Not Sweating the Small Stuff

A Good or Bad Photograph?

This is not a great photograph. It seems to me. In terms of composition, it doesn't appear more than a bit of red towel thrown down on some concrete and a guy plonked down on top. With the resultant image being not particularly well managed - various bits are cut off without obvious reason or intention: the head, right knee and part of the right foot. And there's some strange lighting.

But there is something interesting and novel about the picture that isn't immediately obvious. And which holds my attention and then makes me wonder why I'm still looking.

In part it's the pose. Reclining but with the legs and feet unusually towards the viewer. Okay, better to see the crotch!

What I particularly like is the twisting round of the torso that emphasizes its fleshy muscularity. But without any resultant tension or straining. Only a lazy sensuality and pliancy. And the counter twist of the head back to the viewer for engagement.

To elevate the chest and so make it more visible to the observer, the body is supported at the back on one forearm - the other arm straight and behind too, with hand to hand, giving a triangle.

In the 'artistic' though seemingly uncontrived disposition of the forms, the photograph in some ways reminds me of Michelangelo - for example, the study for Adam on the Sistine Ceiling.


I like the less than usual lighting - seemingly random over the body but in fact high-lighting a line down through the shoulder, crotch, thigh and sole of the foot. And the golden hair picked out on the upper torso by the sun.

I don't image the photographer or model calculated these effects - these things are operating at an intuitive level.

But maybe it's a lousy picture and I'm just raving on! And horny!