Self-Portrait 1979

Ah, those were the days - before I got fat and lost my hair. I first exhibited this image as part of my contribution to the group show Blue in 1994 - frankly because I was a bit short of male nudes. My co-exhibitors started calling it my self-portrait and we all had a good chortle... and the name stuck.

Apart from photography's ability to point up the irony of aging (I am going to be stuck with this image for the rest of my life) it first raised the question of how to treat the male nude for me. I see this as a very soft, almost feminine image. Most male models want to portray hardness and strength - and to the extent that these qualities represent masculine values that is perfectly valid. As always the challenge is making those given elements into a successful image... even if one is sometimes a bit uncomfortable with the result.