Beautiful

Girls! Girls! Girls!

THE TITLE OF THIS ARTICLE MIGHT BE A BIT ENIGMATIC AT FIRST GLANCE. OBVIOUSLY BRENDAN HEALY IS NO GIRL. BUT STILL THE TITLE IS FITTING BECAUSE IT WAS THAT TRIPLE MENTIONING OF GIRLS THAT CHANGED BRENDAN’S LIFE DRAMATICALLY AND EVENTUALLY BROUGHT HIM WHERE HE IS RIGHT NOW. A SELF ASSURED, SUCCESSFUL AND SEXUAL MAN, CLOSE TO HIS FORTIES, AND FULL OF CONFIDENCE FOR HIS PERSONAL FUTURE.

Originally from Montreal, Brendan Healy began his career as an actor, appearing most-notably in Peter Hinton’s production of Greg MacArthur’s Girls! Girls! Girls!, presented at the 2001 TransAmériques Festival. It was then that Brendan met Richard Maxwell whose company, the New York Players, is considered to be one of the most influential alternative theatre companies in Manhattan. It was this meeting, right after his performance in Girls! Girls! Girls!, that made Brendan decide to pack his stuff and move. Brendan went to New York where he interned under Richard Maxwell and where he decided to dedicate himself to directing.

When Brendan Healy was a young man he experienced a bit with nude modeling and doing some porn. His pursuits in the theatre however led him to other things. However, recently he found himself drawn to the strange excitement of that kind of work again: “I am pushing forty and feel the best that I’ve ever felt. I have reached a new level of confidence and comfort with my body. I’m having the best sex in my life – my sex drive is as high as ever but I am more adventurous and curious in sex.” Sure, as we get older life throws you all kinds of things and challenges. In Brendan’s case it was the death of his father, his own battle against testicular cancer and a difficult break up with a long-term boyfriend. But with all these road bumps comes resilience, strength and a deeper appreciation for the privilege of being alive. “When I look at recent pictures of myself naked, or being intimate, I can see qualities in me that weren’t there before. I was always waiting to discover the kind of man that I was going become. Now, I can see him.”

Brendan Healy relocated to Toronto over a decade ago where he established himself as a central figure in the city’s theatre scene and his work has been presented across the country. Having arrived in this respectful and successful position, Brendan once again wanted to experiment with something that would take him out of his comfort zone. And so he got in touch with photographer Chris Teel and set up a shoot that displays him as the sexual, desirable man he is. “Chris is awesome. He is a very organic photographer. He works with what’s around him. He responds to whatever you give him. He puts you at ease. You feel like you can just be yourself. He offers suggestions but they never feel totally out of left field or inauthentic. It’s a very natural kind of flow.”

Brendan looks forward to the next phase of his life as a gay man. "I can feel that, as sexual being, I am transitioning into more of a fatherly role. And I like that. I feel that I have stuff to offer other guys that I didn't have before. I can take care of people in way that I couldn't before. But, at the same time, I also feel an increased ability to be open and receive more from other people. Growing older has taught me how to be vulnerable. This has made my life deeper and more joyful and it has made me into a better person." -BM-

BRENDAN HEALY | BEAUTIFULMAG
CHRIS TEEL | BEAUTIFULMAG

BeautifulMag #160 Week 11-12 | Over The Rainbow

EDITOR’S LETTER

What do rainbows and unicorns have to do with being gay? When the Wizard of Oz was published first back in 1900, there were many references to being queer and gay. However, since those words were not at all associated with “being queer and gay” one can hardly say that is the reason why this story is so gay-related. What is it than that makes certain things so unmistakably connected with homosexuality? When it comes to celebrities, they often become a so-called gay icon due to the events that color their lives and/or their performances. Meryl Streep simply became a gay icon after portraying Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, where Christina Aquilera merely thanks her status to the anthem Beautiful. Madonna was crowned to be a gay icon. Not only because of her rebellious character back in the 1980’s and 90’s but mostly also because when many celebrities tried to distance themselves from their gay fans when the AIDS epidemic became public knowledge (which cost them dearly), she turned the light back on her gay fans and made it burn even brighter. For Donna Summer it pretty much worked the other way around. She owned her fame and fortune to a large gay fan base who carried her on their hands when she was still an underground singer, but unlike earlier mentioned Queen of Pop, she turned to religion and condemned homosexuality, which more or less ruined her career later on. When it comes to people, and mostly women, it seems that there are two types of gay icons. The strong independent woman, who makes a difference and who fights for recognition, such as earlier mentioned Madonna. And the opposite, the struggling, more tragic and sometimes even suicidal women. Judy Garland falls in this category. Which brings us back to the Wizard of Oz.

The story of this young lonely girl who ends up in the magical land of Oz and desperately tries to finds her way home is the most gay associated movie ever. Apparently it has all the right ingredients. An isolated adolescent from the middle of nowhere who doesn't fit in where she is, dreams of a place where everything is bright and colorful and fabulous. It's not just a metaphor for the idea of gay migration to large urban centers, it's practically a (yellow brick) road map. The Lion, the Tin Man and Scarecrow, three characters that struggle to find their own identity but eventually, with the help of Dorothy, find their inner strength and ‘come out’. Referred to as the Friends of Dorothy, this name has since then become equivalent of being gay. Judy Garland portrayed Dorothy in the musical-film. Her personality, her struggle with alcohol and drugs and her lifestyle in which she surrounded herself with ‘boys in tight trousers’ made her the mother of gay icons. The Wizard of Oz theme song ‘Over the Rainbow’ instantly became the number one tears provoking gay anthem of all times. Obviously in an era when being gay was something not spoken of, gay men and women searched for things and people they could associate themselves with. That reflected their deepest feelings and their selves. Today, when we are more free in expressing who we are, we don’t really need those icons anymore, but it still feels so comfortable to have them. Hence that we can call the recent 86th Academy Awards, the probably gayest Oscars ever. It had it all, openly gay comedien Ellen Degeneres, not in a designer gown but a most elegant pant suit, Meryl Streep, Bette Midler, Liza Minelli, as tragic as her famous mother, and P!nk (no she isn’t) taking the stage to perform Over the Rainbow. It’s good to be gay and it’s good to have people and events to idolize because they represents what we are and how we feel. After all, we truly are unicorns: rare, unique and fabulous. –BM-

Cover photography by Edwin J. Lebrun
Cover model: Deon Whitter

BEAUTIFULMAG  | Everything That Is Fabulous

Lifting the Veil

THE GIFT OF FLOWERS CAN SAY MORE THAN JUST WORDS. OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS ALREADY KNEW THIS. INDEED THE HABIT OF OFFERING FLOWERS FOR NUMEROUS OCCASIONS, DATES ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE TIME OF THE OLD GREEKS, ROMANS, EGYPTIANS AND CHINESE AND HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANT PART OF OUR CULTURE SINCE THE MIDDLE AGES. STRANGELY ENOUGH THE SYMBOLIC OF GIVING FLOWERS AS WE NOW IT, DESCENDS DIRECTLY FROM THE VICTORIAN AGE.

The Victorian age was an era in which people did not believe in expressing their emotions. Boundaries were raised. Everything happened according to etiquette. Love was not something talked about, let alone sexual desires. It was in this time that the habit of offering flowers was cultivated to a way of communications. A form of expressing what one couldn’t do with words. great effort and detail went into giving meaning to everything about the flower. Its color, size, condition, any accompanying flower and even flowers' position in relation to other flowers all conveyed meaning without saying a word. But what it all came down to, in most cases, were expressions of love and desire.

Had you lived in the Victorian period, you needed a university degree to decode the meaning of all those silent but symbolic offerings. What you might today say in a text message or email could be sent without a single word, provided you knew the meaning of the flowers and their characteristics. You can imagine the messed up situations that could occur when one misunderstood someone’s true reasons for giving flowers. Today, still thankful objects to be offered and received for various situations, the offering of flowers is merely a symbolic gesture. We are less reserved, more direct in what we want.

Though we have lifted the heavy veil of Victorian rules since more than 100 years already in our part of the world, some regions are still conservative when it comes to expressing ones sexuality. Serbia legally acknowledges homosexuality since 1994 but still doesn’t give similar rights and legal protections to same sex couples as to their opposites. Vladimir is 23 years old and lives in Belgrade, the capital city if Serbia. Being of the first generation that was brought up in this legal situation, he knows as no other that living in Serbia and being gay is still not an easy thing to do. When Vladimir visited Amsterdam earlier this year, he met Gert Kist and decided on a photo shoot with the Dutch Malemodel.nl photographer. The shoot was executed in two contrasting settings. First there is the romantic, innocent and almost distant symbolic image of Vladimir, offering flowers as a means to express his feelings. And next to that there is the much more raw, much more sexual expression of Vladimir’s feelings, emotions and desires. It is like Vladimir is lifting his own veil, offering his sensual character and showing his world that he is a sexual and desirable human being. Vladimir’s gift says more than words as well. With and without flowers. –BM-

GERT KIST | BEAUTIFULMAG

Take a Bow

IN CENTRAL SOUTHERN ENGLAND LIES THE CITY OF OXFORD, COUNTY TOWN OF OXFORDSHIRE. OXFORD HAS A RICH HISTORY. SETTLED SAXON TIME IS WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED DURING THE NORMAN INVASION OF 1066. FOLLOWING THE CONQUEST THE ASSIGNED GOVERNOR ROBERT D’OYLY ORDERED THE CONSTRUCTION OF OXFORD CASTLE. THE CASTLE WAS NEVER USED FOR MILITARY PURPOSE. INSTEAD IT OFFERED HOME TO A SMALL MONASTIC COMMUNITY WHICH WOULD EARN ITS PLACE IN HISTORY AS THE OLDEST PLACE OF FORMAL EDUCATION IN OXFORD. IT WAS HERE THAT IN 1130 GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH WROTE HIS ARTHURIAN LEGENDS.

After King Henry II, father of Richard the Lionheart, granted Oxford its charter, the city became more and more prestigious. King John established Rewley Abbey for the Cistercian Order but also other orders of the Church installed houses of importance in Oxford. And with the friars came the scholars, eventually resulting in the instalment of the University of Oxford. Though it is not quiet clear when the University was founded, it grew dramatically when English students were banned from the University of Paris on Royal decree and all went to Oxford. With so many students it became necessary to build special halls, which eventually led to a campus that is now known to be the oldest University in the English-speaking world. Through the centuries Oxford has suffered many devastating events. The Sweating Sickness and the Plague, the heresy trials of the Oxford Martyrs, the English Civil War and two World Wars. But no matter how hard the city was hit by sickness and political agitations, the University survived it all and is now known to be the worlds second oldest surviving university.

It is said that Adolf Hitler was so impressed by the beauty of Oxford, he decided to spare it from bombing and planned to make it his capital city should Germany win the war. Obviously this never happened but it is true that Oxford is a jewel when it comes to architectural accomplishments. Maybe it is because centuries of artistry have rooted themselves in the beauty of current Oxford, or maybe it’s just a coincidence, but it seems that this display of manmade elegance has seeped as well into the DNA of the Oxford citizens. And so it comes to happen that Andrew Bowman, photographer in Oxford, can handpick the most beautiful men available for his often not so safe for work portraits.

Like his hometown, Andrew Bowman has a rich history. About 20 years ago Andrew started taking photo’s for a local camera club. In this pre-digital time, he mostly shot landscapes, nature, still life and architecture and managed to win quite some competitions with his work. This to the displeasure of older photographers who stuck to black & white where Andy explored the exciting world of colour photography. With his growing passion his skills developed rapidly and Andrew soon found himself accepting some professional jobs as wedding photographer. Many of his friends were at marriageable age and it wasn’t for long that Andy found him at every possible wedding in his surrounding, taking shots of brides and bridesmaids. Having focused solely on non-human photography before, Andy found it not surprising he wasn’t really into this new universe of shooting people. Little did he know at that time that it had very little to do with people, but more with sexuality. It took him a little time but with the discovery of his own homosexuality, Andrew also came to appreciate portraiture. No bridesmaids this time but photos of guys, starting with Gaydar profile pictures and eventually leading to professional portfolio portraiture.

When you think about it Oxford is a strange city. It is so ancient that it should have some well-anchored traditions. At the same time the lively University keeps the city young and modern. Andrew Bowman’s work shows how those two go perfectly hand in hand. It might very well be that experience of online dating site profile pictures and model portfolios that has created such an interesting combination of stylish portraiture with a healthy dose of eroticism in his work. Andrew’s career in male portraiture boomed after he got the chance to work with some established models. This gave him the courage to bring new life into another Oxford tradition, by shooting his series of nude cricketers. Obviously Andrew Bowman is a man who doesn’t shy away to take some risks, and it is that spirit that makes people – and cities – survive. So let’s all stand up and take a bow. –BM-

BM Archive for Andrew Bowman: Andrew Bowman’s Discovery | From your Valentine.

ANDREW BOWMAN | BEAUTIFULMAG

Lazy Afternoon [BM Cover Story]

COMING UP WITH A CONCEPT, FINDING THE PERFECT LOCATION, SEARCHING FOR OUTFITS AND PROPS, ARRANGING THE IDEAL LIGHT OR, WHEN SHOOTING OUTSIDE, WAITING FOR THE CLOUD TO SLOWLY DRIFT AWAY. ALL THOSE THINGS MAKE BEING A PHOTOGRAPHER SOMETIMES VERY DIFFICULT. BUT THE LOST DIFFICULT THING IS FINDING THE RIGHT MODEL. AND SO, IF IT HAPPENS THAT SOMEONE CONTACTS YOU WITH THE QUESTION IF IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO WORK TOGETHER, WHAT DO YOU DO? RIGHT. YOU JUMP TO THE OCCASION.

Leo Bryan has been training for years but never really did anything with it. Sure, like many others he gave modelling a thought. Sometimes. But he never really imagined he would be good enough for it. But when more and more friends told him he should really give it a try, he though why not, nothing ventured, nothing gained, sat down one lazy afternoon and started surfing the Internet in search for photographers. That is how he stumbled upon Immortal Images, the website of Nige Rorbach. Leo: “Immediately I was fascinated by some of the concepts he came up with, and how artistic and creative he was with his subjects, as well as how good he made them look. You can tell with certain photographers that they literally are at one with the camera, it's like an extension of their personality, and Nige almost had a sixth sense for how to see and capture an image.”

For Leo Bryan it seemed quite apparent Nige Rorbach got the best out of his models as they seemed to be prepared to go out of perceived comfort zones obviously because of how at ease he made them feel and his vision. And so he contacted Nige and they arranged to meet. Just through they had an instant rapport and shared very similar tastes in the work they admired. Most notably that of Herb Ritts. Just mentioning that name was probably enough for Nige Rorbach, who is a huge fan of Herb Ritts’ work. Nige and Leo agreed to look at the possibility to work together, arranged to meet for coffee and exchanged creative ideas of what the shoot could look like. Nige recalls: “It was a really relaxed meeting and I have to say we got on incredibly well, so it was easy for me to say yes to working with him, especially since he looked exactly like the shots he had sent me. Straight away we had a great connection, and we spent a long time talking about photography.”

And so it came to happen, that on another lazy afternoon, Nige Rorbach and Leo Bryan got together in Leo’s apartment to shoot a series of photographs. “Leo is such a friendly and relaxed guy so I wanted to incorporate that into our first shoot,” Nige continues. “I really liked the idea of doing something much more natural, and Leo's apartment was the perfect setting. Another reason why I wanted to shoot in this way, is because Leo had never modelled or been in front of a camera before, so it was important for me that he felt at ease.” According to Nige Rorbach, Leo was very easy to work with. Interested in talking through ideas, going over the wardrobe (even though there wasn't alot of it) and very honest and open with what he did, and didn't like.

About the shoot, Leo says: “Though Nige is perhaps a little more risqué than me, he was phenomenal to work with, so easy going and likeable, and more importantly made you feel not only totally at ease but empowered with confidence. I've never had photos done before so I was really uncertain about a lot of aspects, yet nothing fazed Nige, he just let me go at my own pace and really brought out the best in me. It was almost surreal to see the difference in my demeanour and posing from the first couple of photos to the last lot, it was like the evolution of an amateur to a professional within the space of a few hours, which was entirely down to Nige's creativity and positivity.” The great rapport the two men had from the first moment they met clearly shows in this set of photos. The other thing that is obvious is Nige Rorbach’s artistic and creative vision. Over the years we have seen much of Nige works and he never disappoints. His work is always new. Always refreshing. Always daring. No wonder Leo Bryan felt so at ease working with Nige Rorbach for his very first photo shoot. And no wonder this shoot truly breaths the atmosphere of a lazy afternoon. –BM-

NIGE RORBACH | BEAUTIFULMAG
LEO BRYAN | BEAUTIFULMAG