Dessa

Confession— I typically really dislike tattoos on breasts. Sometimes I just cringe. I perhaps shouldn't admit that as many of the models that I photograph have them. I might be burning my bridges. Most of the models that I photograph tend to have very interesting and well-chosen tats, though. I just think that unless you've unquestionably thought it through and chosen something exquisite, that the breasts and the neck should be left alone... or you've finished with the rest of your body and that's the last frontier. This tattoo, though, is one of my favorites. I love how the orchids wrap around and fall down, as plants are apt to do.

Ajaye

Ajaye has my favorite kind of eyes to photograph. In a portrait, they are soulful and expressive. In erotic images, they are bedroom eyes- sleepy, yet they draw you in. From the very beginning, eyes have been the main focal point in my photographs of people, and that has never changed. I can always help someone's eyes connect to the camera better with a few tricks, but there is only so much that I can do. In the end, either someone's eyes connect to the camera or they don't. The eyes are the best non-verbal indicator of our emotional and intellectual state of mind. That is why it is only every so often that I create a portrait where the eyes simply get an intense visceral reaction from most viewers. It's a constant frustration, but when I get it, it's such a joy.

Lillian

The moments of dressing/undressing are wonderful to catch, but you have to be quick. I try to catch these moments often, but usually, they don't look nearly as interesting as they seemed shooting them. Every once in a while I get something exquisite...

Izzy & Dessa

So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves— so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories.   ~John Williams

Ajaye

To sit for one's portrait is like being present at one's own creation.   ~Alexander Smith

Tanya, Izzy & Dessa

Abstraction in photography started very early on with contact prints of plants in the 1830's; later on, with Vortograpghs, Rayographs, et cetera— with the inventors' name usually attached. Most of these abstractions were darkroom processes (and later with digital effects). I tend to prefer abstraction via straight photography. Strange angles, strange lighting, strange subjects and in your face close-ups. I also prefer to leave little Easter Eggs, so that the viewer can still figure things out. I find that if you don't leave a little something for someone to find, the eye gets bored and moves on. With abstract nudes, that means a lip, or a belly button, or a nipple that says what you're really looking at. Belly buttons are my favorite detail because everyone recognizes them even when distorted, but no one takes it as gratuitous.

Percolate & Autumn

I think, in the future, people are going to look back and say, 'I can't believe that gay and lesbian people had to fight to be able to get married'. ~Edy Ganem