From time to time I shoot models. Mostly I shoot nudes.
My shooting of nudes has been interesting because although I shoot lots of stuff only about 5% of my work is nude photography. Nonetheless , it seems to be something I am known for. Even in the recent B&W challenge - a nude is spotted and the viewer wonders if it is me.
I don't mind, there aren't many DPC photographers who shoot nudes and truth be told my nude images do better than my other work; not just at DPC - on 1x.com acceptance for publication runs at about 20:1 for my nude versus non-nude work.
Thus, it has become a bit of a self-fulfilling phenomenon - I started off at an arranged workshop, came 4th in Best of Year 2010 and 'found' something I appeared to be 'good' at (if audience feedback is any measure of it).
Some people, through the occasional comment, assume that this sort of photography is a bit of a wheeze - that it's about the nudity rather than the photography. I can see how there might be that perception but in many ways my nude work is the most technically challenging. I almost always work with a wide open aperture and often fill the frame with my subjects - I'm often working with razor thin depth of fields - I love to work with blur. I also often work with natural light meaning that my exposures are subject to the moving of the clouds and the pattern of light (on a sunny day) can really stress the dynamic range of my files.
Throw the model into the mix, their tendency to elongate their extremities and one needs to take great care to not clip a toe or an elbow on those fill-the-frame compositions. The sets are dynamic and emergent with adjacent frames often looking completely different from one another. I think it is this mix of dynamism, technical challenge and strong audience response that makes it a satisfying genre to shoot.
That dynamism and those technical challenges mean that sometimes I miss focus - I've had some pleasing results with such blur - enough for me to want to deliberately introduce it from time to time. So here, I offer a set of blurry model shots, of which many are nude (so proceed with caution if you are likely to be offended - though mostly the blurriness contributes to model modesty).
These are some shots that I enjoy (I believe there is one (and a half) that has previously been entered in a challenge) - but other than that, these are new edits - made for this photo essay. They vary in style, in processing and in the way that blur was produced but all of the blur, in every single shot, was created in camera. No blur has been added as part of post-production.
In summary then, these are cherry-picked blurs from my model sets - with a little time spent trying to edit them in a way that suits the image. You can toggle through the images by clicking the next image at the top left of the screen.
Nudes. Different experience, getting the shot vs viewing the result. Like everything else with photography it's all about the light. Most of the time, the results don't transcend the cliche. Perhaps your success with your audience comes from transcending the nude cliche? My favorite in this photo essay is Trauma. I like her attitude, the bandage worn like an accessory, the nudity is part of her attitude (not a lack of clothing). She's a dancer. You caught her as she went by, dancing.
For me it's more about the form, and the capture of extremities is vital to the emotion. Look up Wally Murch's big six, emotion, story, rhythm, eye trace 2 dimensional plane of screen, 3 dimensional space of action. It's the embodiment of the nameless but familiar emotion.
Ah Paul, what a pleasure to peruse through your essay!
My delight is triggered by other aspects that people find looking at nudes! See how many viewers you had and no comments? Write the word 'nude" and peekers abound! But alas, you wrote also "blur" and it cuts the enthusiasm. Well, I'm just joking of course.
You might have title the essay "feelings and commotions"â€Â¦ it might have worked with me as well since only on second look I realize that you dealt with models and nudes. You touched a very deep cord and found on occasion some comic and tender moments also.
The essay started with a bang; the first three images give the viewer a big blow in the chest and scream: look at me, look at me, this is life and then comes "Laura" and we get a little chillâ€Â¦.
Beautiful work - not a single image is gratuitous and this qualification when applied to a topic like "nudes" especially is what to strive for.
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