The Creation of Man: How To Legally Shoot your Husband

We needed more models. We had our friends in front of the camera, and they were good for commercial images, but we needed something more. We had a sense that we were headed into something special, but we weren’t quite sure what it was going to be.

I decided to put Robert in front of the camera. You see, I adore my husband. I find him quite handsome, but not in your traditional sense. He has more of a rugged handsomeness, rather than traditional beauty. He would play a good cowboy, or bodyguard. Robert is also an ex-bodybuilder, he trained all natural for almost ten years. We have a home gym, and I have spotted him a number of times. I am always impressed by muscle memory and how, after just ten minutes, the blood rushes back and his muscles fill out. It’s very exciting to watch his body go from extremely lean to very nicely ripped. But we didn’t want to do a body shoot just yet. We had some other things in mind.

Robert and I are extreme opposites. But we do connect completely, and we share a passion I’ve never known before. We rolled down the black background, he took my hand, asked if I was ready, and gave me a kiss. I took a few test shots to make sure we had the lighting we wanted, and we began.

We started with contemplation shots, Hard Life shots. Robert drinking his coffee, staring off deep in thought. Then we started to roll. The shoot was mostly silent, no words were needed, I was an extension of him. I watched through the lens, and was allowed to document this personal side of my husband, the side that only I saw. The side of him that he hides, the part of Man that exists, but dares not peek out.

I dare not speak of the driving force for the emotions he felt, that is not my story to tell. But it was a great loss, and a heavy heart, that drove the shoot. I peered through the lens, stopping only to wipe the tears off the camera so I could see to focus.

Finally, we had to break from what we were doing, we were both mentally and physically drained. Robert went in to take a shower, and I went back to working on my computer. When he came out of the shower, he shaved down bald. Then we began shooting the Man Series. Completely nude, he twisted and bent his body in emotional poses, crippled from pain and depression.

What may not be evident at first is Robert is a very tall man. He stands at 6’4”. To capture his full height is sometimes impossible to do, me being only 5’7”. But this was magical, emotional, inspiring. I cannot take full credit for the shoot, in fact, Robert was the one who had the ideas, and held the poses so I could shoot them. But I do know that no one else could have done that shoot with him, it was too raw.

We created Man in the barest of all emotions. Grief, loneliness, despair, heartache, sadness, pain, turmoil, depression; we touched them all. And the pain transfers, the images grab at you. You can feel the pleading, the pain, the hurt, the loneliness of Man.

To date, this series is our best seller. I can only credit this to the passion and commitment Robert has to his Art. He is Artist. He is Photographer. He is Man.

I Creator; The great expression

(maybe the meaning to life)

The world is filled with pictures and images, visual media as advertisements, art and dialog saturate every aspect of our lives. From expressing an emotion to reminding us to turn off the lights when we leave the room, photographs, designs, graphics and text can be found on almost everything in our lives. It is the way we as humans communicate, it is the depth, breath and fuel of our souls. It is the one thing that has separated the human race from all other forms of life on this planet, the ability to express, communicate, record and create visually.

I am an artist; photographer and now writer because it is my need beyond any other driving force in my life to express, create and record. It is in all of us, in every form of expression from your first scribble to your greatest achievement and at times our worst failures. The ability to capture, write, teach and learn has enabled humans to rise above a level of instinctual survival.

We are the only creatures I know who spend their entire lives documenting and recording themselves, in millions of forms and in millions of ways we say I am, was and have been, I must leave my mark, I creator, see what I have done. So whatever it is that you do, take a photograph, draw a picture, write a line, sculpt, build, design, teach or communicate. Create, invent and imagine because that is what it means to be human and for all of us I might even speculate that this is the true meaning of life, and the answer to everything we are, to leave our mark, to be remembered.


Robert Gebbie has been a photographer for over 25 years and is currently located in the Vancouver, Washington area. You can see his creations at http://www.rgebbiephotography.com