In this charged and cinematic image, Philip-Lorca diCorcia photographs Ike Cole, a male sex worker on the streets of Los Angeles, bathed in dramatic, artificially staged lighting that transforms the mundane urban environment into something theatrical and otherworldly. The work is part of diCorcia's seminal "Hustlers" series, in which the artist paid street prostitutes their quoted fee to be photographed, blurring the boundaries between documentary photography and constructed narrative. The $25 referenced in the title represents Cole's fee, embedding the transaction itself into the artwork and raising complex questions about commerce, exploitation, and the performance of identity.