Brian: A Nine Year Photographic Diary

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Summary: Beautiful, erotic , BRIAN is a stunning masterpiece!
Review: A moving and challenging book. Reed Massengill witnesses and documents the process through which Brian Hess embellishes (or to some eyes perhaps, disfigures) his own body. At the same time we see a "mildly smirking boy" mature into a man of gravity and great beauty. There is a period documented in the middle of this book during which Brian almost becomes the various tattoos, piercings and scarifications with which he has transformed his body. By the end of the book, however, they have in some way been absorbed, made part of him... in the last photos one hardly notices them: Brian has become much more than the sum of these parts. These photos are indeed highly erotic, but also much more then that. Many, like the last, are intensely moving. I hope that this is the first installment in a journey which will continue for many years.

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Summary: From Beauty to Beast - The Journey of a Man.
Review: An interesting look at a person through the years - 9 years to be exact, in which the model morphs from a beautiful young man to an entirely different person - at least visually.

Although one of the thinner photo-essays, it should be in any shelf of serious collectors interested in the male physique.

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Summary: FASCINATING / HAUNTING / MESMERIZING / AMAZING
Review: I can remember the photos, year after year, of the father with his daughter wearing the same bathing suit ... everything changed but everything stayed the same. BRIAN, A Nine-Year Photographic Diary is fascinating look at the same young man who let his friend, Reed Massengill, photograph him over a period of time.

Brian's look changed from an innocent and handsome young man who has the look of someone who is just begining to explore life by shyly letting the photos be taken to the man he has become; proud of his independence and excited by that little bit of exhibitionist that lurks just below the surface, in all of us. The photographs vary from a gentle caress of an over the shoulder glance to the stark realism of tatoos, erections, rings and an intimacy that is shared very seldom by another human being, much less a photograph.

This book is a treasure ... it is mesmerising and haunting and Mr. Massengill had the amazing good taste AND timing to capture the essense of a young man named Brian who will probably be forever grateful, as I will, that this work has captured a chunk of time in his life in such a beautiful manner. I'm not sure I can wait another 9 years for Part 2!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Pictures and an Interesting Concept
Review: I noticed this book the last few times I browsed through several book stores in my area. Each time it stood out as if trying to catch my attention. I finally gave in and went through the book, first looking through the pictures then reading the introduction explaining the concept of the book's meaning. I was amazed to discover that the photographs in the book were of the same person. Due to the extreme differences the model Brian had in appearance, I had assumed that the photographer Reed Massengill had simply decided on making a picture book on various young men all named Brian. This really impressed me as the book started out with a young, relatively clean-cut man who gradually alters his appearance with varying degrees of hair styles and a progression of tattoos and piercings. I think this book is a nice window into the life of a 20 something year old man going through many identity choices in the last decade of the 2000 millennium. Not a traditional coffee table book by any means, I think Brian: A Nine Year Photographic Diary is a nice concept book that should be appreciated for it's lensing of a person living through a specific point in history.

Rating:
Summary: great concept, poor execution
Review: I purchased the book because I was intrigued by its underlying concept to photograph a young man over a period of several years. However, the photographs were amateurish and were more like black and white "snapshots" than photographs. Since Brian was clearly posing, I had difficulty classifying the collection as more than a handful of pictures of an attractive model over a 9 year time span. Since these years were from the late teen to the late 20s, either Brian's physical maturation was too subtle or the photographic skill was inadequate to demonstrate transformation. The marking of time became superficial aspects: hairstyle and color, tattoos, and body piercing. Actually, the photographic style changed more than the model. In summary, the best part of the book was the creative idea of a photographic essay of a man over a period of time. Nine years may have been an inadequate time period, but I would predict that without the photogenic quality of youth, the pictures would quickly become even less interesting given the skill of the photographer.

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Summary: A very special book
Review: Not having written a book report since I was in the ninth grade, I hope I'll be graded on effort, not on syntax, grammar and stuff. Have you ever made yourself totally naked to someone, or had the same done to you? Then you know how special that feeling is. And you're gonna love this book. "Brian, a nine year photographic diary" is not only a book filled with stunning pictures of an incredibly attractive guy, it's one of those rare times where you can actually see the relationship between two people grow into all the things we look for: respect, trust, caring... The intro was as beautiful as the pictures, helping the reader understand the unique and wonderful bond between photographer and model. The pictures themselves are at times highly erotic, playful, intense, always incredibly beautiful, yet at the same time almost unnervingly personnal, like a shared secret between two old friends. (Yeah, I know, that's the point) I have been told since I was a kid that a picture is worth a thousand words, in this book, I finally understand. I don't know how they were persuaded to let us in on it, but thank you to Brian and Reed.

Rating:
Summary: A Thing Of Beauty
Review: Reed Massengill here has photographed a model named Brian for a nine-year period, from 1992 to 2000. A recent high school graduate, he must have been around 18 when the first photographs were shot. Over this time frame Brian changes, both in his body and facial features. Though by no means a gym bunny, he apparently worked out, developing more muscle, and also got heavy into body piercing and tattoos as well. He tried out a lot of different hair styles, growing longer hair, then getting bleached and buzzed. Some of the pictures are quite wonderful, many of them are very erotic, some are funny and a couple of them approach being silly. But the model always comes across as being alive and seems to be having a great time. This is obviously a collaboration. He gives as much to these photo sessions as the photographer does.

Mr. Massengill manages to shoot dozens of photos of this young man with practically no repetition, no small accomplishment. The artist says in the introduction to this book that he would like to photograph Brian for many years to come. It would be interesting to see what look he finally settles on and how both his body and face change with age. We can only hope that life with all its unknowns doesn't take the great zest for living that Brian has that is so obvious in these photos.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Unique Diary!!!
Review: Reed Massengill started photographing Brian Hess in 1992 at the age of 18. Over the next nine years Massengill photographed this model's coming of age and physical transformation, from a young man to a mature independent man. Over the years they became very good friends. This is a very different kind of diary showing how radically Brian changed over the years, and how he changed physically by adding tattoos, piercings, and scarifications on his body.

Brian is a very handsome young man, which adds to the wonderful photos Reed did over the 9 years. The photos can be very serious, introspective, fun, and very erotic indeed. I really enjoyed this book because it's always fascinating to see the changes people go through over the years. Brian changed so much in appearance but basically remains a very handsome man. If you like Brian's looks you'll love this book, but even if you don't it a very interesting photographic study. Well done!!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fabulous!! Well worth the purchase cost.
Review: What kind of gorgeous boy is Brian? What an angel! What a body! What a face! The ultimate boy next door! I felt ambivalent about the tattoos and piercings, but I guess we all have our kinks. I adored those pictures of Brian when he wasn't smiling, just looking slightly contemplative and wistful. The most amazing thing for me to see (or not see, depending on your point of view) is that Brian is unabashedly normally endowed. So often models seem to be chosen for their improbably long dongs or overly developed muscles. Brian is the kid you always lusted after in the showers after games at school; or the guy you meet at the gym; or even the boy next door. This is a book I will look at again and again. Well worth the purchase cost.