017:
The calendar is available for $14.99 at www.nyctaxicalendar.com. A portion of each calendar sale will go to the non-profit University Settlement, America’s oldest settlement house, which serves over 30,000 immigrant and working individuals and families in NYC every year.
TopicsNew York City