Erotica: The thinking Person’s Porn

Too often, I have found that people label what they find offensive or crass "porn," while anything they find sexy gets the more romantic label of "erotica." One person's pornography is another's erotica!

Sage Vivant

HoneyB 1128

It’s taken me a whole two years, but I’m finally persuading Rich to dabble in the dark side. He’s finally having a bash at shooting erotica (with models other than me, I mean.) You’ll note that I don’t use the word “porn” because Rich says he doesn’t do porn, and he gets VERY annoyed if I refer to his work as porn, which I do, frequently, because frankly I don’t see much of a difference. What’s in a label? If a photograph turns you on, does it really matter what it’s called?

Well, apparently it does, according to Rich. He says that it’s like looking at the difference between implied nude and real nude – erotica implies the sexual act rather than shows the sexual act. It’s all about getting the balance right between fantasy and reality.

On the other hand I would describe erotica as high-class porn, shot with dramatic lighting and lots of visible emotion and sensuality. It’s sophisticated porn, but with a story, feelings, a psychological element, although the purpose is the same: to get the viewer hot ‘n’ juicy.

By now most of you will be asking, does anybody actually care whether an image is classified as erotica or porn? Well yes, most photographers DO care very much. They want their images to be erotic so that they are perceived by the general public to be photographers not pornographers. It’s all about photographers being concerned with themselves, how they want to be seen and how they see themselves, whereas it should be about what they shoot. Many photographers are too concerned with how they appear to others (they must be thought of as “respectable photographers”) and not enough with using their skills and imaginations to push their boundaries and realise their erotic creative vision. Is it edgy? Can I shoot edgy but not porn? Is it classy? Does it show too much? Not enough? Is it tasteful? And so on…too much worry about the self-image rather than the end-image.

It makes me wonder what would happen if photographers just stopped thinking about their self image for a moment, and let their emotions fly? If they stepped outside their personal comfort zones, indulged their imaginations and see what happens? Personally I would love to see the results. I suspect the photographs produced would be awesome.

Unfortunately there’s no chance of Rich doing that (just yet anyway) as he’s rather shy, and truth be told, he’s taking it slowly because he’s new at this genre and (by his own admission) erotica requires a completely different photographic puzzle to solve. With Rich, it’s forever about lighting above all-else, and he says that’s something he needs to develop over time. It’s easy to do the dramatic single light from the side of course, but trying to induce a more sophisticated emotional mood through light, without crossing the line into porn (which for him is unacceptable) is proving a consuming challenge.

It’s not all about lighting of course. The pose and expression of the model is important, but it’s also critical to think about the story. A successful photograph is about the message above all else. This is where it gets complex because viewers may perceive erotica and porn differently according to their own subjective opinions and personal tastes. In particular, men and women view erotica differently because they think differently. If women get turned on by ideas and more psychological elements of the scene, men are more visual, so the secret is to ensure your story appeals to both. In order to achieve a powerful erotic photograph, all these elements have to come together at just the right time, for that split second, in order to create that image which will push the right emotional buttons of your viewers. Erotica is all about stimulation of the mind rather than the body, and leaving that viewer desperately wanting to see just that little bit more…

One thing is for sure, if photographers stopped obsessing about what is acceptable and tasteful so much, they'd get a lot further with their erotic photography. Ultimately the classification attributed to your photograph is unimportant. What is important is that you stop worrying about what others think of you because all that will do is get in the way of your creative vision.

Let your mind go and your photography will follow.

HoneyB 1129

Images are of HoneyB of course. Rich isn’t sure if he "crossed the line" into porn with that last shot. Personally I think he worries about lines too much. Just keep shooting, and the rest will take care of itself.