FASHION is cyclical and beards are back in fashion again. Young hipsters have taken on the look and ace faces from Frankston to New York feature facial hair.
Seaford photographer Stan Barnett was ahead of the fashion curve. He has spent the past few years travelling in Australia, China, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea, New Zealand and Europe capturing portraits of men with beards for a book unsurprisingly called Men with Beards.
It’s all for a good cause. All proceeds from sales will be donated to the Leukemia Foundation.
Well-known bearded men including Derryn Hinch, Jon Faine, music entrepreneur Michael Gudinski and actor Shane Jacobson agreed to be photographed for Mr Barnett’s project.
Mr Barnett had the idea for the book while caravanning in far north Queensland and the Northern Territory. As a member of the Frankston Camera Club he decided to take photos of “the people and the markets” while holidaying for a club digital slideshow competition.
“I produced it and after I finished I thought ‘there are a lot of men with beards’ and I took them out, put them in a folder on my computers and gradually added to them over the years.”
It was suggested the photographs could make a good book.
“I started emailing – let’s be rude and call them ‘the rich and the famous’ – asking them to be involved,” Mr Barnett said.
The Seaford photographer said the likes of the Bell Shakespeare’s Company’s John Bell and journalist Derryn Hinch had been extremely generous with their time for the fundraising project.
He said the Leukemia Foundation “get almost nothing from the government” so he and his wife decided all profits should go to the foundation which offers support to those affected by the cancer of the blood cells.
Almost $900 has been raised from book sales to date.
Mr Barnett does not have a beard himself but it’s purely a personal aesthetic decision.
“My wife has said ‘if you’re serious about this book you should grow a beard’ … but I’m 71, have a full head of mainly dark hair and the beard was mainly white and it looked very strange so I shaved it off.”
The Men with Beards book is available to buy for $90 with all profits going to the Leukemia Foundation. Email stan@menwithbeards.com.au
First published in the Frankston Times
