Photography and Painting

Rob as St. Sebastian, after the Italian painter Perugino.  Artists of the period often painted the subject of St. Sebastian being martyred, as it gave them a "legitimate" reason to show a male figure nude or nearly nude.


Rob's body type did not match the original, but his attitude and stance are true to the genre.

The original, below:

 "St. Sebastian", Perugino

Paul, morning.

Same setting, very different feel.  Morning light, softer and quieter, changes the mood completely.

The model was a student at the university where I taught - a life model in the art department, - who took direction extremely well, and knew what he was doing.  I did several shoots with him, and will post more later.Paul, morning.

Figure on a Bed

Shoot in natural light.  The pants are nylon, or some synthetic fabric.  I had the model put them on soaking wet to get that transparent look.

The model is an artist friend, a painter.  He was always up for a collaboration, but, as a visual artist, he had a very definite sense of his own image.  That made for some difficult shoots, as I battled with his vision to get to mine.  I recently shot him again, over twenty years later.  He hasn't changed.  I'll post that later.

First ever blog post

I'm a brand-new babe in the bloggersphere woods.  Never even read many; but here I am, about to take the plunge.

My passion is photography, and my subject is the male nude.  It's not such a shock now, but when I began this journey the road was fraught with peril.  Photographing the male nude tagged the photographer with some very explicit labels, most of them not very complimentary.  Still does, in some quarters, but not so much as it did in the not-so-distant past.  Anyway, there it is.

My intention is to post images, along with a description and (sometimes) details of the shoot.  I'll learn as I go along, and we'll see what happens.

Sexe Mechanique

The image on the left was taken with the same set-up as the last one.  I don't remember the impetus for the hand; it was an artist's model hand that I had recently bought in Paris, and it was just lying around.  I placed it over the model's crotch and he held it there by pressing his thighs together.  I liked the result.

Sometime later I was browsing through a bookstore and came upon a collection of George Platt Lynes.  I had never heard of him, and was amazed at his work.  As I leafed through the book I came across the image on the right.  It really upset me, because, although I had never seen it, I was afraid that people would assume that I had copied it.  To be honest, it still bothers me, but nevertheless I'm proud of the image.

Since then I have seen a number of variations on this theme, always using a real hand.  I have no idea whether these are imitations of the original, or independent works.  I don't suppose it matters.

"Z", contraposto

In the beginning, there was film.  And primitive lighting, but it worked.  "Z" was one of my first models, a lovely man - a former dancer - who moved beautifully.  The shot was taken in my dining room, against a simple black fabric drop, with one light source. This style became a staple for quite a while.  I still use it on occasion.