Nude

[George Kara]

This thread should be renamed to the "beautiful naked women thread." The depth in exploring the nude here is very thin. Why no old people? Why no fat people, why no sagging skin? Why no flaws, why no dying? Why so few men? Why no human condition? Why no self portraits! This thread is primarily a bunch of older men ogling beautiful young women. Putting little masks on, little props and messing with the image doesn't change the reality.

If I remember correctly Ash posted some great images of a fat guy covered in tats with a penis distorted by a bunch of rings. Now that was a refreshing change.

Don't you find women beautiful in their sixties? Isn't it interesting to see how natural breasts sag and change from age and life? What do you feel about men well past their prime, their muscles in atrophy and the ideal of masculine strength a distant memory.

I shoot LF for art reproduction and not much else so my range is limited. My interest in the nude as image however is the essence of my work as a painter. It is frustrating and mind numbing to see so many of you photographers at the height of technical accomplishment, with so very little thought put into a personal vision of this world we miraculously find ourselves in.

Respectfully gentlemen, you have all the skills in the world. Go out and shoot some great lasting work and stop with the cliches already.

I have great faith that many of you can find a vision that will be timeless, full of meaning and as individual as each one of you are.

Warm regards and respect.

George

[Asher Kelman]

This thread should be renamed to the "beautiful naked women thread." The depth in exploring the nude here is very thin.

George,

Like Sunsets, pictures of beautiful women are often attractive. Also, photographing either is a challenge. One has to ride above the superficial. So yes, it's an effort unlikely to yield results far above the millions of pictures of that genre.But ask yourself why do we even try to photograph sunsets? Simple. We are trying to take home with us the seductive magic. Same with the image of a comely nubile woman.

Now, perhaps, we can answer your next question!

Why no old people? Why no fat people, why no sagging skin?

Well let's look at your art here Your picture succeeds on several levels, but mostly as a political satire. In it, we appreciate your creative use of the nude, with all flaws and you have done a great job for us. We get a great experience! However, little of that is the magic or beauty we see in the sunset or young nude.

Why no flaws, why no dying? Why so few men? Why no human condition? Why no self portraits! This thread is primarily a bunch of older men ogling beautiful young women. Putting little masks on, little props and messing with the image doesn't change the reality.

You could ask of sunset photographers, "Why no empty skies", "Why no dust storms?" Well sunsets are motifs associated with romance and magic moments. Same with nudes men choose to photograph. Likely as not, women and homosexual males might choose young nude men for their fantasies and photographic art.

Don't you find women beautiful in their sixties? Isn't it interesting to see how natural breasts sag and change from age and life? What do you feel about men well past their prime, their muscles in atrophy and the ideal of masculine strength a distant memory.

George, it's far harder to do well as the subjects are not as fair on the eye unless we are more philosophical. Having said that, yes, we should broaden our horizons. With portraits, we already shoot pictures of the elderly for character. Extending that to whole body nudes is, indeed, a worthy task you give us. It's a matter of grabbing more reality than fantasy and stopping fighting against our inevitable demise, that's all.

Asher

[Jim Jones]

This thread is blessed with photographs that are often clever or demonstrate fine use of new and old technology. This seems to be rare on the internet.

[mdm]

At the end of the day, one may as well enjoy them for what they are. Its fun to stir the pot but this one has been stirred enough now. Meat and potatoes or 5 Michelin stars, its all food in the end.

[SamReeves]

Moar boobs, less talk plz.

[Jay DeFehr]

George,

Why is an old, fat man a more valid photographic subject than a young, thin woman? Deviation for it's own sake is meaningless. If you have something to say best said by the portrayal of a wrinkled, hairy old man, then by all means, find yourself a subject, or use yourself as your subject, and post an example for us, and preferably one that is not a painting. Otherwise, your objection to one of the classic themes of the visual arts is naive, and your insults and insinuations of moral superiority are just tedious.

[jp]

I don't think complaining about the variety of styles of nudity here is going to change much. I don't think you can force people do to something different for your reason. (unless you were paying them thousands of dollars)

People are going to shoot what they want and perhaps share some of it on here if they want. Personally I think having a common denominator (which you don't like), in this case attractive women on B&W film, will cause the combination of skill improvement and image variety that photographers are looking for. People who like the subject matter will be encouraged to "up their game" and do better at it to have something nice to share here. Solidly iconoclast people who like the subject matter but want to do something different (rebel or be repelled to do something else) also have a forum to contribute to image variety with color fujiroids instead of B&W, or photos of men or more mature women if they want.

[Ari]

More boobs, less talk plz.

Finally, the voice of reason!
Is there a way to block posts on this thread that contain more than 20 words?

[George Kara]

Great and thoughtful comments on the consideration of the nude in photography.

[Michael E]

People who like the subject matter will be encouraged to "up their game" and do better at it to have something nice to share here.

The way I see it, Georges thoughts help people to "up their game". Because, after the basic technical practice is over, repetion without introspection won't improve anybody's work. George is not trying to force anyone to photograph ugly people, he is questioning the self-imposed limitation of vision.

Michael