EDGE Boston

Photographer Eric Schwabel is one of the best in his field, as demonstrated in his first book, Shooting Male. From Johnny Hazard on the cover to the final behind-the-scenes shower shot, the images in this collection are powerful, captivating and sexy. Schwabel manages to capture stunning men at their most beautiful moment; luckily for us, he likes to share.

You’ve likely seen Schwabel’s work before; he’s been featured in photography books (Night Visions from Bruno Gmunder, Male Nude Next from Rizzoli, and Undressed to Thrill, Blue Books) and has shot dozens of magazine covers and editorials as well as ad campaigns for Pepsi, TiVo and MTV. His style- slightly saturated with plenty of glamour- is never overly processed. In fact, he doesn’t like Photoshop, and makes such incredible use of light that retouching is unnecessary. Of course this only adds to the ’hot factor,’ because it leaves his models natural and (almost) approachable.

The men in Shooting Male come from such diverse worlds as sports (Australian rugby god Ian Roberts, who also provides an introduction), fashion, fitness, and adult films (the book’s cover), and the settings, style, and themes of the images are just as varied. From classically ’tasteful’ to slightly raunchy, his work runs the gamut, but is always engaging, interesting and unique; he truly has a style- and resulting look- that is all his own.

As a coffee table book, Shooting Male would be difficult to beat and makes an excellent addition to a collection of male photography. The muscular, sexy men- in various stages of undress- and the way in which Schwabel shoots them are hypnotic in their beauty; he’s a true visionary and this book expresses that perfectly.

Shooting Male is available for about $44 at Amazon.com

by Eric Schwabel

Bruno Gmunder, 120 pages, $69.99