Bullshitting for money

I’m about to test my new-found ability to write, as I have been given the joyous task of re-writing our day-job web site. Rich (a very competent technical writer himself) is completely re-vamping the main web site, and wants a more “human” aspect to it. He wants it to “flow”, whatever that means.

It also has to look whizzy, and be full of catchy marketing-speak. It has to sell our next version of software, and thus put food on our table, pay our mortgage and the kids’ school fees, and of course, pay for all those gorgeous models whom Rich is intending to shoot for the rest of this year (New piccies in two weeks! At last! Hurrah!)

Your web site defines who you are. It IS the company. If folks don’t like the layout, the “look and feel” and the actual narrative (particularly on the front page) then people won’t even bother downloading the software, let alone buying it. I have to wow potential customers, lure them in, make them realise that this widget (sorry, I mean software) is exactly what their organisation needs to make them more efficient, dazzle them, persuade them to part with their hard-earned cash.

No pressure then.

In order to do this, Rich says I have to be “concise”.
Yikes!!!
I don’t do concise.
I do “waffle”. Indeed I am the queen of waffle. I have a background in law and accountancy…verbose is my middle name (well actually it’s Caroline, but that’s close enough). So in effect, I have to turn against and deny my very nature, in order to produce something remotely suitable. So I’m spending the next few days researching other companies’ groovy web sites, and then being inspired by (i.e. imitating) their literary art.

Rich says I have to make the customers feel “warm and fuzzy”.
I have many ideas about this. In particular, I still think we’ll make more money if we stick “free nude wallpaper” on the day-job web site, or provide nude backdrop “skins” to our client software on users’ computers. Tens of thousands of users would see our nude images. Bet that would make them feel warm and fuzzy.

No-one else has thought of this super-groovy idea. We’d knock out our competitors in one sweep. Of course, we might leave ourselves open to litigation from disgruntled bosses who find their employees drooling over nekkid chix instead of working, but it’s a gamble I’m willing to take. Unfortunately, for some reason, Rich does not think this is a good business idea. I think it is a stroke of marketing genius. We are arguing (sorry, I mean “discussing”) this and other rather batty concepts.

And of course I’ll be having a bash at “groovy marketing speak”. I do suck at marketing, so this is going to be something of a challenge. A growth experience. Expect lots of snappy marketing phrases to start appearing on the blog shortly. I will be at one with my inner marketing-guru.

So I’ll be blogging a bit less in the next few weeks, because all my creative juices (and let’s not go there) will be poured into producing the greatest work of art of all…..

Profit.



Kate, who definitely "flows"

The Weight Debate

Here in the UK, the furore over size zero models continues unabated. Pressure is building on fashion designers and model agencies to use larger women at shows and photographic shoots amid claims that images of skinny models are contributing to eating disorders.

In due course, the law will be changing too. A UK task force is being set up to discuss the introduction of moves to restrict the use of very thin models, and to limit the production of clothes which are designed to fit only women of that shape. Fashion industry personnel will be trained how to spot signs that models have eating disorders, and model agency staff and photographers would be required to learn how to detect physical and emotional symptoms of anorexia and bulimia, such as the model becoming very secretive about what she eats, undergoing fluctuations in her weight, seeing her hair turn dull and lifeless, and knowing the calorie contents of food but eating little.

The British Fashion Council is rebelling against this, and has refused to ban models whose body mass index is less than 18.5%. Alexandra Shulman (editor of Vogue) has pointed out that this would be discriminating against models, akin to saying you can’t shoot black or white models, and would probably lead to cases of litigation by models who would be banned from working under the new regulations. However, if the above proposals are introduced as law, the British Fashion industry will have very little say about the matter.

No-one is denying that anorexia and bulimia are terrible mental disorders, which are types of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. But to say that the fashion industry is causing these, because young girls aspire to be fashion models, is just finding a single scapegoat for an incredibly complex issue. These illnesses have many causes, and to blame it on clothes designers is just plain ignorant.

Fashion designers make clothes to one particular size because of cost. They need a uniform size, so that many models can wear the same garment at many different shows. Fashion shows and fashion photographs are there to show their clothes in the best possible light, and to make us dream of them and want to own them. They are selling a fantasy. The fact is that the majority of people do not look like this. The average dress size for a woman in the UK is a size 16, US size 18. Because of portrayal in the media, women equate success, power and beauty with being thin. The “If only I could lose weight, I would be happy because I’d look like that glamorous model” argument. Hence the hated of the fashion industry. Or so the argument goes.

But why blame those who make fantasies? Can’t you give women some credit for being able to tell the difference between fantasy and reality? Why does this have to lead to victimising thin women because of their shape?

In this age of ever-expanding waistlines and obesity, thin people are seen as abnormal, unhealthy freaks. Skinny models and thin women in general are being increasingly discriminated against, criticised and labelled unhealthy because they do not fit the social norm.

Whilst I was in hospital, I had at least ten comments from jealous hospital staff regarding my size. Samples include, from nurses, “You need to put on weight”, “I don’t suppose you want any dinner, you obviously don’t eat much”, “You could stand to gain a few pounds”, and finally, from a male doctor “I need to listen to your chest. Please take off all your clothes” (kind of complimentary, but I’m sure he wouldn’t have asked if I’d been a size 16!)

This prejudice made me pretty angry at the time, and I am still incandescent with rage two weeks later. Who the f*** are you to judge me by my appearance? What gives you the RIGHT to make snap judgements on me, and then to think it is O.K. to say so aloud? Since when has being so rude about thin women become socially acceptable?

Just because I am thin, doesn’t mean I starve myself, and it doesn’t mean I am unhealthy. If I had turned round to one of the nurses and said “You’re fat, you need to lose weight because you’re obviously eating too much”, I’d have been reported for insolence and chucked out of the hospital.

For the record, I am currently a UK size 8, which is a US size 4. In my life, I have been from one end of the weight spectrum to another, from a UK size 20 (when I was a tubby teenager) to a UK size 4-6 (US size 0) last year. I have always loved my food, I have never had an eating disorder, and I am healthier now than I have ever been. I don’t starve myself, contrary to what most people think, and I eat a lot more than Richard does (but only weigh half as much). My BMI is currently 18, which means I’d better beware of any aspirations to become a mature fashion model in the future.

In the world of nude modelling, and indeed in life generally, it seems perfectly obvious to me that all women are beautiful, regardless of their weight. All models are individuals who each have a unique inner beauty, no matter their size or shape. Believe me, I know. I am disabled, scarred, disfigured, saggy, scrawny, you name it, and photographers can make me look stunning, so I know what I am talking about when I say that weight is irrelevant in nude modelling.

For the fashion industry, this is not the case, of course, because models are effectively clothes horses, and have to be the same size. But for society to discriminate against all thin models is just plain stupid. And to solely blame the fashion industry for anorexia is equally so. What are we going to have next? Photographers wielding BMI callipers and scales to check a model’s weight before each photoshoot?

The important issue is not a model’s vital statistics, but her health, both physical and mental.

And to all those women who crave to be a size zero, do you have ANY IDEA just how hard it is to find everyday clothes that fit?




Lynx, in a more-glamour-than-fashiony pose. But we’re not very good at fashion yet.

Good post!

I don't often rave about other people's blogs, but Melvin Moten has written a beautiful post about photographing scars, along with some evocative and moving images.
If you haven't read it yet, I really recommend you take a peek.

Mmjr is one of only 4 or 5 photographers, in the ENTIRE world, who I would actually trust to photograph me well.

What can I say?

I'm really picky about my photographers :-)



Rich took this one of me, of course. Without scars showing. I still haven't had the guts to let him photograph them.
But Melvin has inspired me, so maybe soon...

Is it ok to take topless photographs of a 16 or 17 year old?

This subject came up in a photographic forum yesterday and there was a lot of discussion as to whether or not it was OK in English law. I thought the subject deserved making into a post.

My reply was:

"The purpose of the law in this respect is to intimidate people to stop them doing what the law makers want.

By not specifically prohibiting actions, but by prohibiting interpretation, it means that each individual case would have to be decided by a jury and this will incur huge expense to the photographer who makes the photographs.

It is effective.
Ask yourself if taking that photograph of a 16 or 17 year old is really worth time in court to try to prove a point. I doubt if any photographer would want that.

And remember, if you get arrested, the papers will make a front page splash in your local rag about how you have been arrested for taking indecent images of children. After they have finished you will probably have to move house. If you win the case, they won't report that you actually won. I've seen this happen numerous times in local newspapers.

Your life will be trashed.

So is it worth it? "

Readers in the US may find is surprising that this would come up, but the current raft of laws being introduced in this country are not based on defining what is right and wrong, but what a jury will convict on. Thus if the image is deemed provocative by a jury it is illegal. This will obviously vary on a case by case basis and so it is an effective ban on the whole thing. There were several contributors to the forum thread that didn't think that these laws were intended to intimidate, but were to protect children. However, if this were the case then the law should have defined what is permitted and what is not, rather than leaving it for a jury to decide.

"I can't tell you what provocative is, but I know it when I see it?"
Does this sound familiar? You've got to ask yourself this question:

"Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya, punk?



Lin, over 18 at the time of shooting, honest gov!

Lin, why do you look at pictures of naked women?

So sayeth my rather straight laced friend this week.
She has a good point. On the surface, I sure don’t seem the type to spend my spare time looking at women sans clothes. I am an upmarket, fast-track, career-hungry, power-driven, ambitious alpha business woman. More importantly, I am most definitely heterosexual. The neighbour stripped half-naked painting his fence yesterday did far more for my inner lust than looking at a pretty naked girl. Unfortunately there’s definitely no girl-girl fantasies lurking beneath my surface (Sorry to burst your bubble).

So why do I do it? Why do I like looking at pictures of nude women? And why would I want to have pictures of beautiful naked chix on my walls?

My friends and relatives think I do it because Rich is "into" it (as part of the mid-life crisis theory), and because I want to keep my marriage together. The “if you can’t beat ‘em, join em” argument. They think it is a way of controlling my husband.

Well, leaving aside my objections on so many different levels to this rather condescending analysis, I can say, hand on heart, that I look at this because a) it’s Art, b) it’s Art I can understand, and c) it’s fun. I appreciate the effort, patience and sheer talent that have gone into making an outstanding nude photograph. I understand it not only from a model’s point of view, but also because I also think the female form is a beautiful thing. Sensuous, curvy, natural, it communicates so much about the “essence of woman” herself and the photographer who took the shot.

This point is critical, and it’s the point that I can’t get across to my friends and family, because they just don’t understand it. No matter what I say, they just think I am making all this up, so I can sponge off Rich’s hobby and thus better control him.

The truth is that I am interested primarily in the psychology of Art. I look at nude images because I want to better understand people.

I am interested in the emotions and thoughts which went into making up the image in the first place. When a model takes off her clothes, she strips herself raw physically and to some extent emotionally, and lets down her psychological barriers, revealing the real person underneath, unhampered by clothes. I can thus better understand the balance between light and dark, and I don’t mean photographically, I am talking psychologically again.

Each person’s personality is made up of a mixture of positive and negative emotions. In general, the negative emotions (a.k.a. the dark side) are often way more interesting than the positive ones. In any given scenario, you can’t possibly understand or speculate on an issue unless you have understood its dark side. A darker lit, more emotionally charged image reveals more about the complexity of a photographer’s psyche than just a simple glamour-style snapshot of a happy pretty girl.

In a nude photograph, particularly a really good portrait nude, I seek to understand the forces and emotions that were in play when that image was taken. The photographer’s thoughts are just as important as the model's, probably more so.

And photographer’s personalities do fascinate me. I seek to understand the REASON WHY the image was made, and what it tells me about the photographer’s soul. I seek to understand what makes him tick. How does he think? What type of person is he? What has happened to him in the past which makes him want to take that particular shot with that particular lighting ? How do his emotions and past psychological scars reflect in his Art?

I do like to look at all pictures of beautiful nude women (and men, if only I could persuade Rich to shoot them), regardless of style, but if an image is just eye candy, I tend to lose interest after a while because I don’t find the Art interesting enough. In order to leave a lasting impression, Art must have depth and draw you in. Above all, I believe that Art should reflect the Truth. The warts and all of the personalities of both photographer and model, rather than just shooting superficial pap which will be pleasing to look at for the mass public.

Like a good black and white nude photograph, the quest for Truth in Art reflects both visual and psychological light and darkness, as well as varying shades of grey.

What you make of the Truth depends completely on your own subjective interpretation of course. But you have to admit, it’s interesting.



(Note to self: Stop being so bloody pretentious. Just because you don’t fancy pretty naked chix such as Lynx here doesn’t mean that it’s not Art. Eye candy may not hang in the National Portrait Gallery, but it makes money. Money = food. Food = good. Therefore eye candy = good. Therefore photographers who shoot eye candy = true to themselves, damn good artists and much wiser than you are)

Olfactory Photography

Photography relies very heavily on visual stimulation. It conveys a mood and, if it’s good, arouses emotion through the sense of Sight.

But visual stimulation can’t tell the whole story. James Graham once suggested (see History Lesson - Part II post) that he could better convey the message of his nude photographs by downloading a music track and listening to it whilst studying the image. I think this is a brilliant idea. The combination of two of the senses, Sight and Sound, would dramatically increase the chances of understanding what the artist is trying to convey. Music evokes a mood, and you can thus better understand what James was feeling when he took that photograph. You can really understand the “why” of the Art.

But wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could add a third sense – Smell?
To me, this is just as important as Sight. After all, when you are remembering a past event, particularly your childhood, you remember the visual image of course, but you remember the smell too.

Coming across an unexpected aroma can instantly transport you back to your favourite childhood memory. My father was a wholesale newsagent, and to this day, when I open a Sunday newspaper, the aroma of the paper, the newsprint, the ink, and the heavy china clay smell of the glossy Sunday supplement, will instantly transport me back to a snapshot vision of a Sunday morning, 4 a.m., working with him delivering newspapers to retailers, as dawn rose. Father and daughter time, just for us. I was so happy. The snapshot in my mind becomes a vivid memory because of the emotions generated by smell.

Everyone has their own personal scent. My middle son always smells of strawberries and cream. If I ever do smell real strawberries, I instantly conjure up a mental image of him, and he’s here with me. His personality is very strawberries and cream too....sweet, comforting, colourful, a visual feast.

Of course, it's not polite to talk about it, but smell is ever present in a shoot. After all, you judge a person's personality partially by how they smell. A photographer would remember a model by her looks, how she talks, her personality and her scent. Not that I make a habit of sniffing models, mind you (I’m not some weird pervy photography assistant, despite what you may think of me!) However I do tend to remember people by smell, as well as how they look. Maybe this is because I’m mostly deaf. Aroma has become much more important to me since I lost my hearing, although I only have 50% of my olfactory senses nowadays too.

Scent is emotion, pure and simple.
Nothing else conveys feeling quite like it.
The intense pong of life.

So all we need to do now is to be able to harness this sense and link it to a photograph. I was reading recently that the technology to do this is already under development. Smells can be downloaded over the internet, and channelled through a special device next to your computer monitor, to you can smell an image as well as visualise it. Eventually the technology will be inside your computer monitor. It's called Digital Scent Technology or "Smell-O-Vision"

It’s the fragrance of the future, folks.

Scratch ‘n’ sniff nudes.

Soon you’ll be able to sniff me nude as well as look at me.
________________________________________________________________________________

Edit: I have removed my image from this post, after it was mocked by another blogger. I don't mind someone criticising my writing, especially on a daft post like this (which was merely written to amuse), but I do object to mocking. It's not nice and it's not clever.
Being British, I really do abhor bad manners.

The Loners

Ever had that feeling that you don’t fit in anywhere, and no-one understands you, no matter how hard you try?

You’ll all remember my inability to socialise with the other alpha mothers at my kids school, and our complete social ineptitude at fitting in with the Norfolk country set. We also tried very hard to socialise with “our own kind” in the form of other nude photographers in our area (plus spouses), and we invited them all round. Although they were universally very nice people, and we had some really interesting afternoon chats, they never returned the favour. Maybe we smelled. Maybe my fruit cake poisoned them. Maybe it’s because we are from the south of England, and we are not “real Norfolk people”. I guess we’ll never know. I mean, I always suspected Rich and I were weird, but I always thought we were “nice weird”, if you catch my drift.

So is it just a problem with local people? Well, Rich and I have tried the online social scene in the form of various photography and modelling forums, mainly Web-models and Model Mayhem. Rich found this more interesting than I did, probably because I’m not a photographer, and neither am I drawn to flirting with young fluffies. I am a small-minded intellectual snob, I’m afraid, and I need to be able to talk about something meaningful and remotely intelligent. And before you say so, yes, I am pretentious (you should have realised that about me by now).

IMO, I find that these sites are often very “samey”. You can go back on MM or Web-Models after a couple of months break, and it feels like you’ve never been away. The same ol’ questions, the same ol’ flaming, shaming and blaming. The same cliques – which are very hard to break into. The online internet modelling world in all its noisy and garish glory. Nothing ever changes. Not that this is a bad thing, of course, but I never feel like I fit in. This is possibly because I’m old in modelling years, possibly because I’m a relatively inexperienced model, or because I am very “English” by nature, and this clashes with the cultural attitudes of folks from other countries on the forums (many of whom I find very impolite). I suspect the real reason I never get anywhere is because my life is just too busy to spend every waking moment online, learning how to network and make new friends, no matter how much I may want to.

I asked my dear partner for his opinion. Richard is anti-social by nature and doesn’t try to fit in anywhere. He will compromise for no man. Or woman, come to think of it. NOT EVEN for a semi-nekkid chick. He does everything HIS WAY.

His opinion: “We don’t fit in because we are creatives, and thus we are loners by nature. To be a creative person (such as an artist, writer or even software designer) you have to have a singular vision, which is outside the group mentality which dominates so many of these sites. A creative has to have a vision that is larger than the box which is presented by normality.
To fall into part of a group is not part of a creative’s nature, because you can’t create art by conforming. Creatives are unique and temperamental people. They put their art first, and people second.”

Hmm. This does sound uncannily like us.

My reply: “Hang on a moment, luv. The people on MM would consider themselves artists, and some of them are a heck of a lot better at creating art than you!”

His response: “Yes but they probably don’t fit in either”

I hate arguing with Rich. He always has an answer for everything.

However, it then occurred to me that there is actually one place where I always feel at home.

Here.

The “art-nude bloggie circle”, as I like to call it.
Rich and I fit in perfectly here.
Click on any of the links on the right, and you will meet very like-minded artistic souls, who all have something in common. As well as being amazing photographers and/or models, they are all intelligent and gifted writers, interested in talking about the philosophy of the photographic world, rather than mere social trivia.

You guys are wonderful. It’s great to be amongst friends.

Aw. I’m getting all misty-eyed.
Although, to be fair, it’s probably just my post-operation painkillers making me mushy.




Roswell Ivory. Intelligent, beautiful, and a fellow creative.

The Hernia Files

Well, Monday is the big day.

The day where the docs fix what art-nude modelling broke.

Tip for aging models everywhere: DO NOT ATTEMPT fine-art nude modelling if you’ve had three c/sections. You WILL split your stitches.

Fine-art nude posing is surprisingly demanding….sucking in and stretching into unnatural positions results in amazing pictures, but it will also be costly in terms of medical bills (to the tune of some £2.5K. I’m trying not to think of how much photography equipment that could have bought).

I guess I’m going to be out of commission for a while, which means no modelling.
No hardship there, as Rich is barely shooting at the mo, due to day-job pressures. We did have a very cool practice shoot last weekend, trying out my 7 inch red ‘n’ spiky fetish heels (which will be completely lost in B+W), and his new lighting idea. He won’t allow me to post the images as yet because he is planning a series, and so he’s waiting until he has shot some more models (June and July) before he finalises the images.

When I do go back to modelling, in a wee while, I’ll be covering up for a bit (*pause to hear rapturous applause*) due to scarring, so I think I’ll be relegated to fetish for the next 6 months (Yippee! Bring on those new Zentai suits!)

The moral of the story?
When you’re forty, you’re NOT invincible. Despite the fact that you may feel like an eighteen year old nude model inside, you really are physically fairly geriatric, as Madonna recently learnt to her peril.

The problem with having a hernia in embarrassing places is that it not only impacts on your modelling career, but it also seriously interferes with your private life too. I think this link sums it up nicely (involves Flash, so don’t download it if you hate Flash).

I won’t be updating the blog for a few days, due to hospitals, searing agony and all that, so will be posting later next week, after my tummy has had a makeover.

As Arnie loves to say, I’ll be back…bigger (hopefully not, but my eight year old son does bake most excellent cakes) and better than before.

In the meantime, please enjoy Lynx.
I seriously covet her breasts……for myself, I mean, but alas after all those medical bills, they are waaay too expensive!



Yup, I think it was definitely that particular pose (a favourite of Richard’s) which split my stitches. And I didn’t look nearly as good either.
Humph.

No fate but what we make

As artists, you will all know that art is subjective. When looking at a photograph, a viewer will form his own opinion and impose his own search for understanding. Why was that photograph taken? What does it mean? The viewer will decide his own interpretation of the story of the image, even though the photographer might have originally intended the story to be something completely different.

“The search for meaning” doesn’t just apply to art, it applies to all existence. The need to find a reason for everything is an inbuilt compulsion which is inherent in everyone. People need to impose their own interpretation on things, their own pattern, their own story.

In his book, “Fooled by Randomness”, Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that humans are hardwired to see the world through the lens of the “narrative fallacy”. This is defined as the human drive to impose an ad hoc explanation on everything, even the most shocking events. Mankind looks for structure where there is none, and comprehension where none is possible. He believes that all people have a tendency to make false patterns and attribute causes to processes that are actually random.

I do this all the time. If something unexpected or unpredictable happens, I usually automatically assume that it must have happened for a reason. Richard says this is due to my inbuilt catholic upbringing, but it’s not just me who does this.

My mother-in-law, bless her cotton socks, is another prime example. She looks for meaning and pattern in absolutely everything in her life, and passionately believes that nothing in life happens by chance. There is no such thing as coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. She believes there is a Higher Power which determines everything, and she won’t make a single decision in her life without analysing that divine pattern in detail.
Over the years, I appear to unfortunately have absorbed some of this way of thinking. Instead of considering practical issues and acting on them, both Richard’s mother and I eternally look for the answer to the unanswerable question “IS IT MEANT TO BE?”

At the moment I am spending large amounts of time dithering about decisions such as “Do I move house?” This decision is based on me second-guessing the future and constructing a romantic mental photograph of me, in my future house, dressed in a pale blue Roberto Cavalli cocktail dress, greeting guests at my extravagant and trendy garden-party for models and photographers. It is night-time, the beautifully landscaped garden is subtly lit with torches hanging from the trees, and the guests mingle with naked waitresses who are sprayed in gold paint and serve nibbles and Pimms with lemon and little ice cubes that contain home-grown mint from the garden. Mmm. I can picture it now.

I guess I'm guilty of living in a fantasy world half the time, extrapolating alternative crazy futures which can never exist, but would really be very cool if they ever did. I have created a whole different alternative life bubbling along in my brain, which operates in parallel to the real one.

So my decision to move house is based on wondering if it is really my “fate” to move, or whether I am “supposed” to stay in this house, and is NOT based on realistic and practical points, such as how moving closer to my kids school would improve our quality of life because we could stay in bed longer in the morning. Thus I continue to wonder about my (fantasy fuelled) fate, without taking any real action, and so nothing ever happens.

This drives Richard completely nuts, of course. He’s much more sensible and believes that we make our own future. As in the movie Terminator 2, there is “no fate but what we make”. (Don’t you guys know that all of life’s questions are answered in the movies ?)

Realistically, I do realise that there almost certainly IS such thing as co-incidence. It is irrational to believe that there is something greater than all of us which decides our individual future. There is probably no such thing as fate, no pattern, no meaning in anything. Believing otherwise is merely existing in fantasy-land, living a delusion. If life is indeed a story, then you choose your own plot, and it’s based on your real and physical actions, rather than your imagination.

Of course, I could be wrong.




Cheeky Lee, being strong.

The Black Swan

Recently I have been fascinated by the talk about Black Swans in both science journals and the economic press.

What is a Black Swan ?

Until the 18th century, no-one had seen anything other than white swans. Swans being white was an intrinsic part of being a swan, and thus was never questioned, but was simply taken for granted. Suddenly, in Australia, mutant black swans were discovered, and so people had to radically change their understanding of “what is a swan?” This was a massively significant change to people’s understanding – the phenomenon was completely unpredictable before it happened, and this unforeseen event completely changed the way of looking at the swan world.

So, according to my best source of scientific knowledge (i.e. Richard), the Black Swan is used as a metaphor to describe the negative hypothesis problem. No matter how many white swans you see, you can never say that there is no such thing as a black swan. All you can say is that you haven’t observed one yet.

The Black Swan scenario has repeatedly occurred through history. The invention of the wheel, electricity, the big Asian tsunami, even 9/11 (to name but a few, to illustrate the point) have radically changed the way we look at the world.

The invention of the camera was the Black Swan of the art world. It created a whole different way of perceiving art which didn’t previously exist, and thus radically changed the very nature of artistic expression. After that initial and unexpected phenomenon, photography continued in a linear progression from the earliest chemical processes, right through to the modern digital systems. It hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years or so. By that, I mean if you look at a photographer from a hundred years ago, you would be boggled by his huge and archaic large format camera, but you would still recognise him as a photographer (Hi Don! Not that Don is a hundred years old, of course, but he does use a large format camera).
So people now take cameras for granted, and they have become a normal and accepted part of both recording reality and expressing art.

So my argument is that modern photography hasn’t yet seen its Black Swan. But it’s definitely time for the next epiphany of the photographic world.

Despite the best efforts of futuristic and technologically advanced photographers, no-one can predict what it will be. We all have our suspicions of course. It won’t be a new and innovative photographer, and it won’t be a new type of camera equipment, because neither of these would be a Black Swan. They wouldn’t radically alter the way that we understand photography.

The nearest guess that photographers can make about the next Black Swan is that it will be a completely new way of creating images, such as holography. This would indeed be exciting, and would create a whole different way of perceiving art. However, it is an advancement which is happening gradually because the technology is already underway. It has already been predicted, and it is largely anticipated to be a major art-form ten or twenty years in the future. So, arguably by its very nature (i.e. it has been predicted), holography can’t be the next Black Swan.

So what will it be?

Sorry but we can’t give you answers as to what will come next. All we can say it that just because no-one has thought of it yet, doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.

What will photography be like in 50 years time ?

Expect the Unexpected.



Pretty swan.
(Rich offered to photoshop it to make it black. Sacrilege!)

Booking again....

At long last I have been booking models again.
I do love this part of the photographic process, because it gives me an opportunity to “meet” and chat with models online, which is always great fun! I love a good gossip, especially about modelling styles and so forth. And I get to meet some fabulous people.

I have booked three shoots for June so far, and am spending way too long shopping online for beautiful naked ladies (sorry, I mean potential models), instead of working. Richard assures me the day-job software will be released by June, and even if it’s not, I have told him in no uncertain terms, that he’s shooting anyway.

I must stress that again. These shoots are non-negotiable.

ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME, RICH ?

No pressure or anything, but it’s been 6 months, and I need some new photos NOW.

OR ELSE.

Yes I sound like a big bully, but he will find it creative and fun. At least I hope he will. I mean, what man wouldn’t?! I honestly can’t see us having a major domestic fall-out about forcing him to photograph beautiful naked models, can you?

It seems to me that we have a very surreal relationship sometimes.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, booking models.

Well a lot has changed in the 5 or 6 months I’ve been away from the UK model-booking process. I have contacted quite a few internet-based models over the last week, and it appears that many of them now charge higher rates for signing model releases.

I know I’m an amateur at this type of thing, but this seems a bit weird to me. Surely models would charge more for shoots without model releases?
If the model doesn’t sign a model release, what can a photographer do with the photos? Bugger all, by my reckoning, unless he is merely interested in photography for sexually motivated reasons, in which case he should definitely be charged more.
Why penalise the photographer who wants to complete the process properly? Model releases protect both model and photographer, makes the process more professional, and reassures the model that the photographer is not some sex-mad axe-wielding manic, hell-bent on luring naked ladies into his boudoir.

So why charge more for signing a piece of paper?

I’ve had five or six models in as many days come back to me asking if a model release would be required, and after I said yes, quoted “modified” prices accordingly.
Is this a new widespread internet-modelling-practice of which I’m unaware?

Forgive my naivety, but I just don’t understand.



The incredibly tall and beautiful Claire Louisa.

The BT Charles Take on The New Erotic Photography

Just a quick note to point you to the ever continuing thread on my post on "The New Erotic Photography" By Taschen. I did this post a little while ago now, and it's certainly generated many comments from some talented nude photographers - mainly "off blog" I must admit.
Those that don't like the book have emailed to tell me this, but are too professional to say so "in public". Plus I have had equal numbers of emails from folks who DO like it.
In the end, I guess it's a matter of personal tastes and styles.

Anyway, BT Charles took the time to post a very lengthy and informative comment about how the book was made, which interested folks can read here (scroll up for two comments by BT Charles).
It certainly sheds some light on the topic.

Thanks to BT Charles for the low-down on the book, and thanks too for being so polite about my blog post! A final thanks to all the other photographers who have emailed me, who don't wish to be identifed, but they know who they are!

It's been a highly interesting moot :-)



Kate, upside down