3.0 out of 5 stars
Less than what I expected, Jan 22 2004
This review is from: Naked in Apartment 7 (Hardcover)
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.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Dull and boring, July 11 2003
This review is from: Naked in Apartment 7 (Hardcover)
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
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Nude photography in a tiny apartment, Jun 24 2003
This review is from: Naked in Apartment 7 (Hardcover)
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.
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