Jagged Youth

This is the 5th in a series of photography books from Howard Roffman, and he certainly has produced another book of excellent, attractive male images. These young men are ordinary everyday people, who have a natural erotic look. Howard Roffman knows how to capture his male models with just the right light and setting, and his models are not overposed and are very natural. I enjoyed this book as much as my other favorite of his, "The Edge of Desire." Be sure and add this one to your collection. If your looking for the perfect, overdeveloped, muscular type of male images you will have to look elsewhere. Another great book from Howard Roffman.

As usual, Howard Roffman does a wonderful job of capturing not just the physical beauty of his models, but also their individual personalities and "souls", for lack of a better word. Even in this early photo-book (I believe it is his third or fourth), Roffman's style is excellent; I do not think there is a bad photograph in the book. My only complaint is that I cannot figure out what the title "Jagged Youth" means, but for new-comers to Howard Roffman, it is certainly a fine introduction to his work.

As I always say -- you can not go wrong with a Howard Roffman book... THEY ARE GREAT

These guys are young, strong, smooth and good looking. The same could be said for many photo books but there are two things about Roffman's guys which make him my favourite photographer.First, the guys are refreshingly 'ordinary' rather than the impossible beauties to be seen in so many photo books.Second, the photos manage to convey a sense of each guy's character instead of the souless, plastic poses of other photographers.My only (slight) disappointment is that a few of the guys haven't "revealed all". But that still leaves a lot of beautiful young male flesh to look at!

"Howard Roffman has a unique ability to capture the magical attractive power of young men. Jagged Youth is a love declaration to the natural erotic aura of his models. An erotic masterpiece! Hard cover, 112 PAGES, 8" X 8", Duotone"--? zebraz

I suppose you are not looking for any hot stuff and that you are already familiar with Roffman's black-and-white photography art, so that I don't need to insist on the fact that what you have here is very, very soft gay porn. In fact I wouldn't call it porn at all because no sexual activity, neither solo nor in couple, is shown in this thin album."Jagged Youth" is in my view the least interesting and rewarding of all albums by Roffman. The reasons are simple: the models are more than just ordinary and the album is just too short. If I am not mistaken, there are no more than five models in this collection. All of them are in their early twenties, some may be even younger. They are just plain boys you could meet anywhere. Not that I like supermodels who look perfect, but this time not even Roffman's technique could enhance their features.I recommend Roffman's album on Johan Paulik and "Perfect Boys" instead of "Jagged Youth". "Peter and Petr" is quite repetitive and not really worth the money even though the two models are beautiful. My favorite is "Sebastian and Friends", by the same publisher, a thick album packed with really erotic pictures in color of Sebastian Bonnet and other Bel Ami models.

After viewing Howard Roffman's latest book, I was disappointed in finding only young guys for his subject matter. Well, no duh, hence the title. Regardless, it is a matter of preference, and "Jagged Youth" presents mostly guys no older than, perhaps, 23. Even though Roffman's black-n-white composition is attractive and romantically poetic, the male subjects definitely are at the threshold of their youth toward manlihood. They're more of the renegade, street-type contemporary youth with below-sinewy bodily builds. The celluloid result of these young men is rather displeasing as they appear unattractive and unkempt. But then again, the images could be a reflection of more openly confident and "casual" times amongst young (gay) males, especially as images of homoeroticism becomes more prevalent in society's view as seen in advertisements by Tommy Hilfiger and Abercrombie & Fitch.My criticism of this book and its subjects is mostly based on personal preference in terms of the men I like to see in these photoessay publications. The works of Jeff Palmer ("Sensual Men"), James Loy ("Overture"), and David Vance ("Photographs") present men who are more mature (perhaps over 23, but younger than 35), muscular, and, with no offence, better looking. If viewing younger guys is your preference, then Howard Roffman's latest photographic excursion won't disappoint. As for now, I'm still waiting for Steven Underhill's next photobook.

Howard Roffman's photography is always tasteful and professional, Jagged Youth is no exception. This book is a well crafted compilation of black and white photos displayed as a photoessay. The pictures are matte and unadorned. The expressions of the young men speak volumes and makes up for the lack of text. I leafed through this book once and then twice and then again; always finding something I didn't see before. I loved his previous photo books(Three is one of them), they all seem to tell a story. Add this to your collection of photo books.

Good photos