Customer Reviews

Jock Sturges: Radiant Identities

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These are wonderful, sensitive pictures. All of them document the human figure (both male and female) in many of its ages. It's a topic that can never get old, not as long as the viewer is human too.

Normally, I don't have strong response to photography as art. At first, I simply enjoyed the peaceful scenes and happy people that Sturges portrays. Many of his subject are young people, though, and my mind drifted back to myself at their age. Somehow, it all came rushing back to me: that sense of mystery and awe, about fifth grade, when I first started seeing the girls around me becoming young women. Sturges has a unique talent for showing the steps between child and adult with respect and innocence. I was not prepared for the evoked memory of myself at that innocent age.

This book collects some of the most beautiful figure studies I've ever seen. I truly hope that you can appreciate it the way it was mean to be seen.

Of the visual arts, I probably enjoy photography more than any. In particular, I love portraiture, which is probably why I like photographers like Jock Sturges and Mary Ellen Mark who excel at this. They are invariably able to find interesting subjects and to photograph them in unique and beautiful ways. I am also fond of the black and white format usually used by Sturges and Mark which keeps the focus on the figures themselves as opposed to something garish they are wearing or the color of their surroundings.

With the photographs in Radiant Identities Sturges seems to be experimenting. Many of my favorite themes in Sturges' work are here. He has "family groups"--sisters, brothers, parents & children. My favorites of these are the "generational" pictures: where we see a child and an adult who mirror each other as if we are seeing the future of the child. But there are also some pictures here that have no similarity with any of his other work. There are surprises.

Of course, Sturges photographs mainly nudes and is probably best known for the controversy surrounding his nude photographs of young girls. There is no denying the erotic power of some of his pictures but Sturges is no pornographer. He is able to capture so much more. The arrangement of the figures tells us something (as in the "generational" pictures) and I am often surprised at how drawn I am to the eyes of his models and to the careful arrangement of the hair. He is an artist of uncommon skill and I would highly recommend this book.

This book is beautiful. All the works are done very well, showing the beauty of youth and family. I was first drawn to Sturges work after looking at photos of David Hamilton. His work is very contoversial. but I ask why? Is a picture of a 13 year old girl shaving her legs in the shower so terrible? The thing is, thats these photos are not about viewing young nude girls reaching puberty, but showing the beautiful changes that we have all gone though in life, men or woman. The people that bash Sturges work are not looking at the photographs close enough. If they did, they would realize that thoughout his albums, the photographs are of adolecents becoming adults. You will find the same model at the beginning of the book at age 8, and by the end of the book there are photos of her at age 16. Get my point. Also I feel that there is a very strong feeling of family bonding in the work of Sturges. So many of his pictures are of families on the beach and other places. Most of them in the nude. And I think that he wants to show how close these families are. Most teens would freak if their parents saw them naked, but here we see how secure, happy, and close these families are with earch other. This is not trash, this is work that very very few people can do. Sturges is very classy about his work. No open legs (if so, it is not staged at all), and with his 8x10 camera, is also able to get beautiful wide angle shots that show more than a nude boy girl or family, but the beautiful beaches and skies that surround them. Don't miss and of Sturges work. Its not worth missing. Open your mind to all forms of art. Get this book. You will rush to by the rest of his works including (the last day of summer, self-titled, and new work)

After viewing 'Last Days of Summer' I came right back to Amazon to order 'Radiant Identities' (and 'New Work'). Again, I am struck by the power, beauty and serenity of Surges' art.

I'm a photographer myself, therefore obviously interested in the matter, and I have seen many - very different - work by numerous photographers. I'm also rather particular about what I like and don't like, and when I view someone's work usually I find just a few photographs I really like, the rest is often considered 'average' or 'not my taste'. However, this is not the case with Jock Sturges' work. Although I obviously have my favourites, so far I haven't seen a single photograph by Sturges I don't like, or even one that could be described as 'average'. They are all powerful, intriguing and stunningly beautiful.

Sturges doesn't only master the art of photography flawlessly; he actually manages to capture the soul of his subjects. They are real people captured in real life, not professional models who just undressed for the occasion. As explained in the foreword, they are nude anyway, and a photographer coming along doesn't change anything about that. This is their life, their world, their home. Sturges offers us the chance to observe these wonderful people in their natural setting, and we get actually get to know them a little bit (or at least we get that feeling). They are at ease, relaxed, and there is a palpable trust between the photographer and his subjects. He is clearly one of them and fully accepted in their midst.

The back flap tells us that Sturges received (a.o.) a BA in in Perceptual Psychology and Photography. After viewing his work that's no surprise, he clearly deserves it. Without his psychological insight, we would 'just' be looking at technically perfect photos, which might eventually become boring for non-photographers. Fortunately, that's not the case here, this book will remain interesting time after time, and it will be viewed again and again. The title is very well chosen, and it actually says in two words what I'm trying to bring across here.

My advice (no surprise here): buy the book; it is a great investment. Don't forget to read the introduction by Elisabeth Beverly; it explains very well what this work is all about.

One other tip: don't hide the book! I keep it (along with his other books) on a visible place in my library or even on the table if I happen to be viewing it (again). If people raise an eyebrow or criticise it, I gladly explain what the true essence is (apart from the enjoyment of beautiful aesthetic art of course). That's not the nudity, which is just a logical consequence of the true freedom and the natural, slow-paced lifestyle these people have managed to find and maintain. No small matter in a stressful, noisy, and aggressive world where materialism seems to rule, and many people are living their life in a way they feel 'society' expects from them. Often they hardly know who they are anymore, since they made themselves into a clone of others in their peer-group (who did just the same).

Fortunately, a friend introduced me to naturism when I was eighteen, soon to discover it's nothing like people who don't know it make it out to be. I only regret I didn't get the chance to discover it sooner, as a child. You can't discover freedom, innocence, friendship, trust, beauty, and in a word - the true essence of life - soon enough, now can you?

In my view, this book (as well as 'Last days of Summer') depicts exactly that, in a beautiful way. Enjoy it, cherish it and live it if you can. You won't regret it, I promise!

Before reading this review or this book, please be aware that it contains many consensual nude images of male and female children in family settings. This book would not be able to get an "R" rating if it were a motion picture. If such things are offensive, read no further.

Jock Sturges is creating a time-lapse view of a handful of familes. This book is the second in the series, following the superb work called The Last Day of Summer. In this book, most of those who posed for the photographs were asked to describe the experience. Here are a few quotes from what they said:

"We are not naked for the pictures, we are naked for the summer, and because we are alive."

"We are in the places we love, and Jock comes and joins us for a while."

"This I enjoy."

"In these pictures, we're Jock's people."

"Jock is the artist and we're his collaborators. Each year we get to help make art."

The images are done with a large format camera and reproduced in gelatin silver prints. The models often help set up the equipment and suggest scenes to shoot.

Mr. Sturges takes photographs each year, and publishes them. From these images, you can see the subtle changes in the person, how their relations grow with siblings, friends and parents, and the inner core of the person that is unchanging. His subjects are people who regularly practice naturism in Europe and the United States. So he is capturing them as they would normally be.

Taken outdoors usually, the images can acquire an almost lyrical quality. One image in this book deserves special mention. I think it is the best I have seen of Mr. Sturges's work. The image is of Alisa, Christina, Misty Dawn, and Teresa in Northern California in 1993. It shows the young women lolling on misty rocks just above the boiling ocean looking ever so much like self-absorbed versions of the mythical sirens, but with the ease and comfort of sunning sea lions. It is an extraordinary vision of natural joy.

Here are many of my favorites from this remarkable volume:

Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that these were shot in Montalivet, France. Francois 1992; Raphaelle 1993; Bettina 1993; Marine et Maia 1991; Raphaelle, Celine, Alysha et Danielle 1993; Marine 1993; Tamara 1993; Arianne et Sa Mere 1989; Francois et Adrian 1993; Danielle 1991; Danielle, Oud Heusden, The Netherlands 1992; Marine, Clermont-Ferrand, France 1989; Laurel, Northern California 1992; Brooke, Northern California 1992; Cecile 1993; Arianne 1991; Hanneke 1992; Mike and Chicken, Northern California 1993; Christina, Northern California 1993; Danielle, Oud Heusden, The Netherlands 1993; Laura et Lou 1992; Marie et Bettina 1992; Leaham and Layla, Southern Oregon 1981; Maia 1991; Maia et Marine 1993; Brooke, Northern California 1985; Jessie, Northern California 1985; Misty Dawn, Northern California 1991.

After you finish enjoying these tender images, I suggest that you give everyone in your family a camera and go on an annual photo shoot. Although you cannot hope to match Jock Sturges, these images will evoke many happy memories in years to come.

Let the sun shine through!

The latest Sturges work, Radiant Identities, focuses on adolescent youth and beauty with a sensitivity few photographers have been able to achieve, or at least, publish. His work is soft and gentle, yet it does portray a feeling of the budding eroticism inherent in his youthful subjects. Their eyes mirror both their dreams and their youth, the entire work flows with this same special theme that we should all be allowed to remember from our own teen years.

It is obvious that both Jock Sturges and David Hamilton have a very strong appreciation for that youthful beauty that people can only possess during a brief moment in their lives. These two photographers caught their subjects during that transient period in their lives when that particular beauty is present in those same subjects. Through their photographs, they were able to preserve this wonderful moment, where the human body is at its most attractive. I recommend this book for those who have an appreciation for this fleeting type of physical attractiveness.

Throughout the years, there has always been speculationon what nude photography is art and what is pornography. The work of Jock Sturges is art of the highest order. Parents take pictures of their babies and toddlers while bathing, and it's called cute. Adults are photographed nude for porno magazines and it is called disgusting. Then what is Jock Sturges' photos of nude adolescents called? His subjects are photographed in their natural surroundings, in their daily lives. I enjoy comparing the photos in this book with those in "The Last Day of Summer" and seeing how the subjects have changed over time. Sturges' work is pure art and I truly recommend it for the avid art enthusiast.

I first came across this book about ten years ago and when I did I instantly became a Jock Sturges fan. But it wasn't until resonantly that I realized just how powerful and deep his art can be. Visiting an art gallery I was stunned by the detail, contrast and the three dimensional quality of Jock's full sized prints. The images you see in his books might have been taken with a medium format camera such as a Hasselblad. Viewing his full sized images, with all their extraordinary detail, you become aware of just what an 8 by 10 view camera can achieve in the hands of a true master. The models seem almost alive.

But this wasn't my only surprise. Many of the images I saw at the art gallery had never been published and I thought that these were Jock's most profound and challenging work. One such print, "Julien et Antoine, Montalivet, France; 2004", really knocked my socks off. We see two beautiful young twin brothers, as naked as the day of their birth, in a bedroom. We know this to be an adult's bedroom as there are no toys or other childish things about, only an adult sized backpack beside the bed. The translucent canopy draped over the large bed and the house plant visible in the upper left corner gives the room a romantic, almost feminine feel. Yet the boys, still a year or two from puberty, seem to own this very adult space.

Antoine is seated on the bed, very relaxed with his arms at his side. Julien stands before him and with an almost sensuous sence of self-confidence he establishes a relationship with us by gazing directly into the camera. His arms are crossed over his chest-perhaps for protection-but, like his brother, he makes no attempt to hide his exposed genitals. His weight is resting on his left leg and his body is shifted sideways in a pose that suggests he is well aware of his beauty and emerging sexuality. This little boy is no longer entirely innocent. He knows that evil exists. He is aware that there are those who would see his beauty as an obscenity and his trust as a come on. We feel privileged that this beautiful boy has allowed us, the viewers, to examine every detail of his stunning body as he meets our gaze without fear or shame. But at the same time we feel challenged. The boy knows that if there is any indecency the fault lies not with him, or with his brother, but with us the viewers. If there is evil then that evil is in us, not him. This picture is worth much more than a thousand words.

If "Julien et Antoine, Montalivet, France; 2004" were to be compressed to the point where it was small enough to fit in a book-or be posted on the net-the stunning technical skill and detail of the photo would be lost and as a result it might well appear pornographic. I felt as if Jock had lead us right up to the edge of the void and then, at the last possible moment, pulled us back to safety. This is surly one of the most beautiful, powerful and potentially disturbing images of the twenty-first century.

I think that this is a really good book! The images are truly art: they are by no means pornography. There are pictures of similar nature on the internet. The question I pose is what is considered pornography and what isn't. If there is sexually explicit content then it has, in my opinion, crossed the line, especially where minors are concerned. The young human body is a beautiful form of God-made nature. It's beautiful in the same way trees, land scapes, flowers, animals, the stars and moon are or any other thing in creation. This book brings out nature just like Ansel Adams brings out nature. The prints themselves are of very good quality. I wouldn't mind being a subject of one of his art works. I also would like to see more books with natural poses rather then model poses. Anyhow, this is a great book, and I recommend it to anyone who appreciates art and nature.