Peeking In

I don't know if these shots have quite the impact I was going for, but maybe it's just because I'm the one who shot them and I know that it's two clones and not really one person peeking in on another person. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was rushed. I hate having to perform my photography "in a flash" - it doesn't give me time to really work out a concept and push myself through to the next level of shots that are going to be (one hopes) truly outstanding.

Another thing is that even though the concept calls for a clothed person outside the window, I found (as I often find as a photographer of the nude body) the poses and form of my body while nude to be far more aesthetically interesting. But if the person outside the window is already naked, it kind of ruins the impact of them peeking in the window to see somebody naked inside, when they're already naked outside! (It's the whole idea that you don't need to go peeping in a nudist environment because everything is already on full display)...

Inside or out?

Now, I'm not normally in the habit of photoshopping out what you might call the body's "perfect imperfections" (i.e., moles, wrinkles, and the like) - except when they're noticeably distracting, or if it's something impermanent and unsightly, like a blemish. Obviously, I'm not saying that my photography isn't carefully constructed to present my model "in the best light", as it were, but on the other hand, I absolutely eschew the "airbrushed" mentality that is so popular in professional, commercial photography which aims to take a real person and turn it into a plastic fantasy.

Nevertheless, I thought the many moles on my back were distracting in this photo, so I felt compelled to go in and remove them all just to see how it looked. A shot like this really emphasizes the broadness of my shoulders - which I don't like, because it's one of my more masculine features. Perhaps this is a gross exaggeration, but I look at this image and it makes me think of a broad-shouldered monster from some old cartoon (something like Gossamer or the Hyde-like monster that Tweety transforms into, except that in my head the monster was blue)...