The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Welcome to the heart of Movember. This is the time of year when mustaches become thick. It’s the few weeks when women can’t help but swoon for their favorite Tom Selleck or Albert Einstein. It’s an opportunity to revel in double-takes and constantly be the butt of jokes around the office. It’s MO season. To document this phenomenon, some friends and I staged the second annual MOPLOSION photo shoot to raise awareness for the Movember MOvement. What is Movember? It is the eleventh month of the year (formerly known as November) where men grow mustaches (“mo” in Australian parlance). Mo-bros form teams and put their best mustache forward to campaign for donations in support of testicular cancer and prostate cancer awareness & research. If you’re like me and think this is an awesome idea, please consider making a donation.

Earlier this month, we announced details for MOPLOSION 2010 right here on the Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000. If you haven’t seen the video, cruise over to the archives and check it out. The 2009 Movember shoot was a small affair and a lot of fun, so for 2010 I decided to open it up to all of Seattle. On Sunday, Movember 21 we gathered at Buckleys in Belltown and threw down one hell of a photo shoot. I was stoked to have several dozen mo-bros and mo-sistas jump in front of the lens.
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Adam and McKenna are engaged? Didn’t see that one coming. Actually—that’s a lie. From the minute these two met, they’ve had one of those relationships that seem to be hotter than first season of Gossip Girl. After months of disgustingly cute Facebook PDA-ing, Adam proposed to make things official in March of this year. If these two look familiar, it’s because they are. This isn’t their first go-round on the Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 (see Movember). Adam, a fellow blogger himself, also has endeared himself to this photographer because he actually leaves comments on my posts! For these reasons and many more, I was delighted to make a few photos of these two.
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This is Movember, the month formerly known as November. Movember is a month long celebration of all things mustache. Specifically, men are encouraged to grow out the legendary facial hair style to raise awareness about prostate and testicular cancer. The man pictured above, Aaron Huber, organized a team of about twenty of us to participate in this year’s antics. Mo-bros join the team by setting up a profile on the official Movember website. Mustache fans can donate to individual team members by visiting his or her Mo-space page. The Movember organization partners with The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG to make sure the donations help “change the face of men’s health.”

Several weeks ago I talked to Aaron about ways to raise awareness of Movember. I offered to take portraits of the folks on our team, post the photos and throw up a blurb on the Explosion. On Tuesday night the MOst MOmentous MOs (our team’s name) got together for a photo shoot at Aaron’s place. I constructed a full blown photo studio to capture the essence of the “mo.” Aaron and I encouraged our mo-mates to dress up for the evening, but I never expected the passion I witnessed on Tuesday night. The props, costumes and utter ridiculousness that ensued would even make Tom Selleck blush. What follows below is the evidence of this “Mo-plosion.”
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