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Rating: 
Summary: Yes!
Review: Following up on the success of Male Bonding I, Fotofactory Press has released Male Bonding - Volume Two. This hardcover book measures seven by seven and contains 117 duotone and color photographs by 67 artists -- 140 pages. Jeff Palmer's photographs are featured on three pages of this beautiful collectors' volume.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Men Together
Review: Sometimes compilations of photographs by many different photographers around a central unifying theme feels forced, but such is not the case with Male Bonding 1 and Male Bonding 2, published by FotoFactory Press and gathered under the creative and insightful eye of David Sprigle.In both volumes, the many different aspects of the way males connect with each other are represented brilliantly, and not all of the photographs can be construed as love- romance- or even friendship-related. In Volume 1, for example, "Action," (1992) by Stanley Stellar depicts a pair of naked men with Marine jarhead haircuts; one man is punching the abdomen of the other, who stands staunchly receiving the blow. The photographs included in both volumes include a very realistic representation of races, ages, and body types. These models are not (though the cover may seem to suggest otherwise) strictly the standard Abercrombie & Fitch paradigm, yet many of them are quite beautiful in their individuality. Of course, love and romance are also included, and the images shown by some of the photographers are heartbreakingly tender. This is truer of Volume 1 than Volume 2, in which the feeling is more lustful than strictly romantic. "David & Michael," by Harriet Leibowitz, in which two men share a relaxed embrace, and Martin Meyer's "2 Guys, Squatting on Beach" shows that, even completely clothed, two men sharing a private moment can be shockingly intimate. In Volume 2, the photographs in general are more graphic, but no less artistic for it. Reed Massengill's "Mud Love 1993" shows two young men, reclining in dirt, covered in mud, except for the penis of one, which is clean and untouched by dirt - but perhaps not by his friend, who mouth is only inches away. In Volume 2, color photographs are included, but Volume 1 is completely black and white shots. In each case, the books are exquisitely printed and sturdily bound, which is essential for a book that will be perused over and over again, as these are sure to be by their owners.
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