Saturday, June 20, 2020

Like Father, Like Son


'Every good Tree, maketh good fruits.'
William Langland


Most of us, when we're young, hope not to end up like our fathers.  I don't mean in life or career necessarily, more those annoying traits and the physical changes that come with a life well lived. When we reach a certain age however, this often seems to change.  When we move into our thirties and forties, those traits and changes we tried to avoid, can actually become ones we now strive for.

Myette Family


One of the themes I often explore on FH is change.   So many models and artists that I feature have gone through emotional, spiritual and physical changes, often inspired by, and captured by, their art. Although we're often taught not to compare, when it comes to art and visuals, comparison is and important part of the foundation.


Whether we intend to or not, every time we view an image, we're comparing.  Comparing the image to the work of another, comparing the model to others, comparing the model's body to other model's and maybe most importantly, to our own.  This is one of the reasons I like to feature models over time, models shot by a variety of artists, brothers, friends and fathers and sons.


Over the years, I featured several father and son nude photos shoots.  One of the most popular, was Playgirl's pictorial of the Myette Family. The series of shots features a son, father and grandfather.  When checking out the shots, you can't help but comparing each of the family members, visually noting the differences between each man.


I have a decent relationship with my father, but at the same time, don't think I'd really jump at doing a nude photo shoot with him.  My father actually hits the gym more than I do, and although he's bigger than I am, he's much more defined.  Like many children though, my father was the first man that I ever saw naked.  Brief glimpses as he'd run from the bathroom to the bedroom.  As a confused young kid, seeing your father naked is an odd experience.  I both admired his physique, and was repelled by it at the same time. As I grew up and body began to change, I often compared myself to my father.  I went back and forth on whether I wanted to achieve his masculine appearance.


Through the Years

One of my favorite sets of father and son images is this series of shots.  I don't know their names, but I do know the father and son duo decided to take nude shots of themselves, starting when the son was 18,  over the course of several years.  I could only find three shots from the series, but even from these three shots, you can see the small differences and changes over time.  I'd love to see more if anyone has them, but I found myself entranced with looking at the subtle differences in each of the three shots.

Happy Fathers Day!

2 comments:

jdc said...

The three black and white father and son photos are by photographer Pere Formiguera
and are part of a series: Francesc i Pol 05-93 / 09-99. I've seen a series of 9 photos in the book/exhibit "Cronos". The ones you posted are the later pics, the other pictures are when the son was younger...

Tye said...

Thanks so much for the info jdc,

I tried image searching the pictures, but came up blank. Glad to find out the source and artist. Fascinating book and project.

Tye