The nude photographer is usually thought to be a male photographer. This is due to the fact that both scientific development and artistic work are generally considered to be masculine pursuits… although this fact has changed during the last few decades.
I believe that a woman standing behind the camera offers a slightly different vision, whether we speak about the artistic nude, the erotic or the pornographic photography. A woman has a different kind of innate sensibility, a keener attention for details, a way of seeing things as stories. In the end, the resulting images are no different from their essence, maybe only in appearance. They are not better or worse than those of a man. They’re just different sometimes.
I was always attracted to photography because it provides the physical means to create ideas. Definitely the biggest influence of my work came from the „classics” of nude photography. There are two opposite directions here: the nudity in the photography and the nude photography. Big part of contemporary photography presents nudity as any other element, without any formal or stylistic accent, and it generally is only a component of some bigger aesthetic project. I want to continue studying the technical side, since the understanding of a large range of photographic processes leads to an extended visual vocabulary and placing oneself in a better position in order to control the result. But I also intend to further explore the nude as a subject, to give into the challenge and progress in representing the female body. Natural light is abundant all throughout my work, partly because I enjoy the way the film relates to it. I only use artificial light when natural light is insufficient or when the project requires a different type of light, raw or with special effects.
I’ve been told more than once that my work suggests a woman behind it. This is mainly the case with nude portraits, self portraits, suggested nudes, erotic pictures, those which are aesthetically beautiful, where the model is placed in the ideal setting to show her beauty and her story. In this types of nude pictures, women photographers may have an advantage, because the model feels more at ease with the shooting process. What I look for in nude portraits, intimate or erotic pictures are natural, expressive women, regardless of the category they fall in, ‘fat’ and ‘slim’ categories are socially determined, along with the details of perfection and beauty.
On the contrary, with other types of nude photography, the model’s role in creating the shot is diminished, especially in the abstract, conceptual, sculptural pictures, in nature-embedded nudes. It’s true that conceptual, abstract photography require a model that fits the concept, therefore I look for a certain type of model based on the project that I have in mind. Here, the photographer’s vision is king, so the differences between women and male photographers are probably only perceivable in their approach of the theme.
I am attracted to both big nude photography categories, I try to approach them both, the first one due to the fact that it allows me to explore personalities and interact with people – and this is always a challenge; the other category because it requires an uninterrupted evolution, a deep study of the arts – so it’s another type of challenge.
One of the difficulties of the nude in art is the fact that instincts cannot stay hidden, they are not easily sublimed. Nevertheless, the amount of erotic content that a work of art can withhold is large enough, so the nude risks showing too much sex – too much for a work of art, that is. A successful representation of a nude implies controlling this risk.
Voyeurism is essential for nude photography, as Helmut Newton said. But unless a large dose of artistic interest remains, the boundaries between art and pornography will be violated. Art is the transition from reality (the naked body) to the ideal (the nude). This is why the nude is the perfect object for art, the most complete example of transforming matter into shape. [Official Website]
2 comments
Janssens serge
Feb 15, 2014 at 15:18
La reflection a la vue de ces photographies et qui n’engage que moi . Est celle -ci “” Nous allons vers une société qui se renferme de plus en plus sur elle même et ne trouvera plus de sens à sa vie ,si le mot vie garera son sens premier .triste avenir et comme disait Ferré “” tout fou le camp . je félicite Anca si même ce n’est pas a quoi elle pensait au moment de la création de ses images . Serge Janssens
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