Bruce Weber: Branded Youth

"MB: Bruce Weber’s photography books were an inspiration for me to become a photographer when I was young – the man is a photographic genius! I think he has a way of depicting the American spirit in such a beautiful and uplifting way without it looking commercial. His pictures are so full of positivity and soul. There’s a playful, almost childlike quality to his work – he makes everyone look naturally beautiful with no frills attached. The book takes its title from a band of wild-child teenagers Weber met in Montana. They had this teenage ritual of branding each other on the shoulder with a red-hot army bayonet blade, a combination of recklessness and romance captured so well in these images of youth, freedom, and adventure. He meets all sorts of different people on his travels, but the common thread is always the connections, the ties that bind."