Comin' at Ya!: The Homoerotic 3-D Photographs of Denny Denfield

by David L. Chapman, Thomas Waugh

An amazing collection of full-color, sexually explicit 3-D photographs of men taken in the early 1950s by Denny Denfield. Denfield was an amateur physique photographer in California who worked as an accountant for the US Army. His photographs, never distributed publicly given their illegality at the time, display a skill, wit, and daring rarely seen, and with their rich Kodachrome colors and mid-century decors, can now be appreciated for their roguish, almost naïve charm. The essay by David Chapman, from whose own private collection these photographs appear, sheds fascinating light on Denfield’s secret life and work (stereography had been invented in 1850, but the advent of a compact, easy-to-use 3-D camera in 1947 allowed amateurs like Denfield to produce their own). A narrative by acclaimed writer Thomas Waugh ( Lust Unearthed , Out/Lines , Gay A Historic Collection ) places Denfield’s work in the historical context of homoerotic photography over the last century. The 3-D photographs comprise dual images that “come alive” when viewed through the 3-D glasses, supplied with the book. Equal parts kitschy, informed, and sexy, Comin’ at Ya! is a collection that is both fun and historically fascinating.

176 pages, Spiral-bound

First published October 1, 2007