'German men are almost all impressively tall, many are blond and, almost invariably, they are extremely handsome with the bodies of Adonis. Even better, they dress well, smell of expensive eau de Cologne, and are incredibly intelligent.'
As we so often do, groups of people are summed up in a few words and stereotyped, usually through the depictions we've grown up reading about, or watching on film. Aussie men are blonde Adonis surfers, British men; handsome, tweed wearing barristers. Canadians are usually portrayed as hockey playing, beer drinking nice guys, and Americans... we'll, depending on where you live, they might be Southern rednecks, California beach bums or loud and artsy New Yorkers.
Of course all of these archetypal men do actually exist, they only scratch the surface of the truth. While German men are often presented as soccer playing, Sauerkraut eating, Lederhosen wearing blondes, this idyllic image does not paint a complete picture. So many depictions of German men have their in the war. Both the soldiers stationed in Germany after World War II and the darker history of multitude of young German men involved in the youth movement under Hitler in the early 1920's.
It was through this lens, Ian (macpics) shot Helmut. A couple of years ago, 'first shoots' became one of the themes I loved to explore with both artists and models. Although Helmut wasn't Ian's first shoot, it was an early shoot that he recently stumbled upon and decided he wanted to take another look at.
'I can't remember too many specifics from the shoot except that for one or two of the times we shot, Helmut's hair was longer and unruly. I didn't like that look as much. With his hair shorter, as in these photos, Helmut had me thinking out how similar he looked to the perfect picture of how young German man used to be depicted.'
Ian got to know the German culture well. Although he now lives and works in Melbourne, Australia, Ian lived in Germany for over thirteen years. During his time there, he met Helmut while they were both performing in a amateur theatre production. The play was titled, The Soldier'; a bleak, German, 18th-century drama. The shoot provided some light moments during the long rehearsal process. Ian even thought of a name for the shoot, joking with Helmut he was going to call it, Black and white and blond all over.
'Helmut was pleasant, but quiet, and obviously very at ease with his body and sexuality. I say his sexuality because I also asked him if he would be prepared to pose nude with another male model. That entailed touch, holding and full body contact, and it didn't phase him at all. I was probably more phased then the models were. lol!'
No comments:
Post a Comment