Amazingly, my creative juice is flowing at the moment. So bear with me if you're seeing a lot of these.

Photos are not taken by me but I was asked by the photographer, Edwin Loyola, to create a story out of it.

Once again, my good friend Edwin Loyola sent me a file for me to play with. I played with the "photo", just for the record. Please don't get any ideas. I wasn't with him when this was taken. Hahaha! I just am in a defensive mode because this photo really popped in my email and shocked the wits out of me. I can imagine what you may be thinking. I don't normally get this kind of email from my buddies.

In fairness, before I got the email he did warn me about it.

And to his credit, too...he could carry the look well. He's a true artist with a body to die for hahahah! *joke*

For Edwin!

By the way, the photo did not come with the background and Edwin didn't have any wings either. I added all that since, as I said, I was playing with the photo. :)

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The original photo (without the wings and background) by Edwin was published and reviewed in the past. Here is the review.

We can certainly take this portrait of a man as an outstanding example of the excellent, almost unbeatable range of tonal values, the impressive plasticity and the fineness of detail rendition that can be obtained when this method is fully mastered. This cannot be achieved to such perfection in coloured photographic images, no matter how much the quality of today's photo chemical and, more recently, digital resources has been optimised. But perhaps the reason for our sensing great value when looking at a perfect  black-and-white photo really lies in the way the process of seeing pictures takes place in our consciousness. Since our normal, everyday perception is geared to the full range of the spectrum of visible colours, it could be that we automatically rate a black-and-white picture as being something valuable and special because of the reduction of its colours. One thing that puzzles me, however, is why it should be that this process apparently does not work in the same way when it comes to black-and-white television pictures.

However, this quality bonus of a black-and-white photograph only comes to bear if the photographer displays absolute, perfect mastery of the technique, both when capturing the image and during finishing in the lab.

Edwin Loyola from the Philippines, the author of this photo of a male nude,certainly deserves to be awarded the unqualified title of master of this technique. This picture is simply perfect. It contains every nuance, all the way from pure white to deep black, with the finest of transitions. In addition, he makes such controlled use of this modulation that the flowing, merging forms of the body are brought out beautifully.

The photographer used just a single light source for his picture. Although it is positioned very low on the left, almost in the manner of graze lighting, the right-hand side of the body is still not lost in darkness. Perhaps he set up a reflector on the right, such as a white or grey wall. Whatever the case may be, Edwin Loyola succeeded in ensuring that even the parts of the body lying in the shade retain some very delicate definition and are not swamped in black.

The composition of the photo is also admirable. The man's pose clearly conveys virility and strength, but without in any way looking "pushy" - the impression is entirely one of reticence and discreetness.

The nudity is reminiscent of classical Greek statues and very deliberately avoids any kind of erotic associations whatsoever. This is also partly achieved by the fact that the man has his eyes closed. As a result, there is nothing demanding or provoking about his expression.

Incidentally, the question put up for discussion by the author in his brief description, i.e. whether or not the man's bracelet is a disruptive detail, is totally irrelevant to my mind. The man wears this piece of jewellery, and he quite obviously wants to portray himself with it. That's his decision, and it's not up to us to pass judgement on it. Either way, it's of no importance as regards the impact of the photo.

My verdict: wonderful!

Wolf Eggers
Fotodesigner BFF
Echo/Foxtrot Studios
Wiesenstr. 51
40549 Düsseldorf
Tel.: +49 211 5048358
Fax: +49 211 5036478
E-Mail: wolf@wolfeggers-jeronimo.de
URL: http://www.wolfeggers-jeronimo.de

Exhibitions: Viersen Artists' Association; Brühl Art Society; Goethe Institute, Paris; Cairo University; ZPAF, Warsaw; ZPAF, Cracow; ZPAF, Poznan; BFF North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf; BFF North Rhine-Westphalia, Hamburg.