Mysterious boudoir, then and now (NSFW)

While creating this new version of my website, I started looking through old photoshoots. The last nude set I did was in 2012 and it was interesting to see my selection and editing then vs. what I would do now. In 2012, I picked the most sexualized photos in the shoot even though the model’s intent was not to create “sexual” photos in the pornographic way but to find something more personal and sensual. Oddly enough, I didn’t select anything with what most would consider actual nudity.

In many of the photos, the model posed in “gym” poses, as if she were working out or performing yoga or workouts. Originally, I deemed many of the photos too masculine for what I wanted. What I wanted… instead of what the model presented me with. So I forced the editing of the images into a smaller group of images that achieved my vision instead of letting the situation and the person dictate the story.

And of course, naturally, I edited the image using soft masking to blur the skin and soften textures. And did my best to hide the cheap background I set up and the poor lighting that I didn’t understand.

Now, I wouldn’t do any of that. So I briefly re-edited them to show the difference between what I would do then and now.

Truth be told, I like them both for different reasons. But I wouldn’t have smoothed the skin so much and now I realize that playing into stereotypes of body image (through selection) just makes me feel cheap as a photographer.

 

Original set of 10

 

New set of 12