thoughts on older models posing nude?

[stradibarrius]

I am curious how "older", for lack of a better word, would be willing to pose nude. I think that we are missing much of the wonderful fine art nude work that can be made with an older model. Our culture has placed a premium on youthful beauty are are overlooking the beauty of the mature. IMO so much of the beauty of a fine art nude comes through from the attitude of the model. An older woman can exude confidence and elegant beauty with her body and the photographer should work with her to capture that beauty and attitude in a photograph.

I am interested in your opinions....

[bruce501]

Interesting thought.
I have seen photographs of mature subjects and have been struck by how the character of face is often reflected in the character of the body, if that makes sense.
Best

[matthew blais]

I think it's Joyce Tenneson that has done some nice work with more mature ladies...
I've shot a few but appreciate a woman who has no inhibitions and complacent, confident with herself regardless of age.

[KOG]

I'm not sure how you define "fine art nude", but if you portray the positive aspects of the model, then I think your images will be successful. However, convincing an "older" subject to pose will probably be the most difficult part of your endeavors. Perhaps using an approach like Alfred Cheney Johnston might reduce their fears and contribute to your success.

Kevin

[Jody_S]

I've always wanted to try, but I have no idea how to ask someone to pose. I need to spend more time hanging out at galleries and such, sipping wine and chatting with wealthy patrons.

[Andrew]

I'm all for it... there's no reason why we shouldn't have fantastic images of people who aren't particularly young or even classically beautiful.

I'm gonna stoke this fire by saying there's far too many "fine art nude" images that are actually very poor images, that aren't art, and which try to justify themselves by showing off a pair of pert young beasts or other body parts... attached to some poor model who's been contorted into a most unnatural pose that has to be even more uncomfortable for the model than it is for me to look at the image.

take an older model with a few wrinkles and saggy bits and the quality of the image will have to dominate to make it palatable to the average punter. That should only be a good thing and hopefully push up the average quality of the work.
.

[BrianShaw]

Sure, why not?

[Peter Lewin]

While I agree with the general sentiments posted, I'm also reminded of the vast number of people who read Playboy "for the articles." If I think of the genuinely famous photographers who have shot nudes, starting with Edward Weston (the first who came to mind) they did not chose to photograph older nudes. Neither did Jock Sturges, Sally Mann (although I've never seen nudes of hers that weren't her children or herself), or Bruce Davidson who had a couple of nudes in "East 100 Street." Without doing research those are the large format photographers that I'm aware of who did nudes. Perhaps rather than making this a statement, I'll make it a question: which "gallery level" photographers have shot older models nude and exhibited the work? We don't even have to restrict it to large format.

[BrianShaw]

Sturges, for one. While his work with younger models are greater in quantity and seem to be remembered more) his work with adults I think are often better.

[Maris Rusis]

John Coplans is a salient example; self portraits no less.

[Jody_S]

I'll make it a question: which "gallery level" photographers have shot older models nude and exhibited the work? We don't even have to restrict it to large format.

Does Leonard Nimoy count? ;)

[benrains]

Sally Mann has. In the documentary about her life and work, "What Remains", there's a portion of it where she discusses photographing she and her husband as they grow older. I don't know if she's exhibited any of the work, but I seem to recall seeing a few images from it being published in recent years. Donigan Cumming's "Pretty Ribbons" is an excellent example (and the elderly woman he photographs in it, Nettie Harris, is the namesake for another, probably better known, contemporary model of the same name.)

[Andrew]

one thing that I'm thinking of was Sally Mann's "Proud Fleash" that featured her husband posed nude
"what remains" is taking it a stage further than I'd persoanlly accept as portraiture
.

[Peter Lewin]

I would suggest that both Mr. Coplains and Ms. Mann aren't good examples for this thread, since their "nudes of older models" are very idiosyncratic: Coplains are all images of himself, and Mann's are still her immediate family. While Nicholas Nixon's series of his sisters aren't nudes, they would fit in this category of "specific projects" (his immediate family) rather than the general (nudes as a subject, rather than family members as a study). I will have to check my two Sturges monographs, but my memory is that any older models are parents of his younger models in family groups, not studies of individual nudes (although my memory could be faulty). The only photographers I can think of who really fit are Joyce Tenneson, and Leonard Nimoy who specifically have done bodies of work with older models.

[hoffy]

How about Greg Friedler? (mind you, the older people he has photographed tend to be male).

[RPippin]

88691My meager beginnings of a series on older women. Not fully nude, but full of character and provocation. Shot on kodak 2D, 8X10 on Foma 100 developed in PMK Pyro.

[Scott Davis]

I know that here in Washington DC there is a Figure Models Guild that serves as a support organization for professional figure models (including photo models but mostly painting/drawing/sculpture models). Their membership runs the gamut of age, including some 70+ year old models both male and female. I don't know if there is a similar organization in your area, but I'd try and find out if one exists near you, as they would be a great resource for working with "non-traditional" models.

[stradibarrius]

I like this shot. She has an attitude that is daring.[QUOTE=RPippin;986616]88691My meager beginnings of a series on older women. Not fully nude, but full of character and provocation. Shot on kodak 2D, 8X10 on Foma 100 developed in PMK Pyro.[/

[Michael Wynd]

Every nude I've shot has been over 49. The only male nude I've done was aged 63. I don't like shooting young nudes, they have no character.

[life_in_sepia]

I am curious how "older", for lack of a better word, would be willing to pose nude. I think that we are missing much of the wonderful fine art nude work that can be made with an older model. Our culture has placed a premium on youthful beauty are are overlooking the beauty of the mature. IMO so much of the beauty of a fine art nude comes through from the attitude of the model. An older woman can exude confidence and elegant beauty with her body and the photographer should work with her to capture that beauty and attitude in a photograph.

I am interested in your opinions....

I'm going to take issue with what seems to be your underlying premise. While I'm not an anthropologist or cultural historian, based on what I've seen and read I don't think "our culture" is much different than has been every other culture in its aesthetic heirarchy of the youthful female nude to the aged female nude. So, while there may be artistic aberrations in this culture today and in other cultures today and yesteryear, it seems part of the (male?) human psyche to aesthetically favor the youthful female nude over the aged one. That's my hypothosis/opinion anyway :) And being somewhat of a Darwinian in my views, it probably has to do with a propesity to seek a fertile mate for procreation. That doesn't mean that I disagree with your stated opinion or encouragement to others to shoot older female nudes, but I see nothing wrong or abnormal in a favortism towards shooting youthful female nudes.

[stradibarrius]

Ed, I am full agreement with you...I am just saying that I think there is still a lot of beauty to capture in older women. I do think that as we get older as men older women become more attractive...

[invisibleflash]

I like older nudes. Don't see that many, they are different.

[cgrab]

Although Mona Kuhn's pictures are mostly of people in her own age group, there is also this: http://www.pixelcreation.fr/nc/galerie/voir/mona_kuhn/mona_kuhn/portrait_4_mona_kuhn/

[life_in_sepia]

^^^ the Mona Kuhn shot is a great example. I find it interesting that she labeled it as a portrait. I also would say this image falls more into the portrait genre than into the nude one. I think portraits say more about the person's character and nudes say more about abstract concepts of beauty. I have posted images in the "nude" thread that weren't nudes per se, but rather fall into my own conception of what is a nude picture. I think the Kuhn image is the inverse for portrait/nude.

[Michael Graves]

...the vast number of people who read Playboy "for the articles."...

Playboy has articles?

Personally I agree with the poster who said that far too many "fine art nudes" are grotesquely posed and artificial attempts to present T&A in a different approach. Nudes of older men and women, tastefully handled, should be as palatable as nudes of those in their prime. Good ones will probably be just as rare.

[Vaughn]

Good point, Michael. Most nude images of older models in a sort of a "recapturing one's youth' sort of pose (such as the classical pin-up poses) strike me as a bit vain and strained.

[Leonard Metcalf]

My main model is a sixty plus male... Works every time.. Just go for it...