Book Preview: Emotion by Photographer David Vance

From: Adam Male

Wonderful gay publishing house Bruno Gmünder has teamed up with photographer David Vance on a new 128 page photography book Emotion. The collection is an homage to the male physique in all its beauty and sensitivity. Vance's goal is to show how motion can evoke emotion. As you will see from the preview images, he does a great job of it.

 Here's how Vance describes the project:

 Emotion. The question is what does it make you feel when you experience the phenomenon of motion? At this point in my life I can actually get emotional watching beautiful movement. Dancers, athletes, acrobats, gymnasts … their grace, the fluidity, the strength and sense of total freedom can give me goosebumps and make my eyes water. That’s probably why I enjoy photographing these performance artists.

The book is called Emotion because motion and emotion are two of my favorite things to capture. The act of directing a particular action and seeing come to life is always thrilling. 

 Of course because we live in a relative world, every image you see here will not necessarily contain overt movement. Some images are seemingly still. In order to examine and appreciate motion it’s necessary to also show the contrast of non-motion. That being said, the truth is nothing is really completely motionless. To me even an image that appears perfectly still can be brimming with the inevitability of imminent movement. Everything is in constant flux, moving, albeit slowly, even imperceptibly. 

 I’ve tried to capture images that show many kinds of motion from totally frozen in space and time to images that indicate movement with blur and the streaking of the light. Sometimes there is no apparent motion, but even in repose there is a sense of motion conveyed by the composition and visual dynamics of the image causing your eye to move around and through it. It’s almost as if you expect the eyes to blink or the head to turn. They may be still photos in the literal sense, but motion and emotions are products of your individual perception. We can step into the image and imagine what has just occurred or what is about to happen. 

 Motion and Emotion. They are both constants in that they are always there. They are similar because neither is ever really still. They are constantly changing. Emotional images have the power to stir our empathy. They move us, so to speak. Who doesn’t have an emotional response to the beauty of motion, watching a dancer leap through the air as if suspended or an acrobat balancing on one hand in mid air? The force of movement is an emotional thing. Aggressive movement can make us feel fear or anger. More graceful or aesthetic movement can bring us to tears and clumsiness can cause us to laugh out loud. 

 Emotion is what I feel when I make these images. It’s what I hope you experience looking at them.

Emotion is due out March 1st, In North America, you can order it at Amazon.