Max Kessell’s photo series Magazine Dreams finds a sense of belonging in bodybuilding

Max Kessell’s photography journey began like most – taking pictures of friends. But as the photographer’s work matured, a fascination with “subcultures that build tight communities around niche passions” began to develop. It was then, after watching George Butler and Robert Fiore’s 1977 muscle film Pumping Iron starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, that Max became obsessed with understanding the motivations of professional bodybuilders. This fascination is now explored in Max’s photo series, Magazine Dreams, which took them on a tour capturing muscle shows up and down the UK.

Max initially set out to explore ideas of “gender, self-expression, homogenisation, popularity, and internet culture through the lens of bodybuilding,” they say, and their curiosities were underpinned by a few key questions. Why do bodybuilders dedicate their lives to becoming as muscular as possible? How does this discipline shape their day-to-day? Although, as the project went on, ideas of community, belonging, and dedication began to surface. Preconceptions of bodybuilders often revolve around vanity and ego, but Max found the opposite. There was an intangible feeling across the competitors, a “strange intimacy that forms around a shared obsession,” Max says.

Over time, Magazine Dreams materialised into a character-driven series. Dedication and belonging are both personal motivations, so what better than to focus on these bodybuilders one-on-one. Each figure stands tall, mythological in pose and stature. Max’s stylistic choices of monochrome and a harsh flash takes you back to the bold physical forms of bodybuilding’s 1970s golden era, all topped off with “flamboyancy and pantomime”, as Max puts it. “It’s all one big grandiose performance that I found really intriguing and impressive.”

This effect is all achieved with a Fujifilm GFX, lit with a single Godox DP600III-V (bare bulb or with a small reflector depending on the background). “I barely direct people – these guys are professionals,” says Max, who kept the scene as simple as possible and let the bodybuilders do their thing. The photos are finished off with monochrome conversion, upping the contrast, and a touch of grain.

Currently, Max is drawn to projects floating in style between documentary and portraiture, and is open to collaborations and commissions, with plans to follow the thread of curiosity: “I’m always looking for interesting, sometimes bizarre, but always honest, stories and communities to photograph,” the photographer ends.