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Thursday, September 3, 2020
Sergey: A Treasured Tail
'Mermaids. Pooh I want Mermen!'
Why a theme day with 2 pages full of Mermen? Well, there were actually four stimulating factors which led to today's ten posts. Two of them, the work from artist's JDT Photo and badsign769 are featured in the two posts below. The third, came from a theme which ran through the serial killer documentary I'll Be Gone in the Dark.
I'm not sure if any of you caught the HBO series earlier this year, but it was a fascinating look into writer Michelle McNamara and her passion / obsession with The Golden State Killer. One of the recurring visuals within the series was the creature from The Creature From The Black Lagoon. I'd never seen the film before, but was immediately fascinated while watching the underwater creature swimming, and hunting below.
While most Mermaids are seen as beautiful and innocent mythical creatures, this merman, had a dark side. After deciding to focus on Mermen for a feature, I knew I had to include this series from Richard Rothstein that I featured in 2018. It was part of the Richard's homonormative narrative for fairy tales and legends, one of my all time favorite themes explored by the New York based artist.
I was extremely fortunate to have been able to share many of the shoot's from the series, one of my favorites being the mermaid and the fisherman. (Chasing Tail) In each of the tales Richard visual told, the lead was beautifully portrayed by model and photographer Sergey Sheptun. I have been fortunate to have featured many of Richard and Sergey's collaborations over the last two years, some of my favorites being the fairy tale series.
Sergey was next on my list for A Baker's Dozen, so today seemed the perfect day to post. Check it out on THE NEXT PAGE HERE:
Catch of the Day: Mr. Berglund by JDT Photo
There were several factors which led to my Merman themed day, foremost, these shots of Mr. Berglund. Some FH readers might remember my previous piece featuring Mr. Berglund and his work with Jesse from JDT Photo. (Dragon's Lair) Due to his incredible location work, I often feature Jesse's work to mark seasonal transitions.
Jesse has a gift for capturing not only the look, but the feel of the location she shoots. Jesse's images trigger the viewers senses causing them to almost feel as they've been transported to the shoot's location. This set of images was included in a larger set of seasonal themed shots Jesse sent on a couple of years ago. I loved this series so much that I decided to tuck them aside to use on their own. When I decided a merman day was in order, they seemed the perfect shots to headline the theme.
Aqua by badsign769
'We dream in colors borrowed from the sea.'
As mere humans, when we plunge into the ocean, for most of us, everything seems out of focus. There's a murky darkness, with perspective and shapes appearing blurry and distorted to the human eye. Merfolk however, have eyes far stronger than even the most powerful underwater goggles. Everything is crystal clear and bright, especially the colors.
The trick however, is swim and play far from land and far from humans. The water surrounding cities and towns is especially dark and murky, full of centuries of pollution and waste that humans so recklessly toss into the home of the mermaids and mermen. Far from shore however, the water is cleaner, brighter, the colors more dynamic when the light hits the water, a brilliant cascade of aqua an almost psychedelic rainbow of light greens and blues.
It was in this part of the ocean, that artist Roy Johnson (Badsign769) visualized and set his series of merman that began creating earlier this year. I've enjoyed Roy's work for awhile, and featured his art previously on the site. (The Illustrated Man) I knew as soon as I saw Roy's mermen, They needed to be apart of today's theme. Vibrant colors, often blues and pinks, are one of the visual lures of Roy's work. Roy's images never fail to instantly boost my state of mind and elevate my senses, something especially welcome over the last five or six months.
It was actually the events of the last year which inspired Roy to plunge underwater, not to hide, but to find the light and the aqua as things got increasingly darker above the water's surface. One of the fun parts of Instagram for Roy are the regular art challenges and Roy was looking for something to fill his downtime when the pandemic kept him home for so much of the time.
'I was already drawing Instagram guys for fun (not profit since I figured people had more important things to spend their money on at the time), so I started drawing some of them as mermen. The mermen series kept me busy until the Drawing Pride challenge started in June.'
Stan the Merman
'Well I'm not like other boys either'
Stan the Merman
There aren't a whole lot of mermen in the movies, especially one's with tails. One of the most well know, and one of the only one's, was Stan the Merman from Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild. In the 2008 continuation of the franchise, adult film star Brent Corrigan has a small, but memorable turn as Stan.
Behind the Scenes:
Given't Corrigan is known for showing skin, the producers wisely gave him a low cut tail, ensuring Brent's butt was on full display. He showed even more in an extra on the Blu Ray edition of the film.
Who else remembers heading to Brent Corrigan.com when it was up. It was an early favorite of mine when I got on-line, especially Brent's blog where he shared images and stories of his roles and adventures. I remembered these behind the scenes shots when I started my Merman theme and after some hunting, managed to find a few.
~Check out more Mermen in the Media on the NEXT PAGE HERE~
Cleaning off
Making of from Blue Ray
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