For those of you who can handle it, by all means continue.
I was contacted by a young lady looking to get some photos done of herself. She apparently found me via Model Mayhem.
After exchanging email and meeting over chai, we decided to do a series of 40 photos with her in various states of undress.
Below are my two top pics from the series, done in two shoots over 4 hours and encompassing a total of 2000 frames.
As usual, click to enlarge.
What do you think?
I'm quite proud of them, and not just because of the subject matter. I told myself for the longest time that I wouldn't shoot nudes because few people can appreciate them, even when tastefully done. When I got the opportunity to do this series, I took it cautiously. Now that I've done it, I'm looking forward to doing more nudes in the future.
3 comments:
I don't like the bottom photo at all. I like the top one.
Couldn't disagree more with Mark. Don't get me wrong, I think the first photo is good, but I find that the second pose is more interesting to me. While the first pose is well executed, albeit a more classical approach to the nude, I think the the bed shot brings up some interesting comparisons.
I think many times, when shooting or posing and otherwise, we are so afraid of wrinkles and creases. The shot is, of course, framed to emphasize the subject, but moreso, we see a strong implied line emerge as we go from her dark, shadowed shoulder to her more brightly lit, almost luminescent knee.
The shadowed lines of her arm and legs of course emphasize this progression, but I think what is more interesting are the creases exposed above her leg.
Posed on the bed, we can instantly see similarities between these creases in the skin and the creases in the bedding on the opposite side of her body. The weight of her form resting on the bed, as her body does on her legs, naturally causes creases in both skin and bedding which, by no coincidence, are both adorned with arboreal designs. Rather, this further emphasizes and solidifies the connection between the female form and the bed upon which she rests.
With this analogy firmly established in the visuals of the photo itself, we can further explore the relationship between skin and the bedding.
The comforter on the bed acts as a reminder of the intimacy of the bedroom and all the acts accomplished within. The making of the bed, an oftentimes daily ritual, is an act of erasing the previous days' history, both good and bad, and beginning a new day. It acts as a cover, literal and figural, for the acts undertaken in the bed. These intimate moments that undid the bed are smoothed over and hidden from view by the immaculate bedspread.
In this way, so too does our skin hide the most intimate of our thoughts and desires. We compile a days worth of experiences and hide them behind our bodies themselves, by our enthusiasm, our false smiles, our false confidence. This, in turn, is hid further behind the the clothes we wear to hide our nakedness.
Thus, the figural baring of her intimate thoughts, her soul, her heart, if you will, as implied by her physical nudity, is contrasted by the clothed and hidden bed. Yet, despite conscious effort, neither facade is perfect. The bed is creased by her very presence, just as her skin is creased by the very act of living within it. These creases and imperfections are not inherently negative, but rather are simple consequences of the Sisyphean aspects inherent in life itself; as much as we try, we will never achieve perfection as long as our bodies, and our beds, are in use.
Her conservative pose thus expresses not a shyness or shame at her nudity, but a quiet reserve and subtle confidence not just at her own physical nudity, but at the secrets hidden under the covers and within her heart. For these are consequences of living and should be endured with as much pose and quiet integrity as the figure expresses within the photo.
Couldn't disagree more with Mark. Don't get me wrong, I think the first photo is good, but I find that the second pose is more interesting to me. While the first pose is well executed, albeit a more classical approach to the nude, I think the the bed shot brings up some interesting comparisons.
I think many times, when shooting or posing and otherwise, we are so afraid of wrinkles and creases. The shot is, of course, framed to emphasize the subject, but moreso, we see a strong implied line emerge as we go from her dark, shadowed shoulder to her more brightly lit, almost luminescent knee.
The shadowed lines of her arm and legs of course emphasize this progression, but I think what is more interesting are the creases exposed above her leg.
Posed on the bed, we can instantly see similarities between these creases in the skin and the creases in the bedding on the opposite side of her body. The weight of her form resting on the bed, as her body does on her legs, naturally causes creases in both skin and bedding which, by no coincidence, are both adorned with arboreal designs. Rather, this further emphasizes and solidifies the connection between the female form and the bed upon which she rests.
With this analogy firmly established in the visuals of the photo itself, we can further explore the relationship between skin and the bedding.
The comforter on the bed acts as a reminder of the intimacy of the bedroom and all the acts accomplished within. The making of the bed, an oftentimes daily ritual, is an act of erasing the previous days' history, both good and bad, and beginning a new day. It acts as a cover, literal and figural, for the acts undertaken in the bed. These intimate moments that undid the bed are smoothed over and hidden from view by the immaculate bedspread.
In this way, so too does our skin hide the most intimate of our thoughts and desires. We compile a days worth of experiences and hide them behind our bodies themselves, by our enthusiasm, our false smiles, our false confidence. This, in turn, is hid further behind the the clothes we wear to hide our nakedness.
Thus, the figural baring of her intimate thoughts, her soul, her heart, if you will, as implied by her physical nudity, is contrasted by the clothed and hidden bed. Yet, despite conscious effort, neither facade is perfect. The bed is creased by her very presence, just as her skin is creased by the very act of living within it. These creases and imperfections are not inherently negative, but rather are simple consequences of the Sisyphean aspects inherent in life itself; as much as we try, we will never achieve perfection as long as our bodies, and our beds, are in use.
Her conservative pose thus expresses not a shyness or shame at her nudity, but a quiet reserve and subtle confidence not just at her own physical nudity, but at the secrets hidden under the covers and within her heart. For these are consequences of living and should be endured with as much pose and quiet integrity as the figure expresses within the photo.
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