Photographers - Part 47

Mike Manfull

Two years ago I shared the work of Utah artist Mike Manfull (above), who follows my blog (you can see it here).  But Mike does both digital graphics and photography, and today I'm delighted to feature some of his photography.  Much of his work shows unexpected twists – that's the artist in Mike.

Not all of Mike's work features male nudes – he loves flowers and architecture, among other things – but today's photos are male nudes from a recent series called The Academic Nude on his website, in which he explores forms, shapes, light and shadow, and more.

We'll start with a series of self-portraits.  The photos were taken in 1995, soon after Mike got his master's degree from the University of Utah, but it wasn't until 2023 that he selected and combined these and other photos that were taken years ago to create The Academic Nude series.  Above, Rotation 2 shows Mike from the front and rotated 180 degrees.

Rotation 3 shows Mike side to side, rotated around a different axis.

Stacked is a view of Mike using a technique that he is fond of, combining pieces of multiple photos to form a composite image.  It also has a shadow that Big Dude should like.  In Stacked, the photo pieces almost line up, although the alignment is deliberately not perfect ...

But in Twisted, above, the middle section is twisted 180 degrees to form a rather twisted view of Mike.  As an artist, this is exactly the kind of thing that Mike likes to play with.

Our final self-portrait of Mike is called Right-Front-Left Sitting, combining three views.

Mike gave me permission to publish these photos on my blog, saying that he is now an unashamed male.  And judging from what we see here, he has nothing to be ashamed of – in fact, quite the contrary.

Another model featured in Mike's The Academic Nude series is SKG, photographed in 1994.  Shift/Rotate 2, above, shows the model shifted and rotated through different angles.

A third model in The Academic Nude series is BJH.  Right-Front-Left on a Chair, photographed in 2011, is a combination of three views of the model from different angles.

Like a Pyramid (Eiffel Tower), 2012, is an interesting juxtaposition of photos of BJH that does indeed suggest the shape of that tower.

Double Crescent, 2013, is another combination of pieces of multiple photos.  I think you know what feature of BJH's body is the crescent.

We end with 90% Tumescent, 2013.  In many of the other photos, the subject had at least a partial erection, but it wasn't the focus of the photo.  Here, it's the main attraction.  And it makes you wonder, if this is 90%, what does BJH look like at 100%?

Many thanks to Mike Manfull for letting me share his photography on my blog. You can see more of the photos in his series The Academic Nude, as well as Mike's artworks, on his website www.manfulldesign.com.