Meira

There's some kind of vague Bill Brandt quality to this one. Not any image of his in particular— just the general feel. I've read so many photography books over the years, and all of it gets sort of mashed up as influences, and then I'll just spit out a little bit. It reminds me of someone who made his lunch sandwiches with a slice of tomato, but then he took the tomato off. So then the sandwich simply had the "essence" of tomato, but no actual tomato. True story. This image has the "essence" of Bill Brandt.

Devorah

Yeah, this is one of my tried and true shots— model laying down with eyes closed and letting hands and fingers roam, while I shoot it all from above and behind. I basically developed it as a way of getting a sure shot for paid boudoir shoots involving a green subject who is nervous and has never done a shoot before. I have some other set-ups like this, but this one is practically guaranteed to succeed every time. The secret is that she can become oblivious to my presence (eyes closed & listening to good music), with the added bonus being that closed eyes remove the need to make that often difficult emotional connection to the lens. Yeah, the cat's out of the bag... closed eyes= instant soulfulness! Not that I invented that, as it goes back to the beginning of photography with photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron in the 1860's, and every one since. It is a nice trick to have in the arsenal, though.

Dessa

I was a painter (although not a particularly good one) and a designer (not too shabby) before I became a photographer, so I learned ahead of time to think abstractly about composition. From the beginning through to now, I've always thought as much about the composition as much as anything else. This is a good example of that— the head goes off towards the top corner as if it is trying to escape the boundaries of the photograph. Likewise, the hand is pressing down the middle bottom. Along with a couple other details, the overall effect is that she is visually trying to push out of the box she is contained in. Which, in turn, creates a visually dynamic image. This is a primary part of my thought process— both when I'm shooting and as a final image. I've never really stated this here or anywhere else, but it is truly one of the main things I'm thinking of when shooting. That, and trying to get the lighting right. I'm not ever really trying to tell a story or execute an idea. I hate "ideas"! I don't, however, tend to do this consciously. I shoot too quickly to do that. It's more of an automatic process that I've trained myself to do. I pick up the camera and simply shoot. When I'm editing, I then more or less consciously pick the ones that work in that way...

Sara

In the pale moonlight.

Heff

The tight cropping really makes this one— as if she's boxed in and trying to escape the imaginary boundaries of the photograph...

Kate

Homage to Cabaret.

Sylvia

I've been doing different versions of this shot for as long as I've been shooting, which is about 25 years now. It usually does not work, as hands on the face photographs typically look either stiff, forced or fake. Often, they're absolutely painful to look at. I always think of the hand on the face scene in Napoleon Dynamite! What makes it work are the hands and their owner- the combination of photogenic hands and someone who knows how to bring them to life. Hands can be just as expressive as facial expressions. Hell, they can be even more so- think how much sign language can convey. Human hands can paint the Sistine Chapel, pluck a guitar, maneuver surgical instruments, chisel a David, forge steel, and write poetry. They can grasp, scratch, poke, punch, feel, sense, evaluate, hold and mold the world around us. No other species has appendages with such a remarkable range of capabilities. And yet, so some weird reason regarding photography not liking hands on faces, I can count on one hand how many people out of everyone that I've photographed have amazed me with their hands in an image...

Jade Vixen

Confession: the single biggest influence on my lighting style is George Hurrell, the Hollywood glamour photographer from the 30's & 40's (although he worked until he died in the 90's). George Hurrell never did nudes, though, let alone anything explicit or erotic. Sensual, yes— but definitely not sexual. Everything else about my work tends to differ from his as well. Well, except occasionally, when it doesn't. The image below (as well as some others that I've done of Jade Vixen) is a homage to Hurrell's images of Anna May Wong. There is a little nipple slip in one of his prints that I've seen, but that is about as close as he ever came to showing nudity— and I doubt that it ever made its way into publicity shots.

Tanya Dakin

This is from a 5-minute shoot with Tanya Dakin— short but sweet is sometimes better...

Emily

Early on, one of my biggest influences was Man Ray, among some other early 20th century masters. I've got away from directly emulating this photographer or another. Years of pouring over photography books, though, have left indelible memories that get spit back out every now and then— whether consciously or unconsciously. This one definitely seems to remind me of Man Ray. That is not necessarily such a bad thing...

Devon

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the ordinary.  ~David Bailey

Meira

Yeah, another Meira. Hell, why not? There are lots more from where this came from...

Meira

If someone considers my work to be porn, although I don't think it is, at least I'd like it to be considered porn with a certain amount of gravitas...

Heff

"Wearing nothing is divine, naked is a state of mind..."  ~ Luscious Jackson

Jade Vixen

invert - inverting - inverted - inverta.

Ajaye

The Lost Art of Removing Clothes.

Genevieve

“When people ask me what equipment I use, I tell them ‘my eyes’.” ~ Unknown source

Devon

"Good taste is death. Vulgarity is life." ~ Mary Quant

Ajaye

Nibblers Challenge— to bite at gently and repeatedly.

Sara

Über sad-faced Sara. You may have noticed that there are not many smiles in the work presented here. For better or for worse, smiling is a coping strategy. To me, you perhaps get closer to the soul of a person when they stop smiling.