John Stutz's much anticipated Fit Girls Volume 1 has been released and can be ordered online at the link.
I think Fit Girls Volume 1 may be the most important cultural event in the depiction of athletic women since Robert Mapplethorpe first showed the world his Lisa Lyon photos, or at least since Brandy Chastain ripped off her shirt at the 1999 Women's World Cup.
Stutz has certainly gone a long way toward overshadowing the New Museum's "Picturing the Modern Amazon" freakshow of 2000, which seemed to be intended primarily to shock and give offense - to make athletic women seem ugly.
Which begs the question: why do people like athletic bodies?
I say: because they are beautiful.
That's what John Stutz has managed to capture in his book - the beauty of his models.
He is not aiming to shock, horrify, or qualify for a gender studies grant - he merely set out to show women with beautiful, fit bodies in beautiful settings, and the book lives up to his goals.
I spent a lot of time walking around with Stutz at the Arnold Expo this year.
He carried a galley copy of the book wherever he went, and I wound up carrying it sometimes because the thing weighs about 20 pounds and gets heavy after three or four hours of pounding cement.
Every time Stutz cracked the book - every single time - a crowd gathered.
People were desperate to see it, and the models were thrilled and amazed by the (almost) finished product.
Examples:
Monica Brant sat down with the book at a table and spent about 20 minutes poring over it.
Fawnia Mondey squealed like a schoolgirl when she saw her photos inside.
Julie Marsland went all a-goggle and gushed praise for the work.
Producing this book has made Stutz a rockstar in the fitness and physique model industry, and once you see it you will understand why.
IMO for fans of artsy physique women photography the book is easily worth the price. John did a great job in obtining the highest quality print reproductions of his work. High quality print reproductions cost money, and if anything he held the price down. They are noticeably superior in the book than on the low resolution jpegs that have been posted online (which still are some of the best female physique photography photos ever).
