By Heinz Richter
Historically, the human
form has fascinated artists probably more than any other subject. Therefore it
should come as no surprise that the same fascination has extended to
photography as well. I am no exception
in this regard, as a matter of fact, I just received an email that stated:
"… In addition, this man is very impressed by your
studio photographs of women.
He says that it is amazing how with a minimalist and
very classic approach, without complex lights, you are able to draw the beauty
essence and the most significant personality traits of these women in black and
white, and he also says something that I also said to you some months ago: it
is not easy to get the confidence of so pretty women.
As a matter of fact, he states that your black and
white pictures of women are one of the main highlights of Barnack Berek Blog.”
I have been contemplating
about a book with the best of my nude work and this email convinced me that
maybe it is time to begin work on that.
Therefore I consider this article as one of the first steps to this
goal.
While photography has
generally been accepted as a valid art form, photography of the nude to this
day is struggling with that recognition.
In the view of many, it is still looked upon as sleazy and
objectionable, even harmful. No such
objections exist when it comes to paintings and sculptures. People regularly visit art galleries. No objections are generally voiced to see
nude art there. Public spaces often
display nude sculptures, no objections there either. Yet nude photographic art is still widely
rejected. Why?
I must emphasize that the
key word here is art. Many of the great
photographers have produced fine art nudes like Alfred Stieglitz, Edward
Steichen, Edward Weston, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus, Annie Leibovitz,…,
just to mention a few. Of course, just as with other art forms, some
like Robert Mapplethorpe or Jeff Koonz, for instance, have pushed the envelope
by producing images that are questionable to some, but such work should not be
generalized and held against other serious photographers.
I often discuss this with
my sister who is a successful professional photographer in Germany. She is often in disbelief of how much more
restricted photography of this type is in the US. Before retiring, she had three different
display windows for her work at her studio, one of which was usually dedicated
to fine art nude photography. That is
simply unthinkable in the US.
That brings up the
question of what constitutes fine art nude photography. During my 13 years of teaching photography
that question regularly came up during class discussions. Of course the definition of art in general is
in the eye of the beholder. There are no
clear cut instructions to be had.
When it comes to fine art
nude photography, it is quite easy to take a photograph of a person without any
clothes. That, however, is not art and
should not be attempted to be presented as such. Instead the emphasis should not be so much on
nudity but on shape, form, lighting, design and composition.
That adds a considerable
amount of difficulty which is further emphasized that in most cases, a similar
approach with similar results most likely has been done before.
In an interview, Kim
Weston, grandson of Edward Weston, when asked about his photography in
comparison to that of his grandfather, said that he generally does not think
about him. He went on to say whatever
kind of photograph he might attempt, “Edward has done it.” He virtually cannot photograph anything
without the constant reminder that Edward has done it.
The best approach in my
opinion is to carefully plan a fine art nude photography session and then
proceed without too much attention to the work of other photographers. Then careful selection of only the best
examples with a healthy dose of self-criticism should give the assurance that
the shoot was successful. And don’t
forget, the old adage of practice makes perfect still applies.
Keep in mind that a nude
photograph does not necessarily have to show a nude figure. There are also implied nudes where a model is
shown only with the implication of being nude.
Upon close inspection, I
have found that many of my nude photographs render almost totally different results
when cropped to an implied nude. This is
simply another approach to make any photography session as successful as
possible.
Posing and lighting of the
model is very important. For that reason
it is advisable to work with experienced models that are able to strike a great
variety of poses and do it accurately. I found that it definitely helps for a
model to see a sample of what pose I am looking for. For that reason I always have a number of
sample images handy during a shoot.
I have worked with most of
the models shown here on several occasions, with some of them even for several
years. That has created a very good
working relationship which is also very helpful for this kind of work.
Finally, there is the choice of color or black and white. For this type of work, I personally much prefer black and white. I feel it draws the viewer much more to the shape, form and lighting. Colors can easily become distracting.
Regardless of what
approach one chooses to take with these types of photography, none of it will
come easy. Especially for a novice there
is a lot to learn and master. As I said,
the adage of ‘practice makes perfect’ definitely applies.
All photographs taken with Leica cameras and lenses.
For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
_______________________________________________________________________
For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
_______________________________________________________________________
Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment