Just an update to my progress of creating a space for nude photography. I’m almost done with this little area that has a sink and mirror. I suppose it’s a kind of dressing room. There are a lot of weird things about my apartment and this little area is one of them. On the other side of the wall is the actual bathroom. For whatever reason, this room and the bathroom aren’t connected. There’s a wall in between. Weird. But that’s how it is, and it lends itself to being the perfect dressing room adjoined to an ad hoc photo studio.
I’m not too motivated to do much of anything, these days, except take pictures of things I like. This nude photography project helps me stay engaged and forward looking. In a way, it’s like starting a garden. Gardens get you out of the house, in the sun, and active. That’s how I view this project. And I also see it as a way to improve my interviewing and writing skills, and obviously my photography. I once heard that to do really cool things, you have to work at it every day. Like if you wanted to write a book, you can’t just write a few paragraphs one week and then pick back up where you left off in another few weeks. No…you have to work at it every single day. That’s what I’m doing with this project. One little thing every day to help me get to my goal of photographing nudes. There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s a simple way to put it.
This project is definitely bold and gutsy. I have always wondered why more people don’t try this genre of photography. I think one factor is opportunity. You have to have the time and space to do it. Somewhere safe and organized. Another reason is probably the stigma related to nude photography. Even boudoir photography takes a lot of planning and preparation, and the work one must do to get models is pretty insane. But I think that when you put one foot in front of the other, and you don’t give up, and you’re eager to learn from your mistakes, then you’ll get there. And that’s where I’m at with this project.
The next thing I need to do is start working on storyboards. Those are snippets of images I’d like to reproduce. Sort of like a set of poses that are interesting enough to replicate. If you go in to a photoshoot without a plan, it’s not going to work out so well for anyone. So you need a plan. That’s what a storyboard is. In the past I’d always used a stack of images I printed off from past photoshoots. This time I’m going to make a sort of digital book. I need to get a pretty big monitor in this studio so that models can see the photos we are taking as we go, and also to show various poses to replicate. There’s nothing new under the sun, they say, but something is new when you do it for the first time.
The photos I use for this post and all other posts on this site were taken by me, including the one above which was taken about 10 minutes ago. Last night I connected this site with Google and Bing, so that their search engines could fine our work better. I say our because I can’t make this kind of art alone. I need you, the pubic, and you, the models. It’s an artistic synergy. Is it bold, audacious, and fearless? Absolutely. And that’s why I’m going to do it. The news is full of bad images…I want to create something good.