Book Preview: Emotion by Photographer David Vance

Wonderful gay publishing house Bruno Gmünder has teamed up with photographer David Vance on a new 128 page photography book Emotion. The collection is an homage to the male physique in all its beauty and sensitivity. Vance's goal is to show how motion can evoke emotion. As you will see from the preview images, he does a great job of it.

Here's how Vance describes the project:

Emotion. The question is what does it make you feel when you experience the phenomenon of motion? At this point in my life I can actually get emotional watching beautiful movement. Dancers, athletes, acrobats, gymnasts … their grace, the fluidity, the strength and sense of total freedom can give me goosebumps and make my eyes water. That’s probably why I enjoy photographing these performance artists.
The book is called Emotion because motion and emotion are two of my favorite things to capture. The act of directing a particular action and seeing come to life is always thrilling. 

Of course because we live in a relative world, every image you see here will not necessarily contain overt movement. Some images are seemingly still. In order to examine and appreciate motion it’s necessary to also show the contrast of non-motion. That being said, the truth is nothing is really completely motionless. To me even an image that appears perfectly still can be brimming with the inevitability of imminent movement. Everything is in constant flux, moving, albeit slowly, even imperceptibly. 

I’ve tried to capture images that show many kinds of motion from totally frozen in space and time to images that indicate movement with blur and the streaking of the light. Sometimes there is no apparent motion, but even in repose there is a sense of motion conveyed by the composition and visual dynamics of the image causing your eye to move around and through it. It’s almost as if you expect the eyes to blink or the head to turn. They may be still photos in the literal sense, but motion and emotions are products of your individual perception. We can step into the image and imagine what has just occurred or what is about to happen. 

Motion and Emotion. They are both constants in that they are always there. They are similar because neither is ever really still. They are constantly changing. Emotional images have the power to stir our empathy. They move us, so to speak. Who doesn’t have an emotional response to the beauty of motion, watching a dancer leap through the air as if suspended or an acrobat balancing on one hand in mid air? The force of movement is an emotional thing. Aggressive movement can make us feel fear or anger. More graceful or aesthetic movement can bring us to tears and clumsiness can cause us to laugh out loud. 

Emotion is what I feel when I make these images. It’s what I hope you experience looking at them.

Emotion is due out March 1st, In North America, you can order it at Amazon.

Book Preview: Naked Ibiza by Photographer Dylan Rosser

Gay publishing giant Bruno Gmünder has teamed up with photographer Dylan Rosser distributing his latest release Naked Ibiza. Rosser started work on Naked Ibiza four exciting years ago. After visiting Ibiza regularly since 2000, he decided to leave London for it, with the intention of photographing models outdoors in nature, something that was new to him after primarily indoor studio work. “I wanted to work with more models in different locations at different times of the year to provide a more vivid picture of this Mediterranean island paradise,” he puts it.

“I am very proud of the mix of models who have been part of this project,” Rosser says. “Some are experienced guys with huge fan bases while others are brand new, but definitely on their way to big success. You will see muscled professional body builders and lean athletic guys. Not every image is a nude, as there are some beautiful portraits of which I am proud.”

Dylan Rosser has been shooting the male nude for almost two decades and has worked with beautiful men from all around the globe. Based mainly in Ibiza (Balearic Islands), he often works in other locations like NYC, Paris, Los Angeles, Cape Town, Bali, Sydney.

Besides the focus on the male nudes, he has worked on many underwear/swimwear campaigns for the ADDICTED brand and was responsible for the collaboration with ADDICTED and BelAmi in 2014/2015.

His work has graced the covers of countless international publications and he has photographed many celebrities for GayTimes Magazine over the years, especially their regular "Naked Issues" for charity.

In addition to the preview images below, there is also a NSFW video that you can watch. It's even too hot for us to show. Just click here if you wanna watch it!

In North America, you can get a copy of Naked Ibiza HERE!

Book Preview: Michael Stokes "Exhibition"

Publishing house Bruno Gmünder and photographer Michael Stokes have teamed up for not one, but two new books out this November. We previewed the jaw dropping Always Loyal a few weeks ago. Now it is our absolute pleasure to talk about the second book coming out, Exhibition. Available as of November 15th, Exhibition is a 136-page, large scale, hardcover volume, showcasing male erotic images and figure studies of fitness competitors, personal trainers, and body builders from around the world. And as you will see from the images below, it is pretty astonishing.

Raised in Berkeley, California, Michael Stokes is now a Los Angeles based photographer. He graduated first in his class and Phi Beta Kappa with a Fine Art degree through the film department at California State University, Long Beach. Before changing his career path to filmmaking, he was a photography major, learning pre-digital photographic techniques and using darkrooms and silver gelatin film. In film school, he wrote and directed a short film, Alien, that screened in film festivals around the world.

Michael’s first coffee table book, Masculinity (2012), was a glamour-styled, photographic male figure study book that is currently out of print. In the same style as his first, his second book, Bare Strength (2014), is already in its third printing and is available on Amazon. It features a chapter on wounded veterans of war, specifically amputees. From the sales of this book, he has donated $10,000 to the Semper Fi Fund, a charity that benefits veterans of war and their families. Also in 2014, Michael collaborated with the publisher Taschen to produce My Buddy, supplying the publisher with his collection of vintage photos of nude WWII soldiers.

Michael’s photos of wounded veterans have been shared around the world and have been featured on television: Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Tonight Show,The View, and The Talk. They have been featured in several major newspapers and online periodicals around the world, including: The Independent UK, The Mirror UK, TheDrudge Report, The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post (French Edition), Cosmopolitan, People magazine, BuzzFeed, and Vanity Fair Italy, just to mention a few.

Visit Michael Stokes at his Website or Facebook. Preorder a copy of Exhibition from publisher Bruno Gmünder or from Amazon!

Book Preview: Michael Stokes "Always Loyal"

Publishing house Bruno Gmünder has teamed up with wonderful photographer Michael Stokes once again for the jaw dropping, incredibly moving new book Always Loyal. Inspired by a chapter in his 2014 book, Bare Strength, which featured wounded amputee Marines, Always Loyal is an entire photographic volume dedicated to U.S. Gulf War veterans showcasing the beautiful side of wounded soldiers, whose injuries and/or lost limbs are detailed in intimate, exclusive photographs. The goal of fitness photographer Stokes, who was inspired by a shoot with veteran and amputee Alex Minsky, was to put a different spin on how wounded veterans were depicted. The result of the book is pure art.

Raised in Berkeley, California, Michael Stokes is now a Los Angeles-based photographer. He graduated first in his class and Phi Beta Kappa with a Fine Art degree through the film department at California State University, Long Beach. Before changing his career path to filmmaking, he was a photography major, learning pre-digital photographic techniques and using darkrooms and silver gelatin film. In film school, he wrote and directed a short film, Alien, that screened in film festivals around the world.

Michael’s first coffee table book, Masculinity (2012), was a glamour-styled, photographic male figure study book that is currently out of print. In the same style as his first, his second book, Bare Strength (2014), is already in its third printing and is available on Amazon. It features a chapter on wounded veterans of war, specifically amputees. From the sales of this book, he has donated $10,000 to the Semper Fi Fund, a charity that benefits veterans of war and their families. Also in 2014, Michael collaborated with the publisher Taschen to produce My Buddy, supplying the publisher with his collection of vintage photos of nude WWII soldiers.

Michael’s photos of wounded veterans have been shared around the world and have been featured on television: Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Tonight Show,The View, and The Talk. They have been featured in several major newspapers and online periodicals around the world, including: The Independent UK, The Mirror UK, TheDrudge Report, The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post (French Edition), Cosmopolitan, People magazine, BuzzFeed, and Vanity Fair Italy, just to mention a few.

Visit Michael Stokes at his Website or Facebook. Preorder a copy of Always Loyal from publisher Bruno Gmünder or from Amazon!

Book Preview: Photographer Mark Henderson's "Lap of Luxury"

Lap of Luxury, photographer and art historian Mark Henderson's upcoming coffee table book of the male form, is exquisite. This is perhaps the most mature, well thought out collection of photographs I have had the pleasure to experience. Henderson brilliantly uses natural lighting and well appointed surroundings to capture his models in a stunning and spectacular fashion. The preview images below are but a tip of the iceberg.

Lap of Luxury is Mark Henderson's seventh coffee table book. Some of his other titles include Luminosity, Household Idols, Suburban Pleasures, and Poolside. His work has also been featured in Men: Twenty Five Years in Photography and various anthology books published by Bruno Gmünder, including Beautiful Vision, Jewels, and Brief Encounters. There are a ton more, but the list would become far too long! Mark's work also appeared regularly in Men, Freshman, and Unzipped magazines, and my images have been featured in Männer, DNA, The Male Form, Display, Romeo and lots and lots of other publications.

Lap of Luxury is due out November 1st from German publishing house Bruno Gmünder. In the US, it might be easiest to preorder a copy from Amazon. If you'd like to learn more about Mark Henderson, check out his Website!

Book Preview: Full Frontal - The Best of Dylan Rosser

Finally! German publishing house Bruno Gmünder is releasing photographer Dylan Rosser's book Full Frontal in an affordable 160 page, soft cover format. Full Frontal is a compilation of the best work that Dylan Rosser has produced over the last several years of his more than a decade long career shooting male nudes.

You may know Dylan Rosser best from his wonderful The Male Form website and magazine. A bit reclusive, Dylan recently moved from his home in London to the remote Spanish island city of Ibiza. In 2012, he told The Advocate, "I am quite a solitary person, and even though shooting male nudes does involve working with a model, that is really a very small part of it. Most of the time it is just me, my ideas, and my computer ... creating." 

Despite publishing numerous books and traveling the world for photo shoots, Dylan doesn't really talk about himself or his accomplishments. It seems he would rather just let the work speak for itself.

Full Frontal: The Best of Dylan Rosser comes out September 1st. You can order a copy directly from Bruno Gmünder. Or, in the US, you can get it from Amazon. Either way, you can't really go wrong.