Reviewing my Photography in 2010: Art Nude and Fetish

It came out of nowhere!

I tell a lie: I know exactly where it came from. It started with 2009's New Year Resolution to improve my self-esteem, went via the gym on my bicycle, involved a wonderful lady reminding me to take the brown paper bag off my head, and ended up in a catsuit. From there a photoshoot turned "boudoir" but without the right skills or photography vocabulary to express what I saw. And then I saw the advert...

The advert was for an art nude and boudoir course and figured I'd put my name and money down for it. At first I hadn't appreciated that this was a course aimed at professional photographers, and so I had to get good fast!

NB: most photographs here are marked "Moderate" or "Restricted". You probably need to be a Flickr member to see them, and set your preferences appropriately at www.flickr.com/account/prefs/safesearch/?from=privacy.

Jul 26
I've wanted to own a latex catsuit since around the age of 18. I was skinny enough to look good in one as a late-teenager, and only recently lost the weight and began to regain to the body shape and tone to be able to wear one. Self-timer, no flash, poor background... so many problems! I made do as best I could with the lighting I had. At least I appreciated it had to be diffused! Jul 27
Oct 12
Days before the big course and I've realised what I'm up against. I buy a SpeedLite 580ex II and a reflector and hope to start practicing. But with absolutely no clue, it wouldn't be fair to ask someone to model... so I set about it on my own! I'm quite fed up of the sexist "male gaze" of nude and fetish photography: women clearly identifiable but men blurring their faces or cropping them out of pictures. And I had quite a rant about the "male gaze" which has inspired future photographic ideas... Oct 12
Oct 12
Probably my favourite shot out of my pre-course practice (I didn't want to do too much lest I learn "bad habits"). The collar-bone and hands make this one work for me. What I learned (in addition to starting to get an appreciation for "high key"): don't always do what other people are doing. Oct 19
Oct 19
What I learned from this picture: describe what look you're going for to a talented model so they can help you. One of my favourite nude self-portraits (taken for practice). Here I'm starting to get to grips with using reflectors better. Oct 23
Nov 28
It's amazing what you can do in your living room with a couple of SpeedLites, reflectors and a diffuser. Silhouettes are cool, but use more flash power next time. Nov 28
Dec 22
Vintage lenses can lend a gorgeous tone. I love this for how the modified Ross lens turns the texture of my hair into something like ink being dripped into water.