It’s the do-it-yourself props that I’m most fond of using. I love handing something to my model, knowing that she’s never been in a photo which one of these before.

No comment. Just a photo.

It turns out that shooting photos of naked people in public places can be rather irritating. Why? Because the unavoidable spectators have no class. People can’t just shut up and enjoy the fact that a girl took off all of her clothes for you to see… they have to shout endless, low-class instructions and comments at her. I’m going to give some thought to how I can avoid this unpleasantness in the future.

A single light from overhead, with barndoors to contain it, made exactly the kind of eerie shadows I wanted for this “bust” of a bald female. The heavy, directional shadows also allowed me to hide some details I didn’t want showing, while still allowing for full-frontal nudity.

Using a single overhead strobe at high power with barn doors, I was able to create very long, dramatic shadows and a great deal of light fall-off. The big features and deep creases in this particular mask play well with the dramatic light to create a particularly eerie effect, which is served by the anguish in the pose.

Here is an example of what I mean when I talk about symbolism and choice of subject. Rather than choosing some heavy-handed method of spelling things out, I opted for a subtle combination of details which can work together to create a general theme without forcing a specific message. With a little help from the title, this image should bring the same themes to mind regardless of who views it.

I don’t know what it is, but there’s just something about naked women holding fruit that really tends to carry strong undertones and thought-provoking implications. I guess we have The Bible to thank for that.

Partly inspired by the Daft Bodies clip on YouTube, but mostly the twisted ends that my mind often leads to when faced with a drier vent, some aluminum foil, HVAC tape, and a couple fire hoods. Sooner or later is was going to come to this.

Perhaps my favorite thing about photographing people while their heads are covered is that they can’t see anything. I think an initial novelty wears off after a few moments and the model realizes she won’t be able to see for a while. Once that happens, I have noticed that they become more expressive with their bodies, naturally compensating for their lack of facial expression.

Here, I noticed in a previous shot that the lighting was creating a sort of “hellish” fire effect in the background pattern, and suddenly inspiration hit like a ton of bricks. A change of mask, an adjustment to the pose, and a skull for accent. Et voila! The demon seductress of folk lore.