I know I’m going to upset a lot of people with this one, not that I care! It seems to me that many relative newcomers to photography (and many who should know better) appear to be drawn towards seriously cheesy ‘bums and tits’ glamour photography. I have no idea why. Photography can be so much more. You owe it to yourself to explore its real potential rather than spend your time taking pictures of pretty (and often not so pretty) girls wearing little else apart from a smile and some sexy lingerie, draped over your motorbike. Bums and tits stuff is so sixties and seventies, the world has moved on. Do you really want to be seen as a sleaze ball?
Leaving the obvious feminist issues, and any discussions about the representation of women in the media aside – I personally find the genre just rather pathetic!
If you’re still pondering a photographic future of Page 3 style cheap titillation / soft porn here’s a couple of other things you should consider before embarking on this path;
- It is highly unlikely you’re going to get yourself at hot girlfriend as a result
- Just because you have a camera between you and the ‘babe in underwear’ you are still a spotty nerd (see 1)
- Just because you have a camera between you and the ‘babe in underwear’ you are still a sleazy middle aged letch (see 1)
- Don’t think you can get around the hiring a model thing and use your wife or girlfriend. Sooner or later someone is going to point out to you that she is not the fine looking specimen you (or she) thought she is – big trouble for you
- Soliciting friends or daughters of friends as models could be considered to be an activity along the lines of grooming
- Photographing semi-naked women will not get you laid (see 1, 2 and 3)
I’m no prude. There are a million and one things you can do photographically with beautiful women. Portraiture, fashion, nudes… Take a look at Edward Weston’s nude used as an illustration on this page. Challenge yourself to do something as breathtaking as this rather than add to the constant stream of cheap, tasteless, pseudo soft porn photos that infect our world on a daily basis!
