recently

Just a few pictures from recent trips in NY and Northampton. Happy thanksgiving.

a long time coming...

I don't have much to contribute to the mountain of commentary regarding the election, except that it was a night few people will ever forget. I spent the night with my friends Michelle and Sierra in Greenpoint Brooklyn watching the returns come in at a bar called 'Diamond.' As the results were becoming clear, the excitement grew and grew until 11pm when CNN called the election and the place erupted into celebration with everyone hugging each other- even people they didn't know, picture taking, cell-phone calling and text messaging. We were spent by the end of the night. Here are some of my pictures, shot with a Yashica T2...

skinny guys

As an offshoot of 'Check out these guns', I'm starting work on what will probably be an ongoing project typologizing different male body types. I recently learned about an obscure and discredited psychological theory called 'constitutional psychology' developed by William Herbert Sheldon in the 1940s. According to Sheldon there are three different categories of male body types- or somatypes- the ectomorph- skinny and long limbed, the mesomorph- big boned and muscular, and endomorph- overweight and perhaps jolly. How a man behaves and how society perceives him is based primarily on his somatype. Though the theory has many flaws, it speaks to some of the ideas I began exploring in 'Check out these guns' surrounding male body image issues. I disagree with Sheldon's essentialist claims that a man's body type predetermines his personality, but I do agree that body type plays a huge role in shaping personality in relation to cultural standards of masculinity and performance. The theory also ignores men who don't easily fit into one category (i.e skinny and muscular) or whose 'constitution' changes (i.e gains or looses weight).

(As an interesting side note, Sheldon amassed a huge collection of nude photos of Yale undergrads while researching his theory. The photos have sadly been destroyed to protect certain people who now run the country. [ reference ] )

So, while constitutional psychology is problematic for many reasons, the ideas it explores carry much photographic potential. Always a willing model, my friend Bayne agreed to pose shirtless this past weekend at the Middlesex Fells reservation for some test shots using E-6 (transparency) film...

I really love what the transparency film does for the colors, making them almost hyper-realistic. I will probably continue shooting with this kind of film, Fuji Velvia 100. My friend Joanna was also with us and so I got some shots of her and Bayne together- a totally different set of images intended perhaps for an as yet undefined project...

my first post

Hello All,

I have created this blog with the simple intention of sharing my photos that haven't yet become part of a complete "body of work". I hope to use this space to share my work-in-progress, my thoughts and reflections, and as an outlet for the many random (but no less important) images that I make throughout my daily life as a photographer. I also hope that this will, eventually, become a sounding board for critical discussion of my work and of photography in general. 

Here's looking forward to sharing with you.

Most sincerely,

Nathaniel