implied nude
An artistic take on making love
Sex sells everything. As a society, we have this strange love/hate relationship with anything and everything sexual where we claim to love it but then ban it from public viewing. This is especially true of erotic art where the dominant question attached to every work is, “Is it art or is it porn?” The answer lies in both how the work is produced as well as how it is viewed.
If it were up to me, you would not be viewing these images online. I would much rather you see them as 16×20″ canvas prints hanging on a gallery wall. However, history has proven that when we provide them in such a fashion, few come to see and even few purchase. So, we’ll just keep these online for now.
You should be warned that viewing these on small devices will not produce an enjoyable experience. View these pictures on the largest screen you have available, look at them carefully, consider exactly what it is you are seeing, then allow your imagination to fill in the blanks. Only then can you appreciate what we offer to you. Click on the thumbnails below to view the image full screen.
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Returning to concepts we’ve not done in a few years
No one would be surprised to hear me say that I enjoy experimenting and trying different digital processing techniques; it’s something I’ve done a lot over the past three years. One of the nice things about taking that approach is that I have to worry less about backgrounds and can focus more on light and contrast. It also gives me an excuse to revisit images from the archives when we can’t get out to shoot new material.
Looking over the archives from the past couple of years, though, I didn’t see any classic, black-and-white, nude sets that focus on beauty and pose. In fact, it’s been more like seven years since I’ve visited any classic theme in black and white. So, when I started considering what would be safe to shoot from a reasonable distance, that came to mind. Could we shoot a classic theme while staying six feet away?
The answer is yes, hello zoom lens.
Not that there weren’t issues. When shooting from that distance, adjusting the focal length of the lens with almost every shot, perspectives are rarely accurate. Yes, they can be fixed in post, but that risks raising other issues regarding size and perspective. A little care and a small dose of creativity was still necessary to prevent some of the images from looking warped.
That challenge aside, though, there’s a nice feeling about returning to a style that is comfortable and familiar. We’ve done some other classic sets as well that we’ll share between now and December-ish. Assuming the world doesn’t blow up this next week or something.
Our thanks, again, to Cassandra for coming out and playing with us. We still have a couple more of her sets to publish, so be looking forward to those!
Instructions feel redundant but if you’re new you’ll need to know, click on a thumbnail below to view the set full screen on your device. Enjoy.
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Even when the weather is cool and damp, a natural setting makes for great photographs
Carefully distanced photography isn’t always as easy as I want it to be. If I use a long lens, which allows me to keep sufficient distance between me and my subject, focusing takes longer and sometimes means missing a shot or two. If I use a shorter lens, which is necessary for certain angles, I may end up getting closer than I’d like. Finding that perfect balance remains elusive with every shoot we’ve done this fall.
No more so was that true than with this week’s set of photographs. Ashley, our model, is a friend. We’re accustomed to chatting back and forth as we shoot and proximity isn’t an issue. This shoot found us both being a lot more careful and quietly paying more attention to what the other was doing. The distance affected her choice of poses and as we focused on angles and light direction our conversation had less banter and more construction. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but it is different.
Air temperature was a factor as well as the level of moisture. Neither of us need to be ill and running around in cool, damp air is a good way to catch something one doesn’t want. Despite waiting until afternoon to shoot, there was still a chill that kept us from being as comfortable as we would like. Copious amounts of petroleum jelly were put to use and still there were chill bumps to address in final production.
So dominant was the feeling that it was about to rain that we made it do so, in post production so it would actually show up in the photo. While I’m not big on spot color in a monochrome image, our natural production process pulled out the pink of the rain coat and I decided to run with that look. Yes, I could have stripped out all the color, but somehow the pictures feel better this way.
We’ve another set sitting in wait and we’ll show you those when the weather gets too uncooperative to shoot anything new. Ashley’s always an exciting model and spending time with a friend is an extra bonus.
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As always, click on any of the thumbnails to view the image full screen. Enjoy!
Get over those old taboos about what you can and cannot put on your walls.
If there is one thing the past few weeks have taught us it is that we never know when our lives are going to be upended in ways we never imagined. Home has suddenly become more than a place where we sleep, visit with family, and perhaps occasionally catch a quick meal or two. Home is now where we work, where we socialize, where we create, where we eat every meal, and where we sit on social media fondly remembering those times where it was safe to go out. At least, we thought it was safe. We rarely gave a second thought to what might happen if we left home.
Now, though, we’re home, or we’re supposed to be, and despite all that talk about opening things back up so that the virus can spread even more, the truth is we’re likely to remain at home a lot more than what was formerly our norm. If we are going to spend more time at home, then it only makes sense that we want home to look more like someplace we really want to stay at more than a few minutes. We want home to be comfortable, fun, inspiring, entertaining, and relaxing. What we’re realizing some 4-6 weeks into quarantine is that our home spaces really aren’t any of those things. The good news is that now we have the time to change that.
For our house, that means Kat painted the kitchen. I can’t claim to have had anything to do with that. While the kids helped her a little bit, and at least one of the cats dipped his paws in the paint, she did most of the work while I was unconscious. She did consult me on the color, but for the most part, this was one of Kat’s moments where she saw something she didn’t like and she solved the problem. She has plans for solving other problems as well if the stay-at-home order continues.
As we’ve discussed completely re-working the living room, one of the topics is where to hang art. This is complicated by the fact that I have more art sitting behind the couch than we have wall space. It’s all framed and ready to go, but you didn’t buy it so now I have to do something with it. This problem is all your fault. Don’t try to weasel your way out of it. Given that the majority of that art involves nudity in some form, that raises a question: can we hang that in our living room?
The short answer is Yes, we can. You can, also. Any prohibitions against doing so died several years ago, actually. We perpetuate them out of an unreasonable fear that we might offend someone or because we have children in the house. Both of those are nonsense arguments. First, few people ever have anyone over to their home in the first place and that number is likely to decrease now that we’ve grown accustomed to social distancing. Second, those who do have people over to their home tend to choose people who have similar tastes and values. Third, children actually benefit from having art of every kind in the home. No, it’s not illegal, we have had multiple assurances on that front, as long as it’s not explicitly pornographic. There are benefits to having nudity in your home, and at least one person thinks children should participate in nude art classes. You can hang nude art in your home!
Eventually, this begs the question, how does one hang nude art in their home. Do you put it up high so the kids don’t see it? Do you put it in a separate room so those non-existent guests aren’t offended? No, and no. Nude art can and should be hung using the same advice given for hanging any kind of art.
- Hang art at eye level so that one needn’t struggle to see it
- Center the art above large pieces of furniture, such as a couch
- Place some on shelves (if you don’t have cats)
- Lean some against the wall (if you don’t have dogs or toddlers)
- Consider a masonry-styled art wall for displaying different sized pieces
- Place the art in a place that compliments the entire wall
See? Not difficult at all! I think the biggest challenge to hanging nude art at home, once we get past the ridiculous concept that there’s something wrong with doing so, is that it is difficult for us to imagine how that might look. So, let me help you out here. Below are some pieces we’ll be adding to our gallery on Saatchi Art, hopefully sometime in the next week or so. I’ll add links to the art when we do. We’ve mocked up different ideas for how the art, all sized at 16×20 inches before framing, might look on a wall. Take a look at these, and then compare how they look on a wall versus the pieces we showed you last week. The biggest difference is that these pieces are all black-and-white.
There really are no excuses. You can hang nude art in your home and if it is something that you enjoy, something that inspires you in some way or makes your space more pleasurable for you, especially now that you’re stuck in it 24/7, then you should hang nude art in your home.
Take a look.
Note: I didn’t bother with changing matte colors in creating these mock-ups because of the time hit. With darker walls, especially, I’m personally in favor of using mattes of a contrasting color. If you’re using a particularly decorative frame, double matting might not be a bad idea. These are all matters of personal preferences, of course. The point is that you can hang nude art on your walls at home.
Just make sure it’s not in the background of your office Zoom meeting. It’s not going to be considered work safe. No point in fighting it. You should probably be using a fake background anyway.
Enjoy! Create! Make you’re home the place of comfort and pleasure you want it to be!
In a photo-op-oriented world, the best experience comes from taking those pictures without clothes.
To say that society sucks the life out of life is an obvious statement worthy of a dramatic eye-roll. Our puritanical tendencies have led us, collectively, to do some really stupid and mindless things such as Prohibition, banning possession and use of hemp, allowing health-care to be run by for-profit companies, and putting limitations on who, where, and how one loves. Such inappropriate rules have ruined millions of lives over the past 150 or so years (none of the rules I just listed existed before then). So, as much fun as it can be to poke at everything Millenials are doing differently, I can’t say I blame them for putting exhilarating experiences ahead of more traditional things such as buying homes, going in debt to attend grad school, getting married, having children, or committing to long-term employment for someone who doesn’t appreciate their effort. Don’t blame them one bit. I wish my generation had thought of that.
When we think of great experiences, we most often think of things that involve travel, seeing great sights around the world, experiencing different cultures, different atmospheres, and different philosophies in action. I can’t discourage anyone from doing any of those things. However, I fear one enthralling experience doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it should: Taking nude pictures. No, I’m not talking bathroom selfies. Taking pictures of any kind in a bathroom, your own or someone else’s, can only come under the heading of “future regrets.” I’m talking thought-out, well-conceived, planned photoshoots that capture a spirit, an idea, an expression, a statement, or an emotion that cannot be relayed any other way.
For those who take the plunge, the experience is exhilarating. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that shooting nudes demonstrates a level of personal strength and independence that wasn’t present in previous generations. I have been amazed at the poise of models such as Karlie Kloss, Emily Ratajkowski, Arizona Muse, and dozens of others filling fashion’s pages over the past decade. What’s even more impressive, though, are people completely unrelated to modeling, sports figures, dropping their clothes to appear in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue the past 11 years. Sports stars from Indy Car driver James Hinchcliffe to golfer Greg Norman to the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team, Odell Beckham, Jr., Venus Williams, and the Indianapolis Colts Offensive Line, among dozens of others, have dropped everything and shot nude for the magazine. Why? Not because it’s sexy, but because it shows the incredible physical and emotional strength of these athletes (and often a great sense of humor as well). Posing nude makes a statement that goes beyond what any of them can say in their respective sport.
One also gains a sense of freedom in posing nude. Not just freedom from breaking antiquated social norms about what’s acceptable behavior, but freedom from inappropriately imposed authorities and everyone standing on the sidelines saying, “You can’t… ” Posing nude allows one to make their own statement on their own terms. Sure, we provide a number of the concepts we shoot but come to me with a strong idea that makes a statement you want to make and be sure we’ll do our best to shoot it.
The two sets of images in this week’s collection are the last of several photos that were shot back in October. It was one of those incredible experiences of friends doing something together (you’ll remember Cassandra’s set with Mercedes which is viewable here) that was fun, totally unrestrained, and filled with excitement. While most of the pictures can’t be shared on social media, they still are fun to share with friends and one was accepted to a major art festival later this year. As experiences go, ones like this are invaluable.
Our thanks to Cassandra for being patient as we waited to post these separate from the others. More than usual, we strongly recommend viewing the images full-screen on something other than a phone in order to see the detail in the image. Click on any of the thumbnails to enter full-screen mode.
There is no experience that can match shooting nude photographs, especially with a professional photographer. Please, don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re interested.
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Here We Go Again On Our Own
Wear a mask, wash your hands, protect what’s important
What we have this week is the second set of photos from a group we shot back in September when it was still, barely, warm enough to be running around naked in the woods. At that point in time, we were fairly hopeful. COVID-19 numbers were down. Schools were slowly starting back. Bars and restaurants were opening. While we knew there was a good chance of a second wave, it was still a while off.
Now, I look at these pictures and wish I’d taken more. Lots more. As much as I’d love to call Ashley and say, “Hey, meet me…” I don’t dare. Coronavirus infection rates are the highest they’ve ever been. As of the particular moment when I’m typing this, the United States has seen more than twelve million cases and just crossed 250,000 deaths. Our daughter, who had been enjoying going to school and seeing her friends, will now be back at home learning remotely starting Monday. All schools in the county are completely closed to in-person instruction. That bars and restaurants haven’t done the same is more cowardice and lack of supportive action on the part of lawmakers than it is any reasonable form of science.
One of the most difficult parts of this past week was making the decision to not participate in family Thanksgiving celebrations, despite them being small. They’ll only include two more people than normal, but they’re people outside my normal bubble and one of them works in retail, exposed to a plethora of people with little consideration for anyone else. Making that decision more difficult is that our youngest son’s birthday falls on the same day. We’ve promised him an additional celebration at home, but it’s not the same. There are no friends coming over for a party, no sharing cupcakes with classmates.
Of all the songs running through my mind right now, perhaps the most relevant is Whitesnake’s 1987 hit, Here I Go Again.
I know I’m not the only one feeling this way. Millions of people who would normally be spending portions of this week with large gatherings of family are either staying home or severely limiting the number of people around them. Across the country, there are more than 250,000 chairs that empty and most of them didn’t have to be. We, as a country, continue to be irresponsible.
So, here we are, on our own, out in the woods, staying several feet apart from each other. We can look at the pictures and enjoy the beauty and, perhaps, for a moment, forget how unforgivingly horrid this year has been on so many different levels. Perhaps next year will bring more opportunities to be more adventurous. For the moment, we are thankful for the time we had.
Enjoy.
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