A GREAT DAY EVERYDAY

 THE DISCUSSION ABOUT INNER BEAUTY VERSUS PHYSICAL BEAUTY IS AN ON-GOING DEBATE. IT HAS BEEN FOR SOME TIME AND WILL PROBABLY CONTINUE FOR AN UNFORESEEABLE FUTURE AFTER TODAY. SOME MIGHT SAY THAT MODEL PHOTOGRAPHY IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT ADDS OIL TO THE FIRE. AND AT FIRST GLANCE IT SEEMS TRUE. IF YOU SHOW PORTRAITS OF BEAUTIFUL MEN AND WOMEN, YOU HARDLY SEEM TO CONSIDER THE SOUL OF THINGS. BUT JAY PLOGMAN’S VISION IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM THAT. AND WAS ABLE TO SHOW IT IN A VERY INTERESTING WAY.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jay Plogman is a photographer with over 20 years of experience. During this time he has been involved in various disciplines of the craft, such as portrait, scenic and commercial photography. Regarding portraiture he has photographed everyday people as well as professional actors and models. Both in the USA as abroad. After Jay has lived and worked 2 years in japan, a few in upstate new York and 3 years in Manila, Philippines, fate or some strange magnetic force brought him back to the Midwest and he is now based in Cincinnati again.

Jay Plogman has seen his work being exhibited in both group and solo shows in the USA, Japan and the Philippines. He has also been published in magazines in those same regions and him work was featured in Bruno Gmünder’s anthology Kissed: Sensuality In Gay Art. Over the years Jay has also self published a number of books: Intimo, which is a collection of portraits of Filipino men shot while he was there, and Musings from Manila, a large volume of images from throughout the Philippine archipelago. This last one his considers to be one of his best work in all his years as photographer.

As every photographer, Jay Plogman is confronted on a daily base with both inner and outer beauty. In a world where the physical beauty becomes more and more criticized as superficial, it must be hard to continue being motivated to shoot beautiful people. But Jay seems to have found a great answer to that with his shoot conducted with model Ankur Man. Take a good look at these images here. The room where Ankur poses for Jay’s camera seems to be located in an abandoned building and one can imagine that such a building might look old and neglected. But no matter how empty and lost the room now looks, there is still a charm and beauty to it that is simply waiting to be rediscovered. Jay adds to that inner beauty of the building by placing Ankur inside.

Many believe models are little more than pretty faces, forever obsessed with their appearance, checking themselves out in mirrors and shop windows in stereotyped narcissism. Ankur Man is not one of those models. Ankur is one of those people who have an inner beauty that has such strong presence in his personality that it extends to the outside. Ankur’s beauty comes from being positive, from practising yoga, from having a rich education, from being curious and open, and from embracing art and culture, such as music, dance and travel. These portraits are a legacy to this. Emphasizing grace midst an air of solitude and reflection, Ankur Man seems to be dancing with himself, reaching out from his inward beauty to the grey world surrounding him. Jay Plogman’s work with Ankur Man is a dedication to positiveness and beauty, something we seem to forget to do so often in our daily lives. To describe this shoot we can only quote Ankur Man’s favorite saying: Have a great day everyday. –BM-