Nude Means Completely Starkers

Like most folks I like to spend the weekend relaxing at home, maybe doing a bit of writing and reading, catching up on the photography blogs. But last weekend, as Rich was so bogged down in work I thought I’d help out by doing what I do best. No, not sex……..organising. I thought I’d spend a few minutes organising the next four shoots.

Big, BIG mistake.

I approached several beautiful models on a UK modelling site whose internet modelling profiles looked great, and with whom Rich and I have wanted to work for ages. However what started as an innocent “we’d love to organise an art-nude shoot with you” evolved into a marathon email bender lasting all weekend.

Normally I am most excellent at organising shoots. I pride myself on being friendly and professional, and I normally have no problem booking shoots with models, all of whom (up until last weekend) have been delighted to work with us. I provide plenty of references and normally have no problems concluding a booking swiftly and efficiently.

The models concerned were eager to work with us and thought Richard’s work was stunning and beautiful. They all wanted to be paid (I had no problem with agreeing their rates and travelling) and they all wanted images for their ports. Again, no problem. I explained that we always let models have some images for their ports even though we only do fully paid shoots, not TFP or part-paid (as fully paid shoots are less hassle….Ha!)

So far so good. However the writing on the tin did not equal what was inside the tin.

Three out of four of the models, although their profiles stated art-nude, it turned out they didn’t really want to shoot art nude, but implied nude or even just topless. And those that said they would do art-nude said that they didn’t want full frontal shots. One said she didn’t even want to face towards the camera! All four eventually decided they were happy to be shot nude “at an angle”.
Despite my promise that we didn’t do open leg shots and that it was all very tastefully done, the models wanted detailed breakdowns of the poses involved, and two wanted reassurances that they could bring chaperones who would be present during the shoot.

I really sympathise with models’ concerns as a whole, but I guess I’ve been spoilt in the past, because the models we have shot with so far have been professional, confident and willing to put their trust in the absolute integrity of the photographer. They have all thought art-nude was exactly that: NUDE i.e. No clothes, nothing. Completely starkers.

Mind you up until now, our models have been sourced from MM on the whole, so maybe that’s the difference ? Not to disparage the UK modelling site in question, but the bad experiences have outweighed the good ones thus far.

Anyway in the end it was all for nothing. Two days solid emailing and no shoots to show for it. And I ended up really, really stressed and shouting at the family.
After all that effort for ‘nowt, methinks I’m going to take the budget allocated for the models and blow the lot on latex. Gotta be more fun!

Here is a fabulous image of a true professional, the lovely and aptly named Cheeky Lee. As she is not completely starkers (but as near as dammit), would this count as “implied nude at an angle” I wonder ?