Customer Reviews

Between Men

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This book of photographs has a lot going for it. No one can accuse Mr. Fahrmeyer of not being creative in that there are many exquisite photographs here, beautifully lit and printed and seldom repeated. The first photo in the book is a very strong image and draws you immediately into it and invites you to look further. I particularly like the photographs on pages 16, 29, 87 and 95 for their impeccable lighting. There is a beautiful innocence in the two photographs on pages 38 and 39. The several photographs like those on pages 80 and 81 work, where the models lose most of their eroticism, becoming almost kaleidoscopes in the repetition of their limbs. The artist certainly has a sense of humor as evidenced in the model on page 120 in the classic discus-throwing pose. Here, however, he is all set to throw a plate.

What doesn't work are the pictures reminiscent of familiar images of Herb Ritts. I refer to the the photographs like the images on page 27 (a portrait of a man caked with mud or makeup) and page 45, where the model is hiding his face behind a plant of some kind. Ritts did this sort of shot years ago and much better.

Hans Fahrmeyer has been the chief photographer for the Santa Fe Opera and as such he is easily able to move the direction of his figurative photographs into the grand versus the real setting. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, and other major national and international news and fashion magazines. In other words, his work deserves our attention as it come form a long experience with working with the human form.

In this monograph he focuses on male nudes, posing them in 'operatic' poses, historic figure poses, and in situations that demonstrate the full spectrum of interaction between men. His technique results in a erotically charged collection of images that never fall into the raw category. He seems to be aiming at finding that plane where abstraction and raw emotion meet and then takes that plane, slides it back and forth and comes p with some very original thoughts. These images are sensuous yet very refined. Perhaps this is due tot he fact that Fahrmeyer processes and prints all his own photographs: e is especially gifted at creating the duotone format that contributes a feeling of museum quality work to his photography.

But the title BETWEEN MEN does pervade these images and it is that visual and sensual dialogue that makes his book succeed. Of note he has also created a book BETWEEN MEN & WOMEN that uses a similar approach to composition of his ideas. He is certainly a photographer of the human form who deserves the status he has achieved in his field. Grady Harp, October 11

These are some of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. The potographer captures them so well. If you like guys, ckeck this awesome book out!