Yesterday I went up to Old Greenwich to attend another fine art nude model shoot. Several folk that I know seem to think that I have lost my marbles and can't really understand why I want to do this.
Two reasons really.....
Fine art nude images have been an accepted art form for many centuries and most life drawing classes in art school start with the naked model and blind drawing. I never had that luxury, going to college to study sick and broken bodies and figure out how to fix those....now I have the opportunity to create life studies of the fine and dandy sort with my camera... so why not!
Second reason is that these are professional shoots with models where I pay a fee for the release of any images that I take and I can use them commercially and at will. They are "MY" stock, "MY" pictures and contribute to the 100% originality of any derivative work that I create.
(Much better than using stuff off Deviant art or paid stock sites)!!
AND, if I needed another reason to justify this rather odd sort of whim, it would be that I am learning a lot, a lot about lighting, posing and studio photography, AND I enjoy the challenge. AND I get to meet some interesting and quirky like minds....
I'm also learning that all these sorts of events are different each time. The models are obviously a variable that is a bit hard to predict. How they move, how they pose, how flexible (of body and mind) they are...
Some only pose in the nude, others bring a trunk full of gear to dress up in. And since I am fairly new to it all, I am for the most part quite content to go with the flow, take the pictures that please me and then play with them at will after the fact.
.... Who knew that Elena's string dress would make a rather fantastic abstract?
And I guess that's the point. Superficially you are attending a model shoot and can take pictures of what you see and not do too much with them.... OR........ you can let your mind wander and explore the possibilities of what your eye HAS seen....... and take it from there .........
Not every interpretation of a photograph has to be literal.....
(And yes, just in case you wondered, there are only the PG images here on the blog. I am working on a series that will be posted on my main website for those who are interested.)