More Thoughts on This Hobby of Mine

X-T2 | 50mm | 1/250sec | f/7.1 | ISO-200

I rambled a bit about my hobby in a previous post and wanted to expound about it a bit more. When people find out what I do for fun they naturally have questions. Most of those questions, oddly enough, focus on what I plan to do with the photos I take. When I tell them “not a dang thing,” the reactions range from incredulity to jaw-dropping incredulity. After all, there has got to be some ulterior motive at play.

“So do you try to get them published?”

“Nope.”

“Do you exhibit them?”

“Sometimes. When invited to.”

“Do you sell them?”

“Nope.”

“So you just…take pictures. Of nude women. Just because.”

“Yup!”

I think the incredulity is driven by two things. First, the “nude women” thing. After all, there are tons of subjects a hobbyist could turn their cameras towards, such as still lifes or bugs or birds or food or landscapes or astrophotography or pets. Does it have to be nude women!?

X-T2 | 50mm | 1/250sec | f/7.1 | ISO-200

But…why not nude women? The nude form has been celebrated in art for millennia. but nude art does not have to cater to The Male Gaze. The challenge I set for myself artistically is avoiding “the gaze” entirely. Asexual or not, there is a lot of conditioning and programming I’ve been subjected to over five decades and it isn’t easy to avoid all the visual tropes.

Secondly, it is the thought that somebody would spend so much time on something so specific, so dang odd, with no expectation or reward.

To which I say: have you ever met a golfer?

Hobbies are not rational activities. A typical golfer will spend thousands on clubs alone and untold, but significant, amounts for clothing, greens fees, golf course memberships, and frequently whole vacations, all in support of their hobby and without ever once going pro. And yet, few would dare to suggest that they should go pro, because otherwise what’s the point of investing all the time, money, and effort?

I think the difference is that photography is viewed as both a hobby and a commodity. People sell photos. They have photos published. Therefore, if you’re good enough either should be attainable, if not outright desirable.

But I certainly don’t care about such things and I feel that most photographers (or golfers, or model train enthusiasts, or bonsai cultivators) don’t either. Hobbies are hobbies. They don’t need a purpose to flourish.

So for anyone who asks: nope, my interest in art nude photography doesn’t extend past personal growth and artistic development.

X-T2 | 50mm | 1/250sec | f/7.1 | ISO-200

Light Illuminates, Shadows Define

X-T4 | 35mm | 1/250sec | f/11 | ISO-160

This image of Rui is a testament to the importance of being prepared. I tend to overpack for a session, but this time it paid off. We had already shot two looks when Rui said, “Could you just light me from here up and have the rest in shadow?”

“Actually,” I said, not at all in a mansplaining sort of way, “I can!”

In my kit was a set of barn doors. I had never, ever used them, but because they were small, light, and were made to fit in my Flashpoint eVOLV 200 storage case, I brought them along on every shoot. Now, it was their time to shine!

I slapped them on the strobe and a few adjustments plus a handful of test shots later this image was born. There were other solutions that would have yielded better results, but we were pleased with the results of our improvisation.

I haven’t used them since, but the barn doors have a permanent place in my kit. After all, we got the shot and I grew a bit as a photographer. That’s worth a little extra space in my light bag.

This Image Was Already Epic…

OM-1 | 22mm | 1/250sec | f/8 | ISO-200

…but when I described my impression of it to Ivy as “a gender-flipped The Creation of Adam with the Stay-Puft marshmallow man standing in for God,” we knew we had created something singularly special.

Fitness and Faded Jeans

OM-1 | M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 | 1/250 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200

This session had two objectives: show off Claire’s power lifting gains and do one (possibly) last session with a pair of jeans that have featured in many a session over the last half decade. The goal was to have one last hurrah with the jeans, which no longer fit the same way they did 5 years ago due to the aforementioned power lifting, but we may not quite be done with them just yet.

Bartender Hands

Fujifilm X-T3 | Fujinon XF 50mm f/2 | 160/sec | f/8 | ISO 160

When pressed to name their favorite feature, people other than The World’s Best Asexual Erotic Photographer would probably point to any other part of this image than Jo’s hands. But for me, it’s the hands, all the way.

I adore photographing strong hands. Two of my favorite people in the world – my wife and my friend, Erin – are nurses and they have strong, weathered hands full of stories and character. Whenever I share a photo of one with the other the response is invariably “nursing hands!”

Why do I dig hands? Because if you hold to the old adage that “light illuminates, shadow defines,” then hands, with their veins, muscles, nails, fine hairs, tendons, and bones, all in extremely close proximity to each other, are infinitely more fascinating than, say, a thigh. This is the internet, so someone is going to take that as being anti-thigh and that is not the case, but hands have an additional benefit that thighs do not: they are mobile. With hands you can obscure, pinch, pull, squeeze, twist, dangle, make rude gestures, contain, barely contain, stretch, or even create a frame or leading lines. Look again at the image above. Can you do that with a thigh? No, you cannot.

Take that, thighs!

(Why do I get the feeling I’m going to have to pander to the pro-thigh lobby in a future post?)