interessant subtil-nüchterne bilder, des dänischen fotographen, joachim ladefoged
Joachim Ladefoged "mirror"
..rippling six-packs, and supernaturally dark tans: these pumped-up people have trained for a Scandinavian bodybuilding contest by shaking off every last ounce of fat. But even if you admire their commitment, it is hard not to recoil in confusion at such asexual specimens.
It was this reaction – something between respect and disgust – which prompted the Danish photographer Joachim Ladefoged to photograph this slew of hard-bodies. He took a mixture of black and white and colour photography at the Danish Bodybuilding Championship in 2001 and similar events in the ensuing years, underexposing the subjects to make them appear darker still. The resulting snaps are assembled in a book, Mirror (the title a nod to his models' narcissism), to be published later this year.
"For me, personally, these people are all strangely photogenic," he says. "Bodybuilding is like theatre in many ways. The tan – which they use to cast shadows across their muscles, so they can be picked out easily on stage – makes them look haunting, or like they are from another planet. This is the case with the women especially, whose fake breasts are, funnily enough, the only way you can tell them apart from the men. But while I found them awful and fascinating, it was important for me not to have an agenda. I asked them not to smile or adopt any particular position, just to be themselves. And I think they were happy someone was showing an objective interest."
Ladefoged is following....
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