MasculineCurves

JPG Issue 12

Yesterday I stopped by Borders to pick up the current issues of some of my favorite “must-have” magazines. One of which is a photo industry pub called JPG. What makes JPG so interesting is the fact that it is entirely user generated. Basically any photographer at any level can create a profile page and upload their images to the magazine’s social networking site jpgmag.com. Members can critique each other and vote for images to be selected for publication in the magazine.

The current issue (Issue 12) is the magazine's fashion edition, and while it features some gorgeous artsy fashion images, it also contains several photo essays around the subject of family.

Here’s a self-portrait Italian photographer Andrea Moussanet took with his grandfather’s Elioflex2. (page 9).

"I feel a sense of excitement when I take his camera in my hands. I like to imagine that if he were alive today, he would give it to me and ask me to photograph him dancing with his wife, hugging my mom, laughing with his friends," Moussanet describes the sentimental value of the family heirloom.

Jenna Hindley’s work is featured in a themed collection called Family. This powerful image, titled “Unconditional,” has a dual connotation. Obviously the interaction depicts the unconditional love between a mother and child, but it also allows us, as viewers, to cast this punk rocker in a different light than we might otherwise. (page 97).

Charles Rushton, a photography professor at Oklahoma City Community College,presents an intriguing eight page portrait essay on fathers. (pages 100-107).

"Two Fathers has got to be one of my all-time favorite portraits. It is filled with pride, bravado, and genuine affection. I love the fact that the males all have such serious expressions, and only the young girl is smiling," says Rushton.

JPG Issue 12 is currently on newsstands and available online at jpgmag.com.

Pulse Magazine

I have a new favorite magazine, Pulse. Actually, I can’t call it new simply because it’s been around a few years. But I had not heard of Pulse until I happened upon a posting of this fantastical cover shot on the Wandering Caravan blog. Pulse is published quarterly by Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), a New York based nonprofit.

I think it’s obvious why the cover of the 2007 Summer Pride issue caught my eye, and I thought it was interesting enough to share on this site. Pulse is a high-end glossy worthy of both praise and criticism. The concept for the cover spread demonstrates the diaspora of African ancestory. Frank is Black/Slovenian, Daniel is Black/Panamanian, Josh is Black/Columbian, and so on. Here’s the criticism part: Take these models for exactly what they are—Face Value! While I personally find beauty in men of every skin tone, the men on this cover were not chosen because of their mixed ethnicities. They’re on the cover because of their high cheek bones and chiseled chins. Their faces are heavy with eye shadow and mascara, and smoothed by the wonders of Photoshop’s “dust & scratches” feature. So if you are a man of African descent (or of any race for that matter), don’t beat yourself up because you don’t have gold eyes, a thin nose, straight hair, or skin without pores like you see here. This is not reality.  It is shear high-fashion artistry, and at that – it is very well done!

Pulse is jam packed with smart and relevant editorial for gay men of color. In this issue, acclaimed writer L. Michael Gipson delivers a compelling short on the victimization of black gay inmates, and GMAD executive director, Tokes Osubu, asks Barack Obama some pretty tough questions in an exclusive interview. The best thing about Pulse is it’s absolutely free! You can download a PDF of the current issue and back issues at the GMAD website.

Djimon's Package

When I opened the September issue of Vanity Fair I nearly fell out of my chair and smacked my precious head. Was I delirious, or did I just see Djimon Hounsou’s package? Nope, it was his package alright. Right dab in the front of the magazine’s 415 page annual style edition. In last month’s Critical Analysis I described a Calvin Klein ad as “boring and uninteresting” and inferred that the brand was losing its edge. I must recant that statement after seeing this three-page spread (inside cover) featuring Hounsou endorsing the new CK underwear line, Steel.

Okay, so it might not be so unpredictably provocative to see male models in tightie whities plastered all over the pages of a fashion magazine. But I remember a time when the closest thing to a black man in an underwear ad was Shemar Moore striking a pose for the occasional Undergear catalogue, and that’s just about as authentic as…uhhmm… Shemar Moore hosting SoulTrain. So it’s not a far stretch to conclude that the only thing  mainstream culture finds more intimidating or overly fantasized than a black man is an African man. That’s why I was both surprised and delighted to see Hounsou in this position (so to speak). It looks like Calvin Klein might be forward thinking after all.

The above image is just part of the spread. To see the conversation piece you’ll just have to go out and buy your own copy. LOL.

[photo credit: Peter Lindbergh for Calvin Klein]

Men in The Media: Daniel Radcliffe

Yep! That’s Hairy Harry Potter all grown and sexy! In the last six years we’ve literally watched Daniel Radcliffe go from kid wizard to Hollywood hunk right before our eyes. He turned 18 last month, and it seems as though everyone’s biting at the bit to dig their claws into this one. Writer Simon Garfield got the first crack with an exclusive profile on the coming of age actor in the August issue of the ambiguously gay Details magazine.

Garfield jumps right in by broaching the subject of getting to watch Radcliffe portray an Australian teenage orphan who experiences his “first” romantic encounter with the opposite sex in the upcoming December Boys (scheduled for limited release in the United States in September). And he doesn’t hold back when he probes Radcliffe about the infamous nude scene in last Spring’s stage revival of Peter Shaffer’s Equus. “Our hero’s member is ‘average’; that is, no one gasped with envy when he unzipped, but no one asked for a refund, either.”

In the interview, Radcliffe reveals that he plans to pursue his acting and writing career in lieu of a college education. “The paparazzi they’d love it,” Radcliffe cites the publicity circus campus life might evoke. “And also if there were any parties going on, they’d be tipped off as to where they were, and it would be all that stuff.”

[photo credit: Steven Klein for Details]

Men in The Media: Ngo

Not only has Star Jones recently disclosed that she underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003 to lose more than 160lbs, but she’s also coming forth with who’s been responsible for helping her keep the weight off. It’s none other than model/actor Ngo. In the September issue of Glamour, Jones credits her personal trainer for helping her stay focused on her fitness goals.

You’ve most likely seen Ngo gracing the pages of Vogue, Vibe, and Men’s Health (to name a few). And his acting career is taking off with appearances in several independent and feature films, including 2006’s Phat Girlz.

But Ngo just isn't your ordinary run-of-the-mill male supermodel.  Born in Framingham, Massachusetts while his Nigerian father was attending  Harvard University , he moved to Nigeria with his parents at the age of  two and remained until he reached adulthood.

On his website, Ngo explains that while he has achieved success in the industry it hasn’t been an easy ride.  “Work was hard to come by early in my career, because there were limited job opportunities for black models in the business. To this day, I still have people in influential positions tell me I am too big, too muscular, too tall, to grow my hair and all kinds of other insensitive comments which were meant to consciously or unconsciously break my spirit.”

Well, we’re glad he kept at it, and we can’t wait to see more of this fine African Adonis.

[photo credits -  Sara Jaye Weiss for Glamour (top); Richard Corman (middle, bottom)]

Oops! She did it again.

We’re certainly not talking about Britney Spears here.  The July issue of Vanity Fair  hit newsstands this week, and Iman, Oprah, and Madonna are among the 21 celebrities saying and DOING things to bring attention to troubling issues in Africa.

On Monday, our Video of the Day featured the photography of David LaChapelle. You may recall, we described him as “one of the most in-demand visual artists of our time.”  In our opinion, Leibovitz can certainly claim the title of most in-demand and most influential.  While her peers are spending more time at the computer photoshopping celebrity clients, it’s obvious her focus is using the lens to capture their personalities.  In her most recent book, A Photographers Life: 1990-2005, Leibovitz begins to open up about her relationship with the late Susan Sontag.

We highly recommend picking up a copy of the July Vanity Fair.  If you have any extra change in your pocket, buy all 20 covers.  They're sure to be a collector's item and you might just learn something you can do to support the work of those helping people in Africa.

Africa.  But the SHE we're speaking of is Annie Leibovitz who photographed 20 separate covers for the special Africa issue.  Leibovitz describes the project as “a visual chain letter…spreading the message from person to person to person.”