9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of Muscle on a Summer Day at the Beach!!!, October 15, 2000
This review is from: Beach (Hardcover)
David Morgan's new book is a celebration of the very muscular, male nude body. The theme is a day at the beach on a warm summer's day, where all the guys seem to be enjoying each other's friendship. All these photos are in black and white, some nude, lots in bathing suits, lots of nude butt shots, but no frontal nudes. There are lots of couples in erotic poses, and lots of group shots around the beach and water.
I enjoyed this new collection very much, although it seemed like an ad for 2(x)ist underwear at times, but that's fine, because that's my favorite brand. There is a companion story by Ernesto Mestre-Reed which is suppose to capture the physical joy in Morgan's photographs. I didn't see the connection that much myself. Maybe I am not in the same mind-frame as the author or didn't get the connection that was intended. I don't know. It was a cute little story, though. All in all a beautiful book, by a photographer who knows how to capture the beauty in the male nude body. If you enjoy viewing mature muscular male nudes, you should enjoy this book.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To Brush the Sand from Hidden Crevices!, October 29, 2000
This review is from: Beach (Hardcover)
Until recently i didn't think much of reincarnation, but having purchased this book, I now know for certain that I wish to come back as a few strategically placed grains of sand! Morgan is the driving force behind Basic Training, an awesome pictorial/ men's fitness book that is the perfect companion to Beaches. His work is spectacular and this offers an inside view behind the passions which drive his work. I am not a huge fan of the Speedo but man who can complain about the subject matter that fills these black stretches of nylon! Granted, full frontal nudity isn't present, but I've always been one who appreciates those "larger" details left to the imagination. Isn't it true that size is in the mind of the beholder? The accompanying story is as vivid and breathtaking as the photography. A touching tribute to the coming of age/coming out story that we have all experienced during our lives, takes on a new aquatic approach in the tale of a young man who over a summer discovers the pleasures of male love. I've seen a lot of photo books that try too hard. This one is just..... well, hard to resist for so many reasons.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sun Sand Surf and Speedos: Satyric Boys of Summer, March 19, 2001
This review is from: Beach (Hardcover)
They're not really boys anymore, yet, while they are physicaly mature, they still play like boys. THE BEACH is a thrilling mix: playful pixie, Peter Pan, meets the Olympian Gods on a vast beach. I wonder if the energy and creativity of boys is why they are so widely preferred to girls around the world (especially by women).
I have to be honest--I've never understood the appeal of beaches at all. Strangely, though, I love deserts [which some friends refer to as 'a beach with no ocean']. At any rate, this book may change my mind -- regarding some beaches at least.
While I've seen David Morgan's work for years, it wasn't until the "Global Groove" CD series that I actually paid attention to the photo credits. To say that this book is a real treat for the eyes is an understatement. The photography--all black and white here-- is just magnificent. The images are sensuous, and erotic, but never 'pronographic'; sexy without ever looking 'dirty'; great studies in natural & enhanced lighting, along with the human body in top form.
The pictures are appropriately playful and despite the beefiness of the bodies, never mean, threatening or hard looking (it's that boyish thing again). Like the mythical "peter Pan", the guys in these photos seem to be forever young, and in what is such an odd example of life imitating art, it seems that every year boys get younger while observers like me, go on, inexorably aging. There is a bit of the modern here (the sexy briefs many of the guys are sporting), but really, these pictures evoke the imagery suggested in ancient Greek, Roman and other Classical art, that celebrated, rather than exploited, the beauty of a well maintained body. But unlike Tom Bianchi who recreated the Classical formalism along with the god-like male imagery, BEACH suggests that when no one is looking, even the gods are still boys inside.
While there was no doubt a lot of effort that went into posing and composing for each phot, they somehow all manage to look spontaneouos and candid. And, unlike some of the modeling photography that David Morgan has done, these pictures exude a casual friendliness that is in many ways more effective than some of the more rigidly posed and arranged ad copy [check out the 2X-ist shots].
As stunning as the photography is here, this book does have a minor flaw: the prose. It is as noteworthy for its vapidity and insipidness and thephotography is for its aesthetic beauty and strength. Perhaps that is deliberate: Morgan is a photographer, and prefers that people buy books to see the pictures, rather than to read them. But, whatever the reasons for the bad writing, it can easily be ignored, since th phtots are what this book is really all about.
Taken over a 10 day period in the waning days of summer, BEACH makes for the kind of September one will always remember. Even when all those 'boys of summer' have left, you can always relive memories through delightful books such as this..
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