The Body In Color and B/W

I've always been a big admirer of classics like Helmut Newtons nudes in black and white and I prefer looking at the body in tones of grey but I have found a new interest in older color nudes or those nudes shot on film with their often rich and warm tones. Even newer photographers like Dubnitskiy are really inspiring when it comes to color nudes. The tones, feel and actually feeling from his models is great. Anyway, I thought it about time I give it a try and I'm really pleased with the results. While black and white will always be my preferred choice for this genre of photos I find working in color refreshing for now. I'm concentrating more on colors in my street photography these days and decided to shoot mostly color for a nude shoot I did.

The end results are worlds apart for me but just as interesting. I need to put a lot more effort into the upcoming color shoots and maybe more inspiration and research is required. Hit me up with links to any photographers old or new that you admire whom are shooting great color nudes.

It's time I updated my nudes portfolio so I can see a couple of these making the final cut.

Have a groovy weekend everyone

Chad

Sometimes it's what you don't see that is the most enjoyable.

Curves And Shadows

No it's not related to a photoshop technique. This is a shoot I did where I decided to try to achieve a completely different feeling to what I normally have my photos when shooting a nude. Some silhouette, some bodyscape and different body positions. Personally I feel some shots are a lot more sensual, even sexual than what I normally do but with far less seen if that makes sense. all of this achieved just by using body language. The curve of the lower back, the submissive hand posture or even the angle of the head. The model was great to work with as she is an artist and very expressive so achieving the results took very little time.

Anyway I let you decide. Have a great week and I hope this makes your Monday slightly less Monday.

Chad

Shadows and Light

It's been a while since my last blog post. In the meantime I've been shooting lots, trying out new ideas that have been floating around in my mind and hoping that I find it as interesting in real life. It has been a time of miserable weather and a bit of a creative slump on my side of the world. To try and get over this slump Have been shooting a bit of street photography when I can. Going back to basics and just looking out for certain colors on certain days. For me it's a lot harder than it sounds because I'm not sure my brain thinks that way but I think that is the point of the exercise.

As far as shooting bodies, I continue to try to focus on tighter shots. Focusing on a certain part of the body and not just as a whole. Using shadows as my own personal wardrobe stylist to hide what I don't want to focus on and the light to draw my eye to what I do want to focus on.

As far as new ideas, I want to shoot different body types but I am struggling to find "normal" people who are confident to pose for me. By this I mean all different body types that don't necessarily fit the typical stereotypical magazine cover profile. This includes curvaceous, obese, "too thin" etc. Do you have a physical disability and are not embarrassed of it? If you are interested and then feel free to reach out and send me an email. I am looking to create interesting and thought provoking photos with you.

Have a great one.

Chad

Getting In Close With Nudes (NSFW)

A friend of mine who is also a photographer was recently looking at my work and made an interesting observation about my nudes portfolio. He noted that I tend to shoot the entire body and never come in close for tight shots. After listening to this I had another look at my work and he is correct in this. I never gave it much thought before but after thinking about it I realized my reasons for doing this. I always felt that when shooting nudes, the entire body is necessary to tell a story or show or evoke an emotion. However after doing a quick crop of one of my photos he showed this to be untrue. In fact the cropped version was much more powerful to me.

So, as a result of this I have been scouring my archives of all my nude shoots looking for any close  or tight shots that I might have taken before but just decided weren't any good. I have discovered a few photos which I will post below.

After looking at these photos I came to another realization as to how much more control I have over my lighting than before and in my opinion how this has greatly improved my photography. 

Shooting close or tight shots will also force me to think of the body in a completely direct way to what I am used to and this will hopefully make for some interesting photos. Maybe less emotion and more sculpture like is an approach I should try. The soft curve of the lower back, the strained neck as the head is twisted, a knee, an elbow? I am not sure at this point but look forward to trying.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Chad

The Female Black and White

The continued exploration of different bodies in black and white. 

I have been really busy lately with shoots in studio. Here are a few shots of my ongoing Bodies  Project exploring the human form.

Welcome to my new blog

The Female Black and White.

For me black and white always holds so much more emotion and mood  than colour. I know its a personal preference and many other photographers would disagree with me on this point but I guess that is one of the reasons photography is so subjective, each photo says something different to each viewer.