Ex-Australian Rugby League champion now budding actor Ian Roberts features in Venice, California-based photographer Eric Schwabel’s debut book, SHOOTING MALE, on shelves in July but avaible for pre-order now, at the book’s official website.

Roberts, who narrated the gay rugby documentary Walk Like A Man appears in around half a dozen of SHOOTING MALE’s 120 pages of horny masculinity, which Schwabel seems to have a knack at capturing without having to resort to coy shots of nearly-revealed cock or other soft-on inducing junk.

“The men in this book are masculine, powerful, and occasionally vulnerable. They can be sexy without being pornographic. To me, this is SHOOTING MALE,” says Schwabel.

His photographs are rarely retouched, with simple wardrobe and minimal make-up, which Schwabel says allows him to focus on the execution of the photograph. “It can be playful, overtly sexual or understated masculinity,” explains Schwabel.

“Part of what appeals to me about photography is that I was there, in that moment. I can create a photograph that is heightened beyond reality, but it all really happened, it wasn’t retouched in later. To me, that’s what it means to be a photographer.”

www.shootingmale.com