Bill By David

David Martin took these great images of Bill Edwards in the desert near Arizona State University. Martin kept extensive records of his models, and his notes on Bill says he played basketball and football and ran track while attending the university. Dave Martin became the first photographer to specialize in male nude physique studies when he opened his Sacramento Street studio in San Francisco in 1952. Determined to create his own portfolio of physique photographs of young men, Martin became a self-taught photographer of reknown. He controlled all aspects of his photography, from posing his models, processing film and doing his own darkroom printing. Martin’s physique photographs were published in men’s muscle magazines of the period. They appeared in Strength & Health, Tomorrow’s Man, Vim, Body Beautiful, and others.