Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

Am I a man? Yes, I am one. But, I use my gender positively and professionally. As an artist, this has never been in my mind or actions.

If you are working with an amateur or 1st time model, doing nude shoots might bring her to think sexual thoughts. It is your duty to then set the guidelines and boundaries for the shoot. And, it would be best to tell her this while obtaining her agreement - before you shoot or before you shoot any more pictures.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

One time the model turned me on. She was an amateur on her first paid shoot (with me). I set up the parameters before hand; it was a topless shoot; she would wear her thong at all times; there would be butt shots. Near the end of the shoot I noticed that her hand was in her thong. I told her that it was not what we agreed to. She told me that the photo shoot had gotten her excited and she wanted more than a photo shoot.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Of course I have to reply, he opened the door! Also, there are so many here who are looking for Tim to answer, Yes, I love this, thanks for opening that door.

But, boys, there is that rather large elephant in the room, lets smell that peanut butter on it's breath, shall we? The real question is not about my arousal, rather it is about the models arousal. This is where the real subject is located. Once you grasp that idea, then the entire opportunity for understanding the draw that the subject in general of women out of their clothes becomes interesting, even illuminating.

To get this whole thing to work you really must understand what is going on. But I do understand that some men photograph women out of their clothes and the whole thing is a lot like going to a strip club. But that is not me or my experience. Me, I seek bad girls, simple as that. Women who like to be out of their clothes, women who generally don't bother much with undergarments, girls that like to model in stockings because it makes them feel naughty.

Oh I can talk around this for long time, but what you will like is an example, so Cristi will be a good example. Now, Cristi died a few years ago, so she won't be offended, if she were alive she would be pleased with this disclaimer.

When I made this image with Cristi at my studio we were just making some images. It always went that way, just making some images. I had just gotten a boring green men's sweater and asked her to try it on. Once on Cristi just came on to the sweater. That usual no verbal dialogue that we shared. She was just getting turned on wearing the sweater, that it was a man's sweater, a conservative men's pull over sweater. Part was that it fit loosely but is was soft and enveloping.

Her phone went off and she ignored it. During modern photo shoots I like the cell phone on and in the set, it often leads to great images and this was one of those images. Cristi and I had a great intimacy to our relationship, so I asked if she needed to take the call. It was a client and she spoke to him. It became obvious that it was a business call for a 'date', Cristi was an escort girl.

She told him she was doing a shoot and would call him back. I asked for her phone after she hung up and had her show me now to do a photo. I did several images, she picked out one of them and texted it to him.

A minute later he was calling back, that is when I made this image. He was blown away, she was a real model, she was doing a nude shoot! He was blown away. Kept going on about how gorgeous she was. The idiot texted her images to several male friends along with her image.

Cristi was so amused by how like boys men could get. She picked up some more bookings. But the beauty and power of this image comes from her response from males and the initial arousal laid as the fantasy that creates arousal in the woman modeling from a man's sweater and nude modeling. It comes across in the image, it is there. It is what is the best part of what I find as real erotic photography.

Erotic photography is when a nude modeling session has a powerful element that arouse the female model. It is in a vary real way a type of foreplay. In the model it leads to a strong sexual element. It is what I work toward when I work with models/women. I want them aroused, I set up foreplay elements for every shoot. I'm not interested in figure photography, I do erotic photography. Do I get tuned on while creating erotic elements in the studio, oh hell yes! But then most have come to know that I'm a vary naughty boy who can't help myself, after all I'm a scorpio. It's why women want to work with me, they just love being bad girls!

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KindaSpikey Loc: English living in San Diego

I think maybe for most 'photographers', the first few nudes they shoot might cause a certain amount of arousel, (speaking as a straight male), and I guess that's kind of natural when viewing a pretty female stranger undressed and for the most part taking direction from the photographer. But after a few of these shoots it kind of wears off, you get used to just seeing the models as subjects for your anticipated image, just as you would with a beautiful car, a breathtaking landscape, a rare bird, hell even a bowl of fruit! A quick analogy, when I was much younger, (working construction), we had a re-model job in a funeral home, (this was in the UK). Most of the work was in the waiting /viewing area, but some of the work was done in the "receiving and preparation" room. There were dead bodies both in and out of caskets, while we navigated through that room, some on the table being embalmed, or having make-up applied and being prepared for viewing. The first couple of days freaked us out pretty substantially. It's not something most of us get to see much, if ever, but after a while we all kind of "got used to it". Weird to think back on it now, haven't thought about this for many years, but everything we saw in there just became the normal thing to see in that environment. So back to the topic here, I guess when shooting nude/erotic, to begin with there is a certain amount of time spent seeing these young ladies in situations that most men could only imagine, and that can cause arousel, but after a few shoots like this, it becomes "normal" to see them like that, they become part of the scenery in that particular location, much as the bodies did all those years ago. We all strive to be professional, and I hope that for the most part we are, but we are all human animals, with attractions and feelings so maybe occasionally for some those feelings "mutual", might lead somewhere, but for most of the time we see those wonderful models as beautiful props for our work.

salewis

Note: I have never taken such photos, but I found these comments interesting. It seems that the question is irrelevant. It's not what you feel; it's how you act. It is possible to be aroused internally but to act professionally externally. I have visited "clothing-optional" beaches of a few occasions and at times have had pleasant conversations with beautiful nude women. I won't say I did not enjoy the view, but I always managed to keep the conversations light and non-sexual.

dat2ra Loc: Sacramento

For me, nude women are not like any other "subject", because I don't find the photos of any other subject to be "erotic".

dat2ra Loc: Sacramento

By all means, Timmers. Tell us your thoughts :-)

dat2ra Loc: Sacramento

It is "different" for me because I don't find any other subject to be "erotic".

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

"My thoughts"? You mean my experiences and the resulting observations.

The situation has changed even in the past few years. Women have changed vary little. What has changed in women is that they have become more bold, more out going, more in pursuit of their natural inclinations for erotic adventures.

So, trust only what the women know and are willing to tell you and forget pretty much what men have to say. Women are at the front of a new empowering sexual revolution and it is pretty much a fun place to be if you just understand what is going on with women in our modern civilization.

Think Berlin and Paris after the Bella Epoch and WW One (don't loose track of the devastating Spanish Influenza that began as the war ended and saw it's death tolls in the millions from 1918 to 1920). It is actual important to know the general history of your world if you want to understand what is going on, but enough of that.

This may help. The 1960's was a pivotal turning point in the history of the erotic movement. Yes, the music was critical to that whole period, that is true. What is rarely sited and which is apparent to any visual artist of the period is the amazing shift in the color palate of that era, what we call psychedelic colors (includes black light). To most this just when past everyone. But it was a massive padgram shift in human perception. To think that humans are not ocularists, that they are not effected by the impact of color as a primary source of emotive stimulations is to loose all perspective to what was happening in that time.

Yep, Tim is a trained visual artist and as my mother was prone to say, "You think too much!" But it is the bain of the ignorant to think that these things are not important, and I do so delight in realizing what is shifting in my area of delight.

I get asked all sorts of odd questions, like what is the single most critical technical piece of advice I can give a photographer who is just starting out doing nude photography? My answer come from teaching many classes and workshops, "Get a good camera strap and wear your camera around you neck!" is my answer. How many times I can not count have I witnessed a man new to nude models loose their attention and let loose of their fumbling fingers hold on the camera!

Humor always helps but in any joke there is a truth.

If you put a woman into the mix of the photographers then all the men will follow her lead and differ to that female in the mix. They become the leaders in that mix. Women do not follow any of the 'rules' that men follow when working with another woman as nude model. Women delight in having a woman in charge when another (several) male photographer is in the mix. The tension is amazing to feel when this happens. It is even better if the woman doing the directing or doing images is nude. But the best is when that woman has just done a nude modeling session with a photographer and she is clothed, but obviously with no underclothing (pro models never-ever wear elastic or undergarments to a shoot, it leaves marks from the elastic, it can be an interesting element to put into erotic images when working with a pro nude model, and you don't need to explain this to them, they know what you are doing!).

Perhaps it is best to leave this there while it is still in your mind. The images are of my fav model VADA being directed by a pro model who had just finished a shoot in my studio. I had invited her to direct the session, which she did. Part of the serendipity of the session was when Kat came busting into the shoot, she had just found the roll of industrial plastic wrap, like a kid she wanted to see if we could do a shoot with her wrapped up in the plastic wrap. Yes, of course but could she join this shoot before going back down to continue her shoot with a photographer in the big lighting studio. She was all for this.

In the final statement I will say that models are always paid, no matter what their roll, so our sit in clothed director model was paid, she hesitated a moment trying to refuse payment but being a typical 'pro' I said model should always be paid for their work and I truly felt she had made the shoot work so well! She was delighted! Always pay the model, that is a main reason they model!

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Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

To quote a famous spy:

"Do I make you horny?" Uhhh. No.

Shagadelic baby.

KindaSpikey Loc: English living in San Diego

So, interesting set. The (main) model is just not my type /taste. Not to say that she didn't shoot well, simply not really for me. But what really caught my attention was wondering what was going to happen next in the mirror. It gave the set another level of interest, and that young lady was much more to my taste strangely, and well done with the angles for hiding the camera within the mirror. The second model popping up in the window was a nice surprise too, unexpected and interesting. So, have a great day and keep shooting.

PaulG Loc: Western Australia

Interesting what you said in your last paragraph . . . "always pay the model..." I've never paid a model in my life. As the photographer, they always pay me.

Stephan G

It comes down to which business model you are working. And the "audience" you are trying to reach.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

That is simply a business model, and everyone here I'm certain is pleased with your business model. It is also so typical of your posts to avoid the original posters request for comments on the subject that was raised and try to take the subject of the original post and discussion in some new and arbitrary direction. Your response is irrelevant to the discussion, so in future could you stay on the point of the original subject of the discussion and not attempt to hijack the discussion in a direction that suits your fancy.

I say this because it is not acceptable to sherry pick from others comments to a discussion, while not participating in the discussion at hand. Start your own discussions instead would show respect to the original poster inquiry.

And no, I'm not playing forum cop here. It is that in the past you have been all to quick to object to comments on a discussion that are not your original posts and do not conform to your position of opinion. The rules are there for a reason and we all need to follow the guide lines for discussion, I'm sure you will agree with that the rules apply to each of us.

azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

To get back to the original discussion........ I realized that I had been in a similar situation when I spent a lot of time in life drawing sessions, where a nude model would pose for two, five, ten and twenty minute poses while we drew her, or painted her (or him). Since I had no early age art training, this was always a stressful learning experience for me, trying to get a good drawing against some rather talented artists in the room. The first time the model takes a pose you asses her body and the landmarks within that you want to be sure to draw correctly. So this was work, more work than setting your exposure, etc. The initial titilation of her nude state quickly gives way to the responsibility you feel to get the proportions right, and do her image justice. So the reality is that the model represents your ability to create something beautiful, and that responsibility is not arousing in a sexual sense, but it is in a motivational sense for your artistic sensibilities. Most models understand this, and that is why they want to see the work when you are done.