Barbie DavenporteLos Angeles is teeming with photographers. Among the gaggle are a select group who do the head-shot dealio in order to make rent each month, but just can't get off on the smizing and pensive glances alone. And that's where the city gets some of its darkest artistic expression – and this stuff falls miles outside the box.
One particular photog has found a way to get his fetish photography into the homes of regular Joes and Janes, making annual calendars that feature particular themes that either entice and/or appall. He doesn't give a shit as long as your looking.
Just in time for the holidays, Boots Bryant has created three different calendars devoted to three niche lifestyles within the gay community: outdoor cruising, bear men, and masked faces.
“These calendars are perfect examples of why my work has been dubbed
'Where Filth Meets Fine Art,'” Bryant says. “It's not art, it's not porn, it's somewhere in between. I'm a very extreme person – there are two sides of me, from very vanilla 'take home to mom' to choke me and spit on me while you fuck me like you hate me.”
We'll give you a minute to collect yourselves.
The first calendar, Bears in B&W, features black-and-white photographs of men known in the gay community as “bears.” This calendar is the tamest – and likely the most marketable – of the three, but don't let that shrink your boner. We dare you to leaf through the pages of burly, hairy men and not to stain your pants.
“Bears are my favorite type of man and I've been lucky over the last couple of years to have a lot of hot bears want to pose for me, so this calendar is my paying homage to the belief that sexy comes in a lot of shapes and sizes,” Bryant says. “Not everyone has to have six-pack abs and a porn star body to be hot.”
The Art of Cruising calendar features photos that recreate common hook-up scenarios around the city shot in some of the city's most popular cruise spots. The situations are suggestive without being blatant, and much of the hotness factor comes from the fact that cruising happens around the world no matter what the law says.
“It started as a photo series of cruising parks and infamous spots where guys would hook up in public,” Bryant says. “I would photograph the landscape, the debris left behind (condoms and lube packets), and all the signs warning about police patrolling in civilian clothes.”
Mascherine: A Collection of Masked Men might be Bryant's creepiest calendar, featuring a series of photos that cater to a narrow niche fetish that might have a bigger following if only we wouldn't let the fear overwhelm the turn-on.
Mascherine: A Collection of Men in Masks
“The mask series has let me help other guys explore a darker side of their sexuality and get vulnerable and exposed while remaining completely safe behind the veil of anonymity,” he says. “A lot of guys would 'never do that sort of thing,' but once they get in a mask they really get into it.
It's a contrast: the extremes and how we, as a society, are more willing to do things we normally wouldn't when we're able to keep our identity protected.”
The calendars are available online at Lulu.com, and Bryant says he can be reached directly via his website if any of you wish to remain anonymous in the purchase and have it shopped directly without a paper trail.
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