Marlen Boro | Once Upon a Time, in North Dakota

IT GIVES US GREAT PLEASURE TO DISCOVER NEW TALENT, NEW PHOTOGRAPHS AND RESEARCH ALL WE CAN POSSIBLY FIND ABOUT THE PERSON BEHIND IT. WHICH WE THAN TRY TO TRANSFORM IN ENTERTAINING STORIES. IT IS WORK, BUT IT IS WORTH IT. BUT SOMETIMES WE DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO. SOMETIMES THE STORY WRITES ITSELF. AS IT IS THE CASE WITH MARLEN BORO. AND HIS STORY STARTS IN NORTH DAKOTA.

Marlen Boro was born during the magical seventies and in a magical land called North Dakota. He remained in this land throughout his youth, enjoying a wholesome, idyllic childhood shaped by conservative Lutheranism, regular family meals with his parents and brothers, and hefty doses of Disney musicals. When he was 10, his father gave him his own camera. He enthusiastically embraced photography, a practice that complemented a more general enchantment with the arts.

Upon graduating from high school, Marlen Boro left North Dakota for rural Ohio, where he spent four glorious years studying political philosophy at Kenyon College. During his time at this liberal bastion for the liberal arts, he enjoyed a brief flirtation with communism, but abandoned it when he realized that he really didn’t like to share. Eventually he settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a stint in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he earned his J.D. After a number of years practicing corporate law at prestigious firms, Marlen began to question some of the priorities he had absorbed in law school. At the same time, he began to experience a resurgence of his love for art and photography. As his collection of cameras and equipment grew, Marlen’s commitment to the stressful lifestyle of a full-time corporate attorney waned. Today, though he still practices law, primarily as an advisor to other photographers). Photography is his main focus.

Marlen Boro’s photography reflects his lifelong quirky sense of humor and impossible-to-squelch delight in the world. He is masterful at bringing out not only sultry shadows and the astonishing beauty of the male body, but also genuine smiles, infectious smirks, spontaneous grins, and other moments of unguarded authenticity. He encourages his models to be simultaneously sexual and playful. Unapologetic about being gay, Marlen encourages his models, whether gay or straight, to find joy in themselves and their sexuality. Marlen’s imaginative, playful approach to photography sometimes manifests itself in coats of glitter, in stretched pairs of ladies’ underwear, or in a passionate make-out session between models who hadn’t previously met.

In short, Marlen Boro combines top-notch photography skills with a lighthearted, playful attitude, and the result is an interwoven web of whimsy and eroticism: a unique portfolio charged with imagination, color, sexiness, and delight. At present, he is selecting images from this portfolio that will together comprise his first book. And he is being specially aided in this endeavor by the support and encouragement of his partner and the unwavering enthusiasm of their curly-furred little terrier. –BM-

MARLEN BORO | BEAUTIFULMAG

Comments

[Roger]

Um... wow. I want to be in that fridge...

[Joshua]

Marlen's work is some the hottest I have seen in a long time!

[Steve]

Very imaginative and entertaining photography. The last photo is especially funny!

[J]

Wow. Exciting to find I'm on here and to see that BeautifulMag has found Minneapolis' gem of a photographer...
(for anyone keeping score I'm the dark hair in the couple pics)
Just had to say that the bio has it: The way Marlen consistently coaxes unexpected and intimate shots out of diverse models is almost...sneaky. Shoots are always fun without losing focus, and its easy to try different things and take chances as a model knowing you have a master behind the lens.
Can't wait to see what happens next on marlenboro.com and hope it will include me lol!

[Benjamin]

Wow! The sense of play and joy in these photos - such a fun departure from the norm - seeing gay men (and maybe some straight men?) be so happy and unapologetic in their sexuality. I love it.

I hope you'll feature Marlen again soon!

[Ethan]

Marlen's skillful play with whimsy and sexuality is a delight to the senses.