The Body Book: The Back

My fascination with the back began in the gayest of places -- the movie FUNNY LADY. Could you die? It's that scene where Barbra Streisand sings How Lucky Can You Get while wearing a Bob Mackie gown cut so deep as to expose almost her entire back. For a 13 year old gay boy to be so riveted by a glorious piece of costuming and the gorgeous piece of womanflesh is probably nothing new -- I am sure it was the spark that lead many other teenage gay boys into clothing design. This teenage gay boy, though, just became fixated on the human back.

Once I was, thoroughly, ensconced in my life as a photographer, I began focusing the lens on artistic pursuits and I felt like it was, really, very artistic to take pictures of peoples' backs. Most people have their faces photographed -- I wanted to flip the picture around.

So, for years, I asked my friends (who I felt would be game) to drop the cloth for me and strike a pose.

I have never really had trouble getting people out of their clothing during a shoot -- I attribute it to my innate trustability. People know that I am an artist, that I won't molest them once they are in a state of undress and that I won't let them look bad. So, over the years, I developed quite a portfolio of nude people. Within that portfolio more than half the pictures are of the human back.

Some of my back pictures are, clearly, at the start of my career. These two photos of Chris are a little hot, a little washed out, while the photos of Jonas and of Steve that flank the two photos of Chris, show a greater understanding of photographing the shadow, rather than the light.

When photographing the body, it is all about the shadow.

Withou the shadow, you cannot, fully, see the muscle tone and the landscape of the body.

Looking for more artistic and creative ways to shoot photos of the back, I remembered what my grandmother had taught me about the art of striptease; suggest the world but withhold the prize. That's why pictures like this one of Morgana made me feel good about my work -- to photograph a naked lady is one thing; to photograph an ALMOST naked lady is thrilling (not to mention looking at the photo of the almost naked lady).

There is also the matter of contradiction, of juxtaposition, like this photo of the very built up Ernie and the smaller, smoother, but equally bugg contours of his wife, Julianne.


It is also never a matter of just shooting a picture of a person from behind -- the whole picture of the whole person. Sometimes it is just a matter of a little bit of the anatomical landscape of the person's beauty.

There is no greater accessory for a picture showing off the body..... than another body...

I was very proud of my friends, all these years: they really have been the best sports about some of the things I have asked them to do for my camera. It's nice to have had so many people willing to be models without pay.

So often, it is what you cannot see in a picture that makes it sexy.

My favourite thing about shoots like this is that, when it all works out just right, you get to see both the masculinity and the femininity of the person in the picture.

It truly is a thrill to do this kind of work.