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Synopsis

The first ever complete photographic history of Colt Studio that celebrates their 40th year. Photogaphs are from the early Jim French days right up to the current John Rutherford regime. There will be a full color dust-jacket as well as many rare and never-before seen images.

For 40 years, COLT has shared with the world its unique vision of the masculine man through both photography and film. When illustrator Jim French began photographing men four decades ago, he was at the forefront of a revolution that completely changed what we consider to be the pinnacle of the perfect masculine physique. COLT Studio also became the catalyst of a movement to liberalize the male nude figure by presenting men in an entirely new style. With a careful eye on body expressions, poses and lighting angles, COLT images celebrated the erotic appeal of masculinity. Jim French crafted images that displayed the strength and the beauty of exceptional men as captured on film by another man and primarily for the enjoyment of other men. By choosing to present the models in their sexually erotic form, COLT charged into an era of a new acceptance of male eroticism. In the process of defining his creativity, French inadvertently gave gay men a whole new avenue for enhancing visual fantasy and exploring sexual desire in print. The models that he photographed rapidly rose to become icons in the gay community and beyond. In time, they defined the very meaning and essence of modern masculinity. Because of the sheer quality of the photography, these icons transcended the community from which they initially gained fame. As such, the name of COLT has become famous way beyond the audience of fans from which it had first sprung forth. COLT is the pinnacle of male erotica today and has become an iconic lifestyle for gay men across the globe. No other all-male erotic studio has produced high quality imagery for longer and more consistently.

Since 1967, COLT has created some of the most powerfully erotic images of the male nude, in the process blurring the lines between fine art and erotica. Through the exacting lens of their cameras, COLT Studio Group photographers have sculpted human flesh into objects of true beauty – to be at once admired and desired by all. And because the focus has always been on the pure form, no image gathers dust; they are constant, enduring images that lack any sort of dating whatsoever. COLT photography has always been true to its subject matter and as a result, the arrow-straight styling has few conventions by which to date it… it’s just the men in stylized lighting, simple and perfect.

Within these pages we celebrate that distinctive vision in a book that is for the ages, aptly titled “COLT 40.” We explore how COLT images make us feel, what they do to us emotionally and how they affect or stimulate us. These photographs take us beyond our primary senses, frankly. More deeply, they inform and define us and establish milestones for both who we want to be and how we define masculinity. Above all, in the end, they grab onto our inner erotic desires and create the deepest inner yearnings that stimulate at our sexual fantasies.

With this 40 year retrospective our focus is on the beautiful men that chose to step in front of our cameras over the decades. Of course, we could fill hundreds of books this size with the quality and depth of our library, so we have brought together what is hopefully a small, yet unique collection of images to represent the broad span of an astonishing 40 years of photography of the COLT male form. The choice has been made to present this body of work with the first and foremost focus on these spectacular specimens. Therefore in order, alphabetically, the pages herein shine with one vibrant and inspiring man after another, all photographed between the years of 1967–2007 by Jim French and successive COLT Studio Group photographers of impeccable standards. Each model presents his own unique expression of masculinity and each photographer uses his artistry to capture another timeless COLT photograph. The names that have become the icons of COLT Studio Group are all here for our enjoyment and awe: John Pruitt, Pete Kuzak, Carl Hardwick and Steve Kelso are well represented as are the current men,,, Titans of decades past like Toby, Ledermeister and Erron are celebrated equally with the current John Rutherford's COLT stable of superstars such as Carlo Masi, Luke Garrett, Gage Weston, Skye Woods, Adam Champ and Chris Wide just to name a few.

So enjoy these images of the COLT masculine man, and be prepared to be affected by the visual continuity of 40 years of COLT photographs. We expect that you may find a few new fantasies within these 160 pages to add to your previous collection of spectacular COLT Men as well.