Images of Desire

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing: mediocre photography for the rabid fan
Review: Johan Paulk is one of the most popular gay adult video stars in the world. The Bel Ami gay adult video studio revolutionized the adult video industry in the early 1990s, and set the standard by which such films are still measured today.

"Images of Desire," however, is simply pandering and not good photography. The book contains images taken during the filming of three soft-core videos for Pride Video: "Summer: The First Time," "Sunshine After the Rain" and "Moments with Johan." The accompanying text and interview with Bel Ami principal directory George Duroy is a reprint from the QX magazine Web site.

The models in the book are Johan Paulik, Sebastian, an extremely young Ion Davidov (pre-tattoos and pre-piercings), Polish prostitute Matthew Anders, Dano Sulik and several other Bel Ami performers. About half the book is dedicated to photographs of Paulik, taken on a Spanish beach. Almost all of the photos of Paulik and the other models were taken outdoors.

The photographs themsevles are technically faultless. The color is rich and deep. The focus is clear and steady. The composition is adequate.

But the book lacks heart, lacks sizzle, lacks emotional context. Paulik is photographed, almost uniformly, facing the camera and obviously aware of the obsession that photographers George Duroy and Lee Tucker have for him. The photos seem terribly posed and stagey, with none of the spontaneity or casualness that typify the Bel Ami movies. Indeed, these images are more like West Hollywood hack-work than they are genuine photographic efforts. These errors don't afflict only the photos of Johan Paulik, they affect almost all the photographs in the book. (Dano Sulik, who is one of the better performers and models the Bel Ami studio has, is given only four images in the book. What a shame! Sulik's photographs are devoid of any emotion or warmth, and the photographers must have worked VERY hard at draining them of Sulik's natural friendliness and sincerity.)

One of the exceptions are the photos of Polish model Matthew Anders. Anders, who had yet to become popular in adult film at the time these images were taken, seems genuinely ill-at-ease being nude and being photographed. His images have a naive, innocent sensuality to them. His nakedness is not only physical, it is emotional. The nervous, embarrassed sexuality of the images comes through despite the "star treatment" that the photographers attempt to paint him with.

Overall, the book is quite workmanlike, but has little heart. The photos are good, but only on a technical level. For rabid fans of Johan Paulik and other Bel Ami models, this book is one for the collection. For others, who wish to see adult video performers given the same quality photographic treatment that non-sexual models are given, you can pass on this.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing: mediocre photography for the rabid fan
Review: Johan Paulk is one of the most popular gay adult video stars in the world. The Bel Ami gay adult video studio revolutionized the adult video industry in the early 1990s, and set the standard by which such films are still measured today.

"Images of Desire," however, is simply pandering and not good photography. The book contains images taken during the filming of three soft-core videos for Pride Video: "Summer: The First Time," "Sunshine After the Rain" and "Moments with Johan." The accompanying text and interview with Bel Ami principal directory George Duroy is a reprint from the QX magazine Web site.

The models in the book are Johan Paulik, Sebastian, an extremely young Ion Davidov (pre-tattoos and pre-piercings), Polish prostitute Matthew Anders, Dano Sulik and several other Bel Ami performers. About half the book is dedicated to photographs of Paulik, taken on a Spanish beach. Almost all of the photos of Paulik and the other models were taken outdoors.

The photographs themsevles are technically faultless. The color is rich and deep. The focus is clear and steady. The composition is adequate.

But the book lacks heart, lacks sizzle, lacks emotional context. Paulik is photographed, almost uniformly, facing the camera and obviously aware of the obsession that photographers George Duroy and Lee Tucker have for him. The photos seem terribly posed and stagey, with none of the spontaneity or casualness that typify the Bel Ami movies. Indeed, these images are more like West Hollywood hack-work than they are genuine photographic efforts. These errors don't afflict only the photos of Johan Paulik, they affect almost all the photographs in the book. (Dano Sulik, who is one of the better performers and models the Bel Ami studio has, is given only four images in the book. What a shame! Sulik's photographs are devoid of any emotion or warmth, and the photographers must have worked VERY hard at draining them of Sulik's natural friendliness and sincerity.)

One of the exceptions are the photos of Polish model Matthew Anders. Anders, who had yet to become popular in adult film at the time these images were taken, seems genuinely ill-at-ease being nude and being photographed. His images have a naive, innocent sensuality to them. His nakedness is not only physical, it is emotional. The nervous, embarrassed sexuality of the images comes through despite the "star treatment" that the photographers attempt to paint him with.

Overall, the book is quite workmanlike, but has little heart. The photos are good, but only on a technical level. For rabid fans of Johan Paulik and other Bel Ami models, this book is one for the collection. For others, who wish to see adult video performers given the same quality photographic treatment that non-sexual models are given, you can pass on this.