Let beauty come out of ashes
Let beauty come out of ashes
And when I pray to God all I ask is
Can beauty come out of ashes?
This Saturday I’m having an exhibition and there will be nude images. And I know you’re probably thinking, “Cam out here photographing people girl child without clothes?” That’s the reaction of a lot of people because we’ve been programmed for a long time to associate nudity with sex. I mean research has proven that sex sells. So one can imagine that media pushes that “agenda” out heavy. However, of course, I am in no way using that method to try and get you to spend $15 to come to my exhibition.
Photography stole my heart in 2013 and we’ve been in love for almost five years. For a plethora of reasons (just trying to sound intellectual), this year was the first time that I ever photographed someone nude. Over the years, the majority of the nude images that would pop up in my feeds were risqué, raunchy and occasionally made me throw up in my mouth. It wasn’t something that I wanted to be associated with. Knowing that what we see as artists affects what we in turn produce, I did not want to attempt this genre of photography and end up producing the same type of work that I found distasteful.
Later in 2017, I came across a few photographers that used nude photography to tell stories. The images would pop up on my feed and I would find myself analysing what was happening in that particular moment; eventually noticing that the subject was nude. This was amazing to me. Since then I’ve realized that there are images of women who are fully dressed that are more provocative/seductive than some of these images of women who were nude.
Intentions: What is the photographer going for? What is the photographer trying to say? What is the subject feeling? What is the subject trying to portray? If the photographer is pushing for sexy or the subject to trying to be sexy, that is what the camera will capture. And on the other end of the spectrum, if the photographer and subject are trying to capture a genuinely authentic moment, that’s what the camera will capture. (Not saying that sexy isn’t authentic, but going for it and it happening aren’t the same, toch?)
So many people have told me that my photography has story telling qualities and that my images give off emotions, as if a candid moment is always being captured. Acknowledging these traits, I decided to enter the genre of nude photography (temporarily).
Project Taboo quickly turned into Taboo Photography Exhibition because I wanted to make two points to the public and to other photographers as well. The first point is that nude does not equal sex. I know that this will be a hard concept to grasp because media heavily pushes “nude = sex.” When was the last time you saw a naked body that wasn’t associated with some form of sex? The second point would be to show what a REAL nude body looks like. Scars. Marks. Flabs. Bumps. Stretch-marks. Capturing real people in real moments.
I encourage you to come out on Saturday to see some of these images. I’d like to know what your first thought was and what your second thought was. Did they change your perception of nude photography? Pull me up and let’s have a conversation. It’s taking place at the Gelateria Milano on the Boardwalk (head of town). You can pass by anytime between 5:00 and 8:00pm. There is a $15 entrance fee – not because sex sells, but because you get free ice cream!
*Cues Ashes by Celine Dion*
