I've been thinking about how I, or other photographers would categorize the nude images I take. I will be the first to admit that I tend to plan and take images that make me, as a red-blood, heterosexual male happy. I enjoy the beauty of the female form and trying to capture that beauty via my camera. I would like to think some of the images I take are artistic, but admittedly most are not. Then again, I'm rarely seeking an artistic image.

Because anything on UHH considered NSFW is going to end up here, I think it's thoughtful to consider the photographer's intent in the images they present. Intent, not execution. By showing my work here, regardless of my intent, I am looking for constructive criticism. Why? Because every image can be improved and working toward making myself a better photographer is a personal goal and the reason I share on this forum. It's not easy to take criticism well, but I'm trying to learn.

That said, it's important to state that it's OK in my mind for forum members to like a photo for the content alone. I happen to like 60s and 70s muscle cars. I can appreciate the car in a poorly executed photo. As a wannabe photographer and connoisseur of cars, I can also suggest how that car photo could be better. That applies to this section as well. What isn't helpful in this section is someone saying, "Damn, look at the wheels on that corvette!" Or conversely, "That heap belongs in the scrap yard, why are you taking photos of it."

For what it's worth, I am offering up this graphic illustration of my take on intent as it relates to nudes. Remember, intent does not necessarily translate to the finished product. So in my "spectrum" the X-axis runs from Prurient to Artistic, and the Y-axis runs from Candid to Orchestrated. Prurient is a better word in my mind than pornographic. Orchestrated connotes the presence of studio craft in all its many forms. Candid implies a photo of opportunity and in some cases, it can apply to an entire set of images.

So as photographers if your intended work falls in the Yellow corner, you're striving for a different goal than if your image falls in the Red corner. I would guess most people on this site are expecting images that are shades of orange, yellow or green or perhaps somewhere in that muddled, middle section. Full red images would cause a fuss here, and violet images are so bad, on so many different scales, that they truly don't belong here.

Me? A lot of my work, regardless of whether you find it legitimate or not, is going to be orange-ish. Call it cheesecake, pin-up, erotic, whatever, that's where I'm living photographically right now in this genre.

Where are you? Do you ever feel your peer's perceptions of your work are different than your intentions?