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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Of Books from Bel Ami, Around the Globe Compares Nicely with The Boys of Bel Ami, 8 Aug 2008
This review is from: BEL AMI: AROUND THE GLOBE (Hardcover)
I agree with the assessment, on the Canadian sister site (Amazon.ca) by Amazon user Adam D. Dunn of this very beautiful, sweetly erotic collection of male nudes. However, I do feel that the collection (in b&w photography) by Howard Roffman, The Boys of Bel Ami, to which Dunn compares the book by Thoma, is at least equally fine (and for me, slightly superior, but, really, that is a matter of taste). Discussing my own summation of the merits of the collections of photography respectively by Benno Thoma and by Howard Roffman, makes (I hope) for useful comments to aid the buyer in choosing between these two most massive (so far) of nude male photography from Bel Ami studios.
Rare are those who look through Around the Globe, the book by Thoma, who will be indifferent to his photos of strikingly attractive young males. One of the nicest assets, among so many fine ones, of the colour photographs by Thoma, is the excellence of rear shots; Thoma knows supremely well how to photograph the buttocks of a young man to maximum allure! Nearly all of the photographs, however, are highly appealing, be they frontal, dorsal, or side shots, in the collections alike of the work of Thoma and Roffman.
The heart of my assessment, quoting myself, of Howard Roffman's The Boys of Bel Ami is this: "The youthful men [whom Roffman photographed], in their teens and early twenties, very often in full frontal nudity, are exquisitely lithe, graceful, lovely, and agreeably or outright impressively well-hung, each memorably good-looking in his own way that varies from one to another, some 'lean and lanky' while others more sleekly and/or heavily muscled in a more forthrightly macho way, still others, by contrast, more endearingly pretty (sweetly juvenile, lovely, and tender), yet others just a bit raffish or lovably gangly rather than so classically handsome". Bel Ami's models working for Roffman, in all their glorious variety, make for an even wider range of the manifestations of male beauty, although there is a pleasing variety of physical types, from one young male to another, in the book by Thoma as well.
"Whether one prefers Roffman's Boys of Bel Ami or Benno Thoma's equally copiously large Around the Globe (which features among Thoma's naked lads some of the same male models in Roffman's book) probably is largely a matter of taste, e.g. a preference for mostly colour photography (Thoma's) or entirely black-and-white camera work (Roffman's), or for the sensibility of one photographer over the other's; both books and the young men posing mostly nude therein, are consummately lovely examples of erotic photography at its best."
Few readers (i.e. viewers!) are likely to find the lads of either book uninteresting, in the way that Mr. Dunn seems to be so indifferent to the choice and photographic depiction of the young guys that Roffman delivered. If the buyer can afford it, he should obtain both books!
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful men! What else could you ask for?, 10 Feb 2009
This review is from: BEL AMI: AROUND THE GLOBE (Hardcover)
First of all, this book is a really quality publication. The quality of the prints and the size of the book are impressive. Each colour photograph (and a few black & white ones) is reproduced perfectly and the dustjacket is double folded so it isn't likely to get damaged easily. Unlike a lot of other books with photos of the Bel Ami stars which tend to be a bit amateurishly photographed and starkly lit, this book is filled with photos by a really talented photographer who knows how to light his models and get the best shots of them. Let's face it, you'd have to be a seriously awful photographer to make these guys look bad!
Now to the guys! All the Bel Ami stars are absolutely gorgeous. Not only do they know how to 'perform' in their DVDs but this book shows that they are beautiful enough to compete with mainstream models. They are photographed against a number of backgrounds - outdoors and inside. In water and in a type of harim environment with satin cushions. Tommy Hansen looks particularly stunning and has a cheeky smile which is captivating - a truly photogenic stunner! His shots with Brandon Manilow are a treat - both sexy and funny. Their pool shots are sensual and show these two at their best. I liked the photo of Tommy Hansen talking to a cat which I get the feeling was a spur of the moment shot which Thoma just had to include in his book as it's so funny. Benno Thoma seems fascinated by Troy Allen's wide-eyed innocent sexiness and photographs him in a number of settings. The sunlight on these guys' toned and muscled bodies is a real feast for the eyes!
You don't have to be a fan of Bel Ami to buy this book. If you love sexy and beautifully shot photos of beautiful and toned men in the nude and slightly covered then this book is a must have!
It's not cheap but it's worth it if you can afford it.
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