Saturday, April 7, 2018

Proportional Posturing: Bond by Gordon Nebeker


'When I think of Bond, I can’t help but think ‘enthusiasm’, 'high energy’, and ‘personable’. He’d is the human Energizer Bunny, always ready to go!'



Regular FH readers know how much I love featuring Bond. I also know from the stats, FH readers also love whenever there's a bit of Bond. Bond's personality and the enthusiasm referenced by photographer Gordon Nebeker, radiates from his work. The fun Bond is having is contagious, and experienced by viewers of his work.


It was Halloween of 2014 when I was first introduced to Bond through his work with New Manhattan Studios. It was also NMS that helped connect Bond with Gordon a little earlier, in July of the same year. Bond was living in New York at the time and took a bus up to Boston so he and Gordon to could do an underwater shoot. Bond was eager to submerge and give it a try and Gordon was sure with his long curly hair, he would look great underwater.


Gordon wasn't disappointed and says Bond remains one of the best underwater models that he has worked with. We'll join Gordon and Bond underwater soon, but I wanted to start with this set of shots of Bond inside and dry. One of the themes I love best about imagery of the male form is when a sense of play is weaved in. In many ways, naked modeling is the ultimate form of play. The freedom many models experience can be exhilarating, harking back to that carefree feeling many of us experienced when running and jumping wildly around the backyard with no fear, no judgements and no limits.


Gordon clearly didn't place any boundaries or limits on Bond during this shoot and I love the sense of fun and play Gordon captured, and how Bond poses so architecturally in line with any piece of furniture he's on or in. Most people would have a fit if someone was jumping on their beautiful white couch fully clothed, let alone completely naked! I will never hear the saying, 'Counters are for glasses, not asses' again without thinking of Bond lying so beautifully across Gordon's connecting kitchen counter.


'As a photographer, I go through phases where one idea or the other haunts my brain. This shoot with Bond took place in the Spring a year ago and was right in the middle of my ‘Models On The Furniture’ phase so Bond found himself posed on top of or beneath various pieces of furniture abound my house. No complaints from him! He often added touches of emotion or just motion and made the poses become more alive. In one shot, he strikes a pose on a side table which is similar to the pose of the man in the bronze sculpture from the 1930’s that normally graces the top of that table. On a round coffee table, he strikes a pose that could well be a variation on the famous ‘Vitruvian Man’ drawing by Da Vinci.'




'The space created by the pass-through from the kitchen to the dining area just begged to be filled with Bond’s body.'


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