Three years ago, photographer Greg Gorman created for powerHouse Books the most personal work of his career. This epic artist’s project features carefully selected young men—not big or overly built—who exemplify for Gorman a perfected state, allowing him to frame grace, beauty, and elegance in the form of the male nude. Included amongst the 212 portraits are many of Gorman’s friends and acquaintances, as well as professional models, many of whom had never posed nude before. The initial release of the book went on to become a best-seller.

The cumulative effect of As I See It creates a pleasurable zone of contemplation, allowing one to reexamine the precepts of beauty within a refreshing framework of exalted maleness. According to Gorman, “As I see it, they’re not really boys, yet they’re not really men. They are caught somewhere in between—almost at that point of maturity that defines masculinity.”