Customer Reviews

Naked in Apartment 7

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I had heard good reviews on this book when I received it, so I opened it with a smile - a complete open and positive mind.

What I expected: Black and white erotic nude female photography with various lighting, emotional facial expressions, and classy-elegant poses in an apartment

What I got instead: The only thing that I had assumed right - was the fact it was all black and white nude female photography.

What I noticed about the book:

The photographer sometimes uses filters to create blurring effects (not all pictures are just still photos - a lot of them have body parts intentionally blurred or the outline of their body blurred) - Not necessarily a good or bad thing, I just didn't think he did it effectively. Some turned out nice, some just looked overdone.

The photos are not classy and erotic. This looks like maybe a b&w higher scale version of Hustler meets Playboy. The models are masturbating with full frontal nudity. In some cases, you see wide open legs staring at you directly on the page.

Erotic? No. Sexual? Yes. You can definitely tell a man did this photography. These pictures look like they were taken with the entire intent of having a reader masturbate to them.

The quality of the photos are unmistakably professional. No doubt about that. The lighting is fine, although not varied (I wish he had various lighting shots, but he seemed consistent throughout). He has a good variety of models in this book, all ethnicities including caucasian, asian, african-american, and hispanic.

All expressions are basically the same. Bored. Boredom. Bored. Is this picture taken yet? Tired. Bored. What are you looking at? No smiles. No parted lips. No looks of mystery. No sadness. No anger. No contemplation. Nothing. Just boredom.

I don't like the flow of the book. I am actually looking at the book now (there are no page numbers so I cannot tell you which page I am on)... but there are four pictures on this particular 2-page spread. Picture 1: On the left is a girl on her back masturbating with both hands (one on breast, one on vagina) staring at camera in boredom. Picture 2: A picture of a man brushing his teeth in the mirror (why is he in this book?) Picture 3: A girl standing up with her shirt up to her neck and her panties coming off of her with some electronic device in her right hand (is she shaving? who knows?) Picture 4: A girl with opened legs with knee high black boots sitting on a toilet seat with an opened black shirt.

I had hoped for "less is more" - where it might show the curve of a nude body but not show anything. There was very little left to the imagination in this book. Open crotch shots, full frontal nudity directly in front of you. Very few photos where the model tries to cover herself for a more classy erotic shot.

While this book may be an interesting browse for those with aural pleasures in mind... this is not exactly an artist's reference book for the shelves.

I was highly disappointed.

Masterful. I have been a long time fan of Mr. Gorman's work since I first saw his photographs in the photo magazine Black + White. The title "Naked in Apartment 7" refers to the beautiful naked models Gorman photographs in his New York apartment (I would love to live across the street from him with my binoculars at the ever ready) To call his work voyeuristic is an understatement to what his photographs represent, he is an active participant and the models seem to be performing for him, we are the voyeurs looking at what he has captured for himself. The photographs range from the simple half dressed women standing in his kitchen to the open legged nude in the full throws of her own enjoyment spread out on Gorman's couch seeming to explore her own ultra exhibitionist fantasies for Gorman. These women are intense and beautiful, they seem to be driven by their own strength and not by the male ego.

I really love this book. I am so sick of all the run of the mill glamour (...) that is out there, that it is great to see photography with some edge to it. I see more going on in these photographs of wild women than I have seen in a long time. Not for everyone, some of the models are a bit unkempt for my taste, but an extensive cross section of women. The photography has a harsh sinister look to it at times, but not in a fetishized way. I am not sure what the point of shooting in one apartment is and the photos with Gorman in them are a bit dorky, but over all this book hits the sweet spot with me

I have rarely seen nude photographs with the intimacy shown in these images. The models, dance students I believe, interact directly with the camera and also with the viewer. At their most brash they are also most vulnerable. The photographer has made something special here. He has somehow made an image of a living woman which opens that woman to our view on several levels. She is first of all and clearly alive. This is no magazine-fetish-mannikin-supermodel. This is a living, breathing woman. She is taking a pose, displaying herself for the camera; but she is also revealing herself in a way that few of us have ever seen. And yet, unlike the experience of other books of images, I do not come away with the sense that I was a voyeur, taking something. I felt like a participant, sharing something. This was a remarkable book.

A small hardcover book (215x215x15mm) published by the Goliath Verlag and printed in Germany.
Pages (about 160) are un-numbered and all pictures are monochrome.
The opening of the book contains a small multilingual introduction by Reed Massengill briefly describing the photographer Peter Gorman and his work.

All models depicted are female and in some of the photos the artist is visible either directly or via a tv-screen. However he's not nude in apartment 7 himself even if all the models are partially or completely undressed. Some of the models are present in several pictures(up to 15 photos of the same model.

I find a big variation in the work. Some of the poses have a likness to views seen in adult magazines, some show definitively movement, and some have an abstract stillness to them.
Several of the photos are very interesting and many are sadly not.

The book was worth studying, but for me it is not a keeper.

This is a book that needs a sequel. I can not get enough of the photographs in this book. Each model and her placement in the setting is a story in itself. I feel that I am seeing the true nature of each women when it comes to pleasing themselves. Not all of the models are as explicit as others, but this is what gives the book a wide range. I find myself changing favorites every time I open Naked in Apartment 7 "she is my favorite... no she is my favorite... no wait this is my favorite photo..." and on and on. Like a good movie it makes you wonder: where are the characters now? what happened in the scenes that follow the ending? can't it just keep going on? why does it have to end? My two cents.

God I love this stuff!
Wake up and smell the ...! Oops! I mean coffee. It's a brave new world out there, no time for beating around the bush,(sorry) of the sexuality of women. It is alive and well and it's about time we all started showing women off in all thier beauty. Women are not statues on a podium. They are living, breathing, sexual animals. THANK GOD!!! I, also am a fine art photographer, and I get excited when I find girls who are not afraid to show all of thier beauty. Props to Peter Gorman for a look into (his) Apartment 7.

Ron P.

I've seen those pictures for the first time several years ago somewhere in internet, probably, in Nerve. Finally I've got the book. I adore it. I've got huge collection of photo albums. This is one of few books I love most of all among them.
Hey, guys who throw this book away, will you be so kind to throw them my way? I gave this book as a present several times already, and no one copy will be superfluous for me. (I'll cover shipping.)

Mr.Gorman's style looks inappropriate for those "professional" photographers, how knows much about light, posing, etc., but producing nothing except boring "correctly-exposed" pictures.
What I found going through lots of photos everybody interested in photography seen during their lives, -- it's important what it is about, not how it's done to remember the name of the author. When at the same time it's done perfectly in terms of composition, you just love it.

What I feel looking at his pictures, is envy. Envy to his ability to set up environment, to move lamp or chair to the only position it should be, to his fantasy (can you use your small place to create a book?), to choose models and select negatives to print.

Have you seen "Once" by Wim Wenders? "Go-sees" by Juergen Teller? "Europeans" by Cartier Bresson? "Apartment 17" is from from this list I'd take to another planet.

...Waiting for the "Digitals" as a book.

Endless collection of the same photograph, same pose, and same lighting showing little imagination. On the positive side, probably makes a good reference book if you want to take your own photographs. The black and white format adds nothing and they should have been shot in color. Add 1.5 stars if you enjoy pictures of nude women and don't really care about the photography

If you are expecting Newton or Bisang or Ritts, this is not a book for you. If you want to see erotic images that are accomplished with limited resources in a very subdued and non-stylized manner, then this IS the book for you.

It is worth noting that I am a photographer who works within equally constrained circumstance with similar subject matter. Hence, I appreciate the significance of what Gorman was able to accomplish. I won't say that the images are beautiful: they are not. At least in the sense that they are not glamourous. However, they are captivating, even if expository in some instances. The models are not gorgeous, but Gorman has taken women that one might encounter in the course of everyday life and shown them to be attractive. I believe the latter to be very important.

I love the work of Newton. One thing that I like the most is the almost casual nature of his nudes. Gorman has taken this casual nudity, pushed it more to the edge and stripped out the glamourous settings.

This is a book that I find myself drawn to. I think that thing that draws me is the casualness of the images and the ability to capture an emotion or notion using very little. As a "coffee table" book, I don't think it works. Well, maybe it depends on who you invite over for coffee. As a collection of images that merits our appreciation for their simple circumstance, it is well done.