I’m new in the standing behind the camera, but I’ve looked at a lot of pictures/photographs for many many years. That being said I’ve never taken a picture of a nude woman for fun or art. I look forward to this opportunity, when the time is right and I know MUCH more about composition and what I want out of the image, or what they want out of the image too.

When I was 10 or 11 I asked my Uncle to teach me about photography (he is the master photographer/guru of the family). The question/statement pretty much went like this: I’d like you to teach me how to make money for taking pictures. At the time I didn’t understand that depth of said statement, and I’m still just starting to get a bearing on it currently.

I related this to my Dad last week and was told if I want to make money it all depends on the quality of my pornography. I’m not standing behind a camera to take naughty sexy pictures of women, as tempting and fun as it sounds I’m not sure I could do that. I look forward to the potential opportunity, however I’m not exactly sure right now on how to make the compositional jump from sexy snapshot to full blown photograph.

I guess my thought follows two lines of thinking: first, never criticize someone elses art until yours is strong enough to survive similar criticism*; second, there is a difference between a masterful touch on a nude subject versus a picture of even the most extremely sexy woman on the planet.

*Criticism thought: if it’s negative criticism with no point other than “hating” (applicable but I still cringe at the use of this buzz term) it’s rather useless and should be kept to one’s self; if it’s Positive criticism, it may be harsh but it’s delivered in the spirit of growth and learning, I would think a balanced person should be open to this criticism. You may not have to accept it right then, but positive criticism even poorly delivered is worth the digestion and possible application/modification. I’m new in both my chosen profession (IT) and hobby (photography), but something I learned from who knows where years and years ago was that you can listen to almost any source of input, and then choose one what you use to modify or not modify the output. If someone who knows what they are talking about provides a mentoring lesson, it may be foolish to reject or ignore it as they will stop providing feedback eventually, sometimes rather quickly. [Sidenote alert] One of my mentors at work once said “when I stop giving you a hard time it’s because you’re on your way out, and I am no longer investing time in you”.

I’m excited as a pursue composition and learn more about my camera and myself so that when the day comes I hope to fall on the Art side. Compositionally pleasing nudes are wonderful to the eye.

Paul