Priapus of Milet - Shooting The Past 1

The scene is set in an ancient industrial plant with giant, coal-powered furnaces.

A photographer is taking pictures, presumably for a magazine article of some sort.

The men shown working there are dressed in traditional working garb including cloth caps.

Like many chroniclers before him, the photographer is attracted to the 'heroic' qualities of ordinary working men using their physical strength to toil in dirty, difficult conditions. This one has a near god-like physique and Priapus turns his simple shovelling of coal into a labour of Herculean significance.

A bare-top pose highlights the heat of the factory and the furnaces.

The labourer is persuaded to strike this bloke-ish, swaggering pose.

His open flies suggest he's less inhibited than your average manual worker

If this is a calendar project needing sex appeal, he's clearly happy to oblige.

It starts to develop into a full-blown strip scene as the workman gallantly removes his remaining outer garments. He turns his head away, almost shyly. It's as though he's happy to show off his body, but is not seeking personal attention and so doesn't engage directly with the photographer or his viewers.

This is picture 20 in the series and it feels like the photographer is gradually persuading the coy workman to reveal more and more by flattering his physique. The angle and positioning of the connecting rod in the background seems to hint at an erotic undercurrent.

However the muscular model demonstrates he's not entirely naive, playfully offering to show more. But if that's intended to embarrass the photographer, it's not succeeding. He moves in closer, going down on one knee, a not inappropriate response to this god-like presence. But the model is trying to draw his attention lower down. That connecting rod now links the two men directly, simultaneously suggesting an eye line and an improbable erection. Notice where his gloved hand is.

Priapus doesn't provide a commentary to explain how the photographer persuaded the workman to 'bare all' but this charming, boyish, locker-room moment suggests 'dares' might be involved. Despite the bravado you sense the subject has an innate modesty and shyness even. There's a fascinating moment of human connection here as the formal barrier between the two men represented by the camera lens is temporarily swept aside and a tentative physical contact made. It's an intriguing homo-erotic situation, the down-to-earth working man dropping his defences before the reserved professional.

With the model completely unclothed, formal distancing returns and the humble workman proves have a majestic presence worthy of a Greek statue. His once-more averted head restores the idea that this is artistic nudity, not anything more sensual. The angle of the connecting rod also seems to suggest that the moment has passed. This modesty-concealing drapery showing a nice bit of leg is more erotic than full nudity in my book, the folds of his comfort blanket are actually revealing more than he might think

Not everyone likes bulky muscles, but this back view is stunning for me, a big shape but not overly detailed. The accidentally(?) exposed buttocks and robust neck are great erotic ingredients.

A Peeping Tom moment for the lurking viewers. A rusty wheel makes a satisfying frame.

Shooting The Past 1, image 36

In this image the workman/model engages directly with the camera (and the viewers beyond) for the first time, striking a pose that is informal and not particularly manly in conventional terms. Instead it has a sort of coy, come-and-get-me openness that expresses both sensuality and vulnerability. Vampish, but without the veneer of sophisticated seduction.

It's another new side to the man we saw before as highly muscular and masculine, but also mischievous and playful. Priapus has built up a very appealing personality here and although the workman seems to be making all the moves, you sense he has been hopelessly seduced by the photographer and is here surrendering to him and his camera.

But is it really the photographer that's being seduced? He moves in for his closest and most intimate shot yet and that massive, mischievous, connecting rod appears to have acquired a phallic dimension as though to indicate a substantial erotic interest on his part, although you could also interpret this as a pushing away gesture - that's the ambiguity of falling in love of course!

In this picture there is less differentiation between the two men and the engineering behind them, the connecting rod almost seems to emerge from the photographer's chest with the other end resting on the workman's side, as though to tell us that the link between the two men has become more substantial and physical, dare I say it's coupling them?

The subtlety of this imagery, it's 'hidden eroticism' is delicious, suggestive but never crude. Priapus manages to show us an encounter between characters with genuine male traits - confidence and vulnerability, openness and wariness, an encounter that is both romantic and sexual and that makes it truly gay.