Ashley S., Back Stairs

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Page created December 12, 2010
Sitting date:  May 29, 2010

 

A very rare serious moment.  Ashley & I have been working together for a while, and I think she's relaxing more.

I've often said that I prefer to work with experienced models, but there are pros & cons.  Among the "cons" -- experience models have seen it all before, and they tend to fall into their comfort zone.  They give you the poses that have made them successful in the past.  There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't want the noble-to-neutral expression on the face, or the arched back or the arms above the head poses.  I want natural gestures, and sometimes, these kind of poses are easier to get from the less experienced models.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen lots of pictures of smiling women, but somehow we think we can sense when the smile is genuine -- like it is here.  Ashley smiles so easily -- it's actually intoxicating.  She makes me feel like the funniest person in the world.

Sure, there are lots of photographers who revel in creating fantastic images with heavy photo editing, and tons of such images are wonderful.  But I am searching for the real -- to me, that's the real power of photography.

Did you know that the earliest piece of man-made art is over 25,000 years old?  Here it is...

Venus of Willendorf

Throughout history, the human figure has been the most dominant subject of all human art, and this little (fits in the palm of your hand) sculpture is the oldest ever artistic artifact.

 

 

 

There are a lot of things that are very interesting to me about that 25,000 year old sculpture.  

For one thing:  25,000 years!  That's over 12 times older than biblical times.  That's older than cave paintings.  Heck, that's older than "civilization" -- human beings were hunter-gatherers 25,000 ago (hence an artifact that can be carried around).

Another thing is that the human figure is not realistic -- it is interpreted.  By today's standards, the figure is fat, with pendulous breasts, high butt, exaggerated genitalia, and so forth.  Further the "unimportant" stuff, like arms & face, are deemphasized.  The theory -- in a hunter-gather society, a fat woman would represent riches and perhaps a sexual ideal.

But the point is that throughout history, the figure has been warped to accommodate some societal ideal.  For example, the noble Greek sculptures of men -- their legs were too long, their elder heads were on teenagers' bodies, the muscles were exaggerated with too deep clefts.

Photography changed all that.  With a normal image, you can't change the model's proportions.  Or is that true?  I can make a model's legs seem longer with the careful placement of a wide angle lens; conversely, I can make a model's legs seem short & stubby the same way.

But I tend to pursue the real, because for me, the "realer" the more "ideal". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that stuff (the history of the figure in art) is fascinating to me.  And it's not just the figure -- an early adopter of every new art form is erotic arts.

Ashley is daring & fun.  

The image below is my favorite image that we made together.

 

 

 

 

This is the image Ashley chose as her avatar for her on-line modeling portfolio. 

 

 

 

 

We started slow, but by the end, Ashley & I had a boatload of fun.  She is absolutely charming.  Since our session together, she's posed for a few more photographers, but I'm not sure whether she is still modeling.  I hope she is. 

 

 

(Remember -- feedback is always appreciated) 

All images (c) 2010 Looknsee Photography

Ashley S., First Visit Out Takes

Roughly 90 more images from this sitting are available in the Out Takes Galleries, which are available to those who have made a donation to the upkeep of this web site.  See this FAQ question for more details.