Heavenly Bodies
Nov. 5th, 2009 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
Last week, I acquired for myself another book of male photography, David Vance's 'Heavenly Bodies'. This is my first exposure to this photographer, so I thought I'd pimp him to you :-)
Vance is an Italian photographer who grew up surrounded by Catholic and Renaissance imagery, and he admits these have influenced his sense of aesthetics regarding male beauty.
I don't suppose anyone who objects to male nudes is reading my LJ, but if someone arrived by mistake, there are naked men here, okay?
The cover gives a fairly clear idea of what lies in store. And trust me on this, any artifacts are a reflection on the quality of my scanner, not the quality of the book.
The bulk of the book is a section titled 'Earthly Beauty'. This photographer doesn't go much for 'natural' shots - his models are all very obviously posed, which some people don't like, but I'm perfectly happy with :-)
The pictures are a mix of black and white and colour, with a few sepia toned shots thrown in for variety.
The colour shots tend to be fairly muted in tones, but he always lights to define muscle with shadow.
Most of the book consists of nude or nearly-nude shots, but there are some head/upper torso shots in here too. The majority of Vance's models have very classically styled faces.
Vance doesn't just drape his models over furniture - he also likes action shots, illustrating the muscles at work.
The last quarter or so of the book is a section titled 'Celestial Beauty', and this is where Vance really goes to town with props and stylised imagery. It won't suit everyone's tastes, but some of the results are stunning.
He also introduces photo montages in this section of the book.
And then that Catholic/Renaissance background really hits its stride!
This book contains quite a variety of photographic styles, which I personally think makes for a lovely mix. The one thing that doesn't change is Vance's taste in models, but I won't be complaining about that....
Vance is an Italian photographer who grew up surrounded by Catholic and Renaissance imagery, and he admits these have influenced his sense of aesthetics regarding male beauty.
I don't suppose anyone who objects to male nudes is reading my LJ, but if someone arrived by mistake, there are naked men here, okay?
The cover gives a fairly clear idea of what lies in store. And trust me on this, any artifacts are a reflection on the quality of my scanner, not the quality of the book.
The bulk of the book is a section titled 'Earthly Beauty'. This photographer doesn't go much for 'natural' shots - his models are all very obviously posed, which some people don't like, but I'm perfectly happy with :-)
The pictures are a mix of black and white and colour, with a few sepia toned shots thrown in for variety.
The colour shots tend to be fairly muted in tones, but he always lights to define muscle with shadow.
Most of the book consists of nude or nearly-nude shots, but there are some head/upper torso shots in here too. The majority of Vance's models have very classically styled faces.
Vance doesn't just drape his models over furniture - he also likes action shots, illustrating the muscles at work.
The last quarter or so of the book is a section titled 'Celestial Beauty', and this is where Vance really goes to town with props and stylised imagery. It won't suit everyone's tastes, but some of the results are stunning.
He also introduces photo montages in this section of the book.
And then that Catholic/Renaissance background really hits its stride!
This book contains quite a variety of photographic styles, which I personally think makes for a lovely mix. The one thing that doesn't change is Vance's taste in models, but I won't be complaining about that....
