Customer Reviews

Will Mcbride: Coming Of Age (Aperture Monograph)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In no particular order, Will McBride presents to us a vision of childhood and youth, exposing its innocence, ennui, pride, exhuberance, despair and its loss. At first glance, this book may appear to be just a collection of portraits of boys in a variety of situations: some nude, some at play, some with family, some lost in their own thoughts. But in each photograph, McBride has managed to capture those emotions I listed, and more. None of the nudity is contrived nor is it exploitative. In some you can see the diffidence and anxiety in the subject, while in others you can see a nonchalance in the boy's posture exposing what? Trust in the photographer? Or the cynicism born out of some other, previous experience?

An excellent collection created by a photographer with an exceptional eye.

The progression of boys to men is a treacherous road of physical, hormonal, social, psychological, and spiritual struggles. It is also a path strewn with glowing discoveries, hope, wonder, and awe. In this fine book those rites of passage are well captured not only by photographer Will McBride but also by writers Guy Davenport, whose introductory comments are insightful and tender, and by William Simon whose Afterward places the journey in fine context.

Yes, this is primarily a picture album of boys being boys, whether costumed in the regalia imposed upon them by society or in the raw as nature created them. McBride's work represents years of photographing boys of all ages and the results are action photos and studio shots all of which celebrate the masculine form as it grows from childhood innocence to post pubertal sensuality. There is joy here as well as eyes filled with doubt or fear, all of the emotions that suffuse that period here called 'coming of age'.

While many may ignore this book as merely a 'skin book', this is a book with both a visual and verbal message and as such it is an important addition to the library of human sexuality, of human growth, and of the wonder of the arrival of an adult male. Recommended. Grady Harp, December 05

This is an interesting if slightly perplexing collection of photographs. I guess that the authors aim to present images of young boys making the difficult transition to young adulthood has been shown, but with a non-cohesive sense of place. The presentation of young Indian boys towards the centre of the book comes in sharp contarts to the images of West German boys elsewhere. Indeed, I felt they were out of place and opportunistically placed. Almost as if the author suddenly found this odd set of pictures he'd taken years ago and thought "I could use some of those here".

The collection ranges from candid photgraphs to rigidly posed studies, some of the latter being amongst the most haunting I've ever seen. There truly can be beauty in the peri-pubescent and adolescent male. I know some people have claimed that this book has been produced to satisfy that strange group of people who call themselves "boy-lovers", and it may indeed appeal to such people. However, lovers of the male form more generally can gain from viewing this collection, and trying to understand the context in which the photographs were taken. ....

I bought this book when I was looking for some puberty material for my 12 year old son. I thought at first that it was a bit too pornographic for a pre-teen to see,but the reality is,this book is just perfect. My son and I looked inside the book together and it was a lot easier for me answering any question about his body when you have pictures of other boys his age who are the same stage,or soon to be stage. It was really a fine ice braker and I'm sure any father with a soon to be teen age boy would agree. Mothers too can take advantage of the book as well..

I highly recommend this book to anyone.....

I ordered this thinking that the book would contain more photographs like the one on the cover, strong, sensual images of young men/boys making the transition from childhood to adulthood, and all that that entails. There were some great images in the book, the 15 yo matador and his family, the boy standing naked beside his fully clothed brother.... but there was a lot of wasted potential as well. As mentioned in other reviews, the photos of Indian boys towards the latter third of the book are somewhat out of place, but so is the final set of pictures (even though there are of a German teenager) that come from another of McBride's books.

All in all, this book was something of a disappointment...

One of the reviewers below - interestingly the one with the longest tirade and the most misspelled words - sadly reflects the puritanical revulsion and hypocritical rebuke of so many works of art that involve male nudity. The poor guy actually exposes more of his own internal sexual disorientation than he probably realizes. His psyche is disrobed when he protests that Will McBride's photographic journal is "sexual and the only real purpose would be to get people hot and bothered."

Reviewer C. Greene is obviously a true Son of the South. Shackled with so much sexual repression, he can't help but accuse Will McBride of leading him into temptation. It's really rather funny when you think of it.

C. Greene's accusation that a book's intent is to get people "hot and bothered" says everything about C. Greene's internal world and nothing at all about Will McBride.

Wonderful, large, emotional photos of boys, some nudes.

It's great to finally see a collection of McBride's photos sold in the US, especially given that many of them were take up to thirty years ago.

As the introduction says.

Will McBride has always been on the cutting edge (from his book Show Me) but this book like others of his, are controversal (mostly boys and men) but his skill is genius........the pictures are like going back in time to memories all of us have had...at least men.School halls of beaurifully uniformed boys lined up in front of the Headmaster...and german shower houses where pans of water fall on the head.......its all unusal and majestic somehow. Some will find the subject matter troubling, but all have to acknowledge the gift of this fine photographer.

I'm not sure that's an accurate title for this book. While the subjects range from childhood (as young as 3 or 4 probably) to adulthood, less than half of the pictures seem to be in the 'coming of age' range. There are a few that are younger that also qualify due to situation (a 6 or 7 year old with a rifle for instance), but not many. There is a lot of variety in the book. Age. Locale. Dress. So if that's what you're looking for, this selection is pretty good. If you are looking for erotic photographs, this is not the book for you. Of that genre the cover photo is probably the best. If you are looking for handsome youths in their natural habitat, so to speak, there are a few good examples (Oliviero p23, cover/p29, Nino p61, Emilio the Bullfighter p62-67). There are also some studio shots. It also shows a progression of Will McBride's photography over the years, if you are into that sort of thing.

I would give this book 2 stars, but that is only because I was expecting something a bit different. Since that is the source of my disappointment, I'm upping it to 3. The quality of the book is excellent and the photography is quite good.

I'm one of those people who loves photography that seeks, not so much to be revelatory, but to capture a moment in time. I love photographs that allow you into the subject's mind and being in the precise moment when the picture was taken. McBride offers photos like these. There's something magical about being in that fleeting liminal space between childhood and adulthood, and McBride manages to catch and hold in black and white the beauty of that space. My favorite picture is of McBride's wife and three young sons; it's so beautiful that it brings tears to my eyes. I'm saddened to see several reviews that imply that the photos in this book -- at least those in which the subject(s) are nude -- are in some way exploitative or offensive; I don't see any such thing. This book captures and preserves boys at their most achingly ephemeral and precious.

The only thing that could have made the book better would have been clearer organization. It includes photographs from larger series/sets by McBride, but there is little by way of transition between the collections. I would love to have a bit more biography about the different subjects. On the other hand, one could argue that more biography would rob the photographs of their "everyboy" quality, in which the subjects may serve as proxy for boys around the world who are, as the title implies, "coming of age." If you found offensive the recent pictures of Miley Cyrus taken by Annie Liebowitz, you will find this book offensive; for my part, I think it is a lovely book.