Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Erica & James

I am of the firm belief that neither nudity, nor explicitness, is necessary to make an image erotic. I think that such is the case with these three images. I typically start shoots with clothes on, and try to get something interesting there, first. Not that I'm going to abandon nudity anytime soon, since I like the idea of creating the question of whether it's art or porn. I do not believe for a moment that my work classifies as porn, but of course, that is just my opinion. I enjoy being the provocateur, and I like other people to ask that question about my work themselves. In the end, there is always someone, somewhere, who  finds Victoria's Secret catalogs to be good porn- not to mention even more seemingly innocuous imagery elsewhere. Beauty and/or porn, as well as what is perhaps erotic, is always in the eye of the beholder.











Friday, May 13, 2011

Manchester

This shot was a pleasant surprise, since I did not know that she had this tattoo on the inside of her lip, until she did this. Apparently, although they tend to be less painful than other tattoos, ink does not usually last here. They need to be redone, or they fade into oblivion. Something about the acid and chemical content of the mouth. The body also absorbs the pigment inside the mouth. These tats last from 1-5 years, depending on the person. Interesting factoid of the day...



Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Christine

This shot is actually a few years old. Besides that I've always really liked it, it seemed to mark a turning point for me. I think that this is my first successful image employing an extreme point of view and perspective, which I've continued to explore ever since. I find the idea of creating a lush deep space, starting with only the beginning in focus, to be  a great way of forcing the viewer to see things the way that I often do while shooting. Of course this kind of spatial illusion is nothing new- it goes back to Andrea Mantegna (an Italian painter from the 1400's) and The Lamentation of Christ. At first that painting looks like a study of foreshortening, but he actually reduced the size of the feet, among other things. Likewise, I can use lighting, depth of field, and Photoshop to create little tricks, making it seem like three feet goes on and on...