Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Photography & Nudity


Before I start, let me make you guys aware of the fact that this is a pretty matured write and I would expect a professional thought process running through your mind while reading this. Thanks for your co-operation.

It was just a lazy afternoon for me at Reliance timeout near office. I was trying to get some inspiration for photography which has kind of dried up off late :'( ... I was just flipping the pages of this book called "The Photo Book". There were a lot of Nude photographs in the book which took my thoughts to a conversation I had with my marketing professor almost an year back. He had one of his friends who was into Nude photography esp black n white. I feel a nude photograph taken in black n white is a great combination! You will have a LOT of scope of expressing the feelings through a perfect mixture of lighting and facial expression.

Even today nudity is usually considered as a taboo in the Indian society especially with so many narrow minded a**holes around. But even according to the religion, nudity is the purest form of a human being. It is his/her own self. It outrightly displays the amount of confidence portrayed by the person. The day Indians get this into their nerves, we can expect a lot more matured approach towards issues related to it.

Just found this excerpt from the wiki ...

"Nude photography is a style of art photography which depicts the nude human body as a study. Nude photography should be distinguished from erotic photography, which has a sexually suggestive component. Nude photography should also be distinguished from glamour photography, which places more emphasis on the model and her/his sexuality, and treats the model as the primary subject.

Many photographers consider an art nude photograph to be a one that studies the human body, rather than the person. A photograph of a person that is meant to be recognized is called a portrait, and nude photographs often do not show a face at all. Nude photography is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. As an art form, nude photography is a stylized depiction of the nude body with the line and form of the human figure as the primary objective. Photographers sometimes use extremes of light and shadow, oiled skin, and shadows falling across the body to show texture and structure of the body."

I feel Nude photography is a very matured way of expressing your thoughts. It not only involves a lot of photography skills, but also is a lot dependent on the expressions of the model! Even with a lot of good work towards lighting, if the model doesn't have good expressions, the pic will be filled with vulgarity. It is a thin line of demarcation which a photographer has to be careful about! Even with a proper lighting set, the photo has to have a good exposure of colors. This will help to differentiate in the depth of the different shades of gray.

Even as an observer, one has to understand photography to actually make out the inner meaning of the photograph so that it can be appreciated and not blamed for vulgarity reasons.

Just took this topic to write about today... Hope you guys liked it... Happy blogging!!

2 comments:

  1. Shreyas - A topic which most of us shy away but always allow it to linger in the mind. You seem to be on the other side of it - I hope so!

    Few months back, while watching an Advt done by Katrina Kaif (Maaza, i think) - though i cant stand her, felt she did that Ad well. My wife said, she read an article which says the people who create these Ads first talk to the model and create a mood. Sometimes the talks are very intimate, for the right results. They bring out the expressions from the Model as they talk and there are several shots taken at the back without the knowledge of the model. The best shots are either used as original or retaken.

    So I feel, its the person who is behind the camera who brings out the best possible expression on the pic than the Model herself/himself.

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  2. Yeah dude... there is nothing to be shied about in this... its nature ... thats what I feel...

    Ya... in ads its different. Photography is different. Watch the Kingfisher calender shoots at NDTV Goodtimes. They are the almost candid shots etc... But yes, I agree with you that a photographer also has a LOT to do in this in many terms and he has to handle the whole show and technicalities...

    Thanks for dropping in Vivek

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