Something New under the Sun
Excerpt from the book 'Modern Amazons' by Bill Dobbins
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In a sense, I like to photograph the hyper-muscular female physique as landscape. The muscular female body is to me what Yosemite was to Ansel Adams. I often shoot at desert, mountain or beach locations, where the land is hard and harsh and the bodybuilding physique becomes an extension of the environment. On the other hand, I also like to create visual tension by posing my subjects in attitudes or situations that call to mind and contradict established visual concepts. For example, an attractive, muscular women in sexy lingerie - but with her arm fully flexed, creating a conflict between her curvaceous feminine form and the mass and definition of her biceps and triceps. Over the past two decades, I have listened to constant predictions of the "death" of female bodybuilding, both as a sport and as a socially acceptable activity. Unfortunately, some of these warnings have come from officials in the bodybuilding federations, whose responsibility should be to promote the women, not to hold them back. But despite this negativity, there are more women training with weights all the time. Fortunately, my work is well enough known for many of these women to seek me out for photo sessions, so I continue to have access to the best female physiques in the world. Despite the controversies involved, the idea that beautiful muscle makes an attractive woman even more attractive is continuing to gain ground in our culture and, in time, the female bodies that many today view as being "too extreme" will be viewed as quaint and old-fashioned.
The physique federations recently developed something called "fitness" competition. This involves competition among women with some muscle - but not too much - plus the ability to do some athletic performance, which usually means gymnastics. It is ironic that some of these competitors - who are viewed today as beautiful and feminine - have more muscle than did many early female bodybuilders who were constantly accused of "looking like men." Our culture tends to get used to extremes very quickly. However, while fitness competitors are not nearly as massive as the champion female bodybuilders, a lot of them do have quite beautiful, muscular bodies - and you will find many photos of them in the pages of this book. Fitness competition was created, in part, to develop a type of athletic, female body that was not too muscular for popular, conventional taste. It was thought female bodybuilders were going "too far."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
In a sense, I like to photograph the hyper-muscular female physique as landscape. The muscular female body is to me what Yosemite was to Ansel Adams. I often shoot at desert, mountain or beach locations, where the land is hard and harsh and the bodybuilding physique becomes an extension of the environment. On the other hand, I also like to create visual tension by posing my subjects in attitudes or situations that call to mind and contradict established visual concepts. For example, an attractive, muscular women in sexy lingerie - but with her arm fully flexed, creating a conflict between her curvaceous feminine form and the mass and definition of her biceps and triceps. Over the past two decades, I have listened to constant predictions of the "death" of female bodybuilding, both as a sport and as a socially acceptable activity. Unfortunately, some of these warnings have come from officials in the bodybuilding federations, whose responsibility should be to promote the women, not to hold them back. But despite this negativity, there are more women training with weights all the time. Fortunately, my work is well enough known for many of these women to seek me out for photo sessions, so I continue to have access to the best female physiques in the world. Despite the controversies involved, the idea that beautiful muscle makes an attractive woman even more attractive is continuing to gain ground in our culture and, in time, the female bodies that many today view as being "too extreme" will be viewed as quaint and old-fashioned.
The physique federations recently developed something called "fitness" competition. This involves competition among women with some muscle - but not too much - plus the ability to do some athletic performance, which usually means gymnastics. It is ironic that some of these competitors - who are viewed today as beautiful and feminine - have more muscle than did many early female bodybuilders who were constantly accused of "looking like men." Our culture tends to get used to extremes very quickly. However, while fitness competitors are not nearly as massive as the champion female bodybuilders, a lot of them do have quite beautiful, muscular bodies - and you will find many photos of them in the pages of this book. Fitness competition was created, in part, to develop a type of athletic, female body that was not too muscular for popular, conventional taste. It was thought female bodybuilders were going "too far."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Colette Guimond, Canada. Photo: Bill Dobbins