Hindsight: Photographic Art of Boris Vallejo (Hardcover)

This book contains nudity that would exceed an R rating in a motion picture.

Derrieres. What can I say about them? My guess would be that you either find them interesting to look at . . . or you don't. If you are in the first category, read on. If in the second, look elsewhere.

There are more angles and ways to picture derrieres than I would have imagined before reviewing this book. As a result, there is minimal repetition in the images portrayed here.

Mr. Vallejo primarily photographs to create images for drawing his illustrations. So for the most part these images don't have a lot else going on. They are basically partial body studies. As such, they are unretouched and unfiltered so you see the flaws very clearly (whether scars, stretch marks, blemishes, or whatever). A few have props or interesting poses, but for the most part you can imagine you are taking close-up views of classical statuary from the midpoint of the body in the rear.

As usual, Mr. Vallejo does not name, identify, or number the pages so it is hard to refer to the individual works. I will do my best here in order to give you a better view of what's in the book.

Most of the models are Mr. Vallejo's usuals (including his wife) and are body-builders. But there are also some nonbody-building women in the collection of images. Certainly, body-building seems to have a large impact on the shape and tautness of that area of the anatomy. He uses very few models here, so the images do get a little repetitive from that perspective.

The images are in both color and black-and-white. The images on the facing pages sometimes have interesting dialogues with one another, and sometimes the dialogue doesn't quite work.

The book would have been better with a little more editing. With about 30 fewer of the weakest images removed, a fine essay, and some references to the images, this would have been a five-star book. You can simply skip over those weaker images (once you identify them for yourself), and make the book more interesting for yourself.

Here are my favorites (as best I can describe them without being too lengthy, and in the order they appear in the book):

on point (standing on toes like a ballerina) (b & w)

streamers dangling from head with hand on hip (b & w)

elaborate dragon tattoos on back and derriere (color)

lying on hip on the beach (color)

dress pulled down around thighs (b & w)

wet derriere (b & w)

turned to right with hand on hip (color)

brunette with hands on back of neck with two dimples above the derriere (color)

fully dressed blonde in tight white pants and tall boots (color)

brunette with pearls and gloves (color)

brunette with dark glasses and standing against red background (color)

holding metal bar vertically (color)

cover on head, one shoulder raised against blue/purple background (color)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I suppose what makes this book most unusual is that it addresses a part of our anatomy that it is hard for us to see, except on others. Does that change our perspective? I think so. I suspect it makes us more objective.

After you finish viewing these images, my suggestion is that you take some body part that appeals to you (whether eyes, ears, neck, arms, or whatever) and take a few days to notice them on everyone you see. This will be good experience in helping you become more observant, as well as letting you develop your taste. After you have done this with one area, try it with another one. Keep doing it until you find yourself capturing the personality of people better through what you can observe in these ways. Be sure to consider posture as one of your views.

Get past the surface, to the reality within, through careful observation!