Product Description

An amazing collection of full-color, sexually explicit 3-D photographs of men taken in the early 1950s by Denny Denfield. Denfield was an amateur physique photographer in California who worked as an accountant for the US Army. His photographs, never distributed publicly given their illegality at the time, display a skill, wit, and daring rarely seen, and with their rich Kodachrome colors and mid-century decors, can now be appreciated for their roguish, almost nave charm.

The essay by David Chapman, from whose own private collection these photographs appear, sheds fascinating light on Denfield's secret life and work (stereography had been invented in 1850, but the advent of a compact, easy-to-use 3-D camera in 1947 allowed amateurs like Denfield to produce their own). A narrative by acclaimed writer Thomas Waugh (Lust Unearthed, Out/Lines, Gay Art: A Historic Collection) places Denfield's work in the historical context of homoerotic photography over the last century.

The 3-D photographs comprise dual images that "come alive" when viewed through the 3-D glasses, supplied with the book. Equal parts kitschy, informed, and sexy, Comin' at Ya! is a collection that is both fun and historically fascinating.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71170 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 176 pages

Review
Comin' at Ya! does away with the myth that the 1950s were boring. The enclosed glasses merge the dual pictures for maximum effect.
―The Tyee (thetyee.ca) (The Tyee 20080122)

This resurrection of lost queer physique photography is a clever and rewarding blend of packaging and content.... The pictures are a voyeur's delight; the text by Chapman and Waugh give this book historical heft.
―Richard Labonte, Bookmarks (Bookmarks 20080205)

What's really fun and fascinating are the vintage pictures from the '50s by Denfield of men in swim trunks large enough to be diapers, or posing on craggy rocks in the nude.... The perfect coffee table book. .
―HX Magazine (New York) (HX Magazine 20080131)

Fun and entertaining.
―New Gay Travel Guide (newgaytravelguide.com) (New Gay Travel Guide 20080215)

Looking at [these photographs] in this new volume allows us to see precursors to the modern age of gay male pornography, but there is something more than that here: sheer beauty.... The true value of a book like this is that many of us have never been aware of the work of the photographer. Now we have a beautiful book which contains beautiful and exciting photographs that might have been lost to us forever.
―Eureka Pride (Eureka Springs, Arkansas) (Eureka Pride 20080214)

An amazing collection of full-color, explicit 3-D photos of men.... Chapman and Waugh have rescued Denfield's art and brought it right into your living room.
―Out Front Colorado (Out Front Colorado 20080201)

A surprisingly classy book about an overlooked part of gay history, male physique modeling as a cover for gay erotica in the 1950s.... The naked men that fill each page are brought to startling life.... The photographs really are stunning. Their importance is discussed in the two essays, both of which prove to be enlightening, and provide a portrait of the private man behind the lens.
―EDGE Boston (EDGE Boston 20080212)

Viewed through 3-D glasses (each volume includes a sturdy pair), the photos and their impressive illusion of depth may prove titillating for many. Despite the allure, I found myself scrutinizing these strangers and the tableaus in which they stood, sprawled or reclined, wondering about the queer lives led in a bygone era.
―Xtra! West (Xtra! West 20070315)

Denfield's stereoviews — meant to be viewed through 3-D glasses, a sturdy plastic pair of which are provided with the book — don't just spontaneously step outside the sucked-in abs and strained muscles of physique pictorials into occasional messy, drunken hardcore. More successfully, they venture into atmospheric realms. This is especially the case in photos taken at Baker Beach and the nearby woods: rock formations and sun-dappled tree trunks and branches dramatically play off and sometimes even overshadow the human subjects. Furtiveness and a potent melancholic experience of the ephemeral are built into this adult version of the childhood ViewMaster experience.... Denfield's stereoview work might be richest when viewed as a light West Coast — with an emphasis on the coastal — answer to Alvin Baltrop's gay lib–era photos of the piers in New York. Both photographers took their vision to the literal edges of America.
―San Francisco Bay Guardian (San Francisco Bay Guardian )

This new book of photographs is remarkable in a number of ways.... That fifty years later, the subjects still have the powers to get the hormones flowing attests, perhaps, to the universality of male beauty and desire over time and place. But they also reveal a world so different from our own in style: that paradoxically straightlaced but voluptuous world of America in the 50s.
―Gay & Lesbian Review (Gay & Lesbian Review )

About the Author
David L. Chapman is the author of 10 previous books, including Adonis: The Male Physique Pin-up as well as two other books on Denny Denfield. He is also a regular contributor to Muscle & Fitness magazine and a columnist for Ironman magazine. He lives in Seattle.

Customer Reviews

Nice idea with some disappointments
This is a cool book with some incredibly nice photographs done in an amazing technology that should have been perfected by now and utilized in every medium instead of having been almost abandoned. Many of the photographs are nicely erotic and well done.

However, I was disappointed that almost every truly erotic photo, especially those depicting erect penises or sex acts, had no companion photo and therefore no 3-D effect. I was also disappointed that the publisher didn't have the good sense to make the wire binding large enough to accomodate the number of pages in the book so you could easily turn the pages without damaging them.

All in all, a nice addition to my library, but don't expect hot porn. Most of the photos are very 'soft' but nicely staged.

A treat from the past for the non-Playstation generation...
Over the years there have been some true pioneers in the art of male erotica and Denny Denfield rates highly amongst them! As the result of a bequest of numerous Athletic Model Guild publications and photos, see The Complete Reprint of Physique Pictorial: 1951-1990 (Photo & Sexy Books) in the early 1990s, I became interested in the origins of male erotica.

That, combined with my interest in photographic effects, such as 3D, inspired me to purchase this book. Thanks to David Chapman and the 3D-impaired Thomas Waugh for collating such an O-U-T-standing volume.

I only hope that some of the current generation of gay males - most of whom have no knowledge of significant events like Stonewall (1969) or the first Sydney Gay Mardi Gras (1978) - will chance upon this presentation of even earlier (1950s & 60s) gay male forays into the expression of sexuality.

Although more explicit than most of the tame (by current standards) Physique Pictorial and Athletic Model Guild (Bob Mizer: Athletic Model Guild publications (AMG): American Photography of the Male Nude 1940-1970, Vol. 7 (American Photography of the Male Nude 1940-1970)) this is an excellent collection of some of the earliest representations of the male nude as a sexual identity!

Although aimed at a specific audience, combined with the added excitement of 3D, I highly recommend this book for both the more mature and Playstation Generation X and Y gay males!!!

if you're shopping for porn this aint falcon...
...it is, however; nostalgic, titillating, risque, kitsch, 50's and early 60's style physique photo worship fun with some (almost) soft porn (think what you'd see in a playguy or blue) content. it's great parlor table party fun and a perfect gift for those gays and single women (and perhaps a few married ones as well) that you're having difficulty finding the right gift for. if you love hard-core mapplethorpe you will be bored to tears. i found it charming. it is very saddening when you think of all the photos by mr. denfield that were destroyed over time. how fortunate to have the likes of david chapman and thomas waugh out there preserving this photographic past for the future. hopefully others will join in this preservation of gay art.