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Brian Orter's "Oarsmen"
By
Cyd Zeigler jr.
In the midst of the season,
its tough to imagine heading out on the Charles River in Boston
in a top-heavy boat in the middle of autumn. Heavy doses of
dedication and discipline are necessities in this team sport
that requires acute synchronization. A well-built upper body
with strong legs and a firm back are keys to success.
Openly gay photographer
Brian Orters
series, Oarsmen, is a culmination of three years of observing
the young men and the occasional young woman who have made
the esoteric sport of crew, long relegated to the rivers and
lakes of the Northeast, their passion.
The black and white images offer few
frills no shirtless shots, no ruckus celebrations, no
afterparties overflowing with cheap beer and drunken fraternity
boys. The series of 30 photographs instead mirrors the quiet
dignity of a sport with roots as deep as the oldest universities
in the country.
Orter visited two of the most prestigious races
in the nation to document the sport. From 2001 to 2003 he spent
time at the Head
of the Charles Regatta in Boston and the Head of the Schuylkill
Regatta in Philadelphia.
What he captured where images of
mostly men in all facets of crew: from hurrying to practice,
maintaining the sculls, in competition and the exhaustion
afterward.
The young men in the series are
beautiful: fit with strong, innocent faces and in their
formative college years. While the pictures themselves contain
no hints of homosexuality, the beauty of these men in
form-fitting uniforms, exerting great energy together toward a
common purpose, is still quite invigorating.
In a particularly memorable photo
(top row, middle), a
team gathers on the floor of the crew house, ostensibly after a
race, each member of the team distracted by something out of
frame, each one more beautiful than the next. Another sure
crowd-pleaser (second row, left) features a hunky rower in a solo scull, mirroring
the solitude that every member of a team feels with regularity.
In another shot (bottom row, left), a complete
departure from the rest of the series, Orter captures the
afterlife of sport: three men sitting in the crew house, adorned
with dark wood furniture and a moose head.
You can visit the
Peter Hay
Halpert Fine Art Gallery Web site or
Orter's Web
Site for more details and for information on purchasing
prints. |
