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Saturday, February 16, 2019
Dealing in Desire: Alessio by Richard Rothstein
'Those who restrain their desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.'
William Blake
Regardless of our needs, there are stages which lead to satisfaction. With food, it begins with a craving, a thought or desire of what we long to consume. It then moves to anticipation, the actual planning, the cooking, the excitement and salivation that occurs when the meat is about to meet the mouth.
This is followed by climax, when that piece of turkey and gravy, that burger, that pasta sauce or taste of wine slides along your tongue, satisfying your hunger as it slides down your throat to your awaiting stomach. This of course is followed by the last stage, resolution. The resolution stage is the most tricky to predict. Sometimes, it can be joyous satisfaction, other times it can be guilt ridden. Often, it is just a feeling of fullness, but without really feeling fulfilled or nourished by whatever it was that was just shoved inside you.
Just like eating, sex has four similar stages. Like hunger, it begins with desire and a craving. If we're able to fulfill our carvings, we move to arousal, then hopefully orgasm, and when finished, resolution. On FH, I've chosen mostly to focus on the first two stages. One reason is practicality. Given the array of artists, actors and models I feature, a focus on the climax could limit those interested in being featured.
The main reason however, is my personal tastes. In photography, I generally enjoy and get the satisfaction, from the beginning, those early desires and cravings. Although many images certainly act as stimulation for the final stages of satisfaction, for me, the beauty if often in the build up. Sometimes however, my boundaries are pushed, usually by artists whose work I admire.
'The challenge when photographing sex is the very blurry and highly subjective line between creating a beautiful image and succumbing to someone else’s judgmental definition of pornography. When is it art? When is it not art? I think the only reasonable answer is a beautiful image regardless of subject matter that delivers an engaging and poetic composition, a delicate dance of light, shadows, contours, angles; an image that captures an emotional moment in an ongoing story; an image that inspires mystery, questions and any kind of emotional reaction.'
I have been featuring the work of photographer Richard Rothstein for eight years now, and although his images have always had an erotic edge, Richard has released some of the constraints, especially those put upon artists by so many social media sites. With his OnlyFans site, Richard is free to move beyond the stage of desire, to fully complete the cycle through arousal, orgasm and resolution. If like me, Richard's images of the tempting Alessio prompted a craving, move on to the next stage, when Alessio met Sergey on PAGE 2 HERE:
Happy Birthday today February 16th
12 Days:: Toby Levins in Christmas at Holly Lodge
'It was a wonderful opportunity to work with my friend Ali Sweeney, I play Vince, the handyman of Holly Lodge. Vince spends a lot of time doing his best to protect Sophie (Sweeney) both financially and romantically, all the while trying to win the affections of Callie (Crystal Lowe). I got to work with two of my good friends, which is always a treat. Plus I had to act all cute and enamoured with Crystal, who is like my sister, which led to some funny moments.'
Toby Levins
Ok, before you say it, yes, I am aware that Christmas is long over. My tree is down and decorations are in boxes, although admittedly... not all stored back where they belong. Although I still have white lights glistening on tree branches in my living room and front porch, this 12 Days post isn't actually an attempt to prolong Christmas, but instead, part of putting away all of the decorations until next year. It's was also Valentine week, so cheesy romantic movies are of course, in order.
Christmas at Holly Lodge
I actually put the images together for this post in December, just before Christmas in 2017. I had half-watched Christmas At Holly Lodge and was really taken with Australian actor Toby Levins. Levins only has a small role in the flick, but big enough to grab my attention. Levin's and his freckles were completely adorable, and although he remained in work shirts throughout most of the movie, I could tell, and was correct, that he was jacked under all that plaid.
The 100
Sergey & Alessio: On the Edging of their Seats
Desire
-Muscle tension increases.-Heart rate quickens and breathing is accelerated.
-Skin may become flushed
-Nipples become hardened or erect.
-Blood flow to the genitals increases, resulting in erection
-The testicles swell, the scrotum tightens, and he begins secreting a lubricating liquid.
One of the obstacles with photographing stage two, arousal, is because it's so clearly a physical state. Although there are of also physical changes during the desire stage, they are often more subtle, with much of the most powerful impulses occurring in the mind and imagination. Desire manifests itself in unique ways in different people, and the changes range from the emotional to the physical.
In the arousal stage, these changes are much harder to hide. Although we've all experienced having to hide desire, (think sitting at a wooden desk in 10th grade English) but with arousal, the physical changes become more intensified, breathing, heart rate and blood pressure increase and the penis becomes fully erect.
It's clear in this set of images, desire is immediate. The physical signs are quickly exposed with eye contact, the movement and changes in both Alessio and Sergey's bodies. The desire turns quickly to arousal with both men succumbing to their desire with bodies aroused and passionately coming together.
The erect penis is both a natural and beautiful thing. It can also be an incredibly stunning visual. Unfortunately, the erect penis has also been corrupted, for political, social, and commercial reasons. An aroused penis has been used as a symbol of aggression, a weapon to be feared. It has also been edited and morphed to look distorted and unnatural.
This doesn't only occur within images used in the promotion of porn. It's also surprisingly used by several mainstream, very successful photographers. I am not sure why they foolishly think bigger is better and ignore the natural beauty of man they're photographing. Some of their images are almost sci fi like captures with little connection to reality.
Thankfully, photographer Richard Rothstein recognizes the incredible beauty that is in front of him, and instead of editing or exaggerating body parts, uses his artistic instincts to focus on the intimate details and stages of lust and desire. Richard captures each of the stages, visually building the rise of tension and passion. Some artists shoot the end stages, skipping the steps which led up to it. For me, well written, or well captured story, always begins with desire, and exposes each of the four sensual stages.
The post on the previous pages focused on desire, this series of images on arousal. If you want to check out the final two stages, head on over to THE OVER-FLOW HERE: or to Richard's OnlyFans Page HERE:
'The challenge when photographing sex is the very blurry and highly subjective line between creating a beautiful image and succumbing to someone else’s judgmental definition of pornography. When is it art? When is it not art? I think the only reasonable answer is a beautiful image regardless of subject matter that delivers an engaging and poetic composition, a delicate dance of light, shadows, contours, angles; an image that captures an emotional moment in an ongoing story; an image that inspires mystery, questions and any kind of emotional reaction.'
'Cum in your eye? Not art. Cum lacing it’s way across the undulating contours of muscularity. Art. Porn is an image, moving or still with the sole intent to sexually arouse the viewer. Or so we are told. Michelangelo’s flaccid David is an artistic masterpiece. Michelangelo’s David fully erect would be porn. Bullshit. Art expresses the emotion and mystery of life and death, of good and evil, of flaccid and tumescent. Perhaps the only true definition of porn is an unfortunate and amateurish slop of lousy composition, harsh lighting and an overworked cliche.'
Classic Playgirl: February 1991
'I thought being a centerfold would help me meet girls. You can never know too many women...or have too much fun.'
Thomas James
Man of the Year, February 1991
Photography: Sean Kahlil
The long haired beauty was always a favorite of mine. I remember checking his issue out when I was a kid, and buying it years later at a flea market with a pile of other back issues. James first appeared as The Man for April in 1990, but was the viewers overwhelming choice for Man of Year and featured in a spread the following February.
'Me?' Thomas sputtered when he received our call. 'I can't believe it!' But once the 27 year old Long Island native got used to the idea, he took to it rather well. 'I was bombarded with a lot of attention after the April issue came out. I can't wait to see what happens now,' he laughed, his green eyes twinkling.'
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