Duane MICHALS (born in 1932)
From Children of Adam
Gelatin silver print
1995
8.7 X 12.7 cm

"Life is too short to be distracted by the pesky, mundane questions that plague most photographers: "How can I get this model to smile without showing her teeth?" or, "Does this house look better with or without the little red wagon in front?" So think hard, think deep and ask new questions. As a photographer, how can you present the nature of existence and the drama of the human condition? How will you define beauty and ugliness in visual terms? What is death and why is mankind fixated on rational explanations of the afterlife? In short, send the models home and start asking the BIG questions.

Duane Michals has been examining these issues over the span of his legendary and influential career, blurring the boundaries between photography and philosophy to create a body of work that is unique in the field. Unlike many of his contemporaries who fixate on manufactured ideas of what is true and real in the world, Michals delves deep into the unconscious mind to find lasting meaning in his life and his art."

Duane Michals

Another Duane Michals page

and yet another

There's lots more out there on this outstanding artist, I encourage you to dig around google a bit to find more. Thanks so much to Leann at indigoblog for reintroducing me to one of the greats.

Here is a very cool google tool to use in your search for fine art nude photography!

Google Viewer!

Untitled, Tamotsu Fujii

"The Photography Room is a gallery of fine art that specializes in the sale of photographic art from local, national and international photographers."

If I lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan I'd be a regular visitor...

the Photography Room :: a Gallery of Fine Art

If you haven't visited Michelle7: Fine Art Nude Photography lately. Perhaps it's time you did.

There, I told you I'd still update periodically!

Thanks to Pixie for the encouragment and the links.

Philippe Pache, photographe

Well friends and readers, you may have noticed that posts have become less frequent these past days. The fact is, my girlfriend and I have just purchased a new house which we take possession of at the beginning of July. Our current house is filling with boxes, and the new place is going to demand a lot of attention. Calling it a "fixer upper" is almost an understatement. So, I guess what I'm saying is that for the foreseeable future, this blog is going to be updated periodically at best. I'm going to leave it on-line as a reference for myself and others though. The archives contain literally hundreds of links to the best photographers who ever lived. Not a bad resource. It's been a fun time seeking out all these great pictures, and let me stress, I'm NOT giving up completely, it's just that I can no longer commit to daily updates. So keep checking in.

But wait! If you really wish this blog could go on, how about volunteering to take the torch for a while? If anyone is interested in becoming a guest blogger here, here's what you need to do. Contact me by email at the link provided with THREE links that you would post if you could be at the drivers seat here. If I think they are compatible with the vision that I started this blog to meet, I'll hook you up with the requisite passwords, etc.

Take care all!

Michael B

I'll be the first to admit that I like Larry Ferguson's work because his tattooed women remind me of my own models. That is too say, his photos look more like nude portraits of "real" people, than idealized figure studies. Here is one gallery of his work in 2-D format and another of stereo pairs. (Accessable though links at the top of page)

Photography of Larry Ferguson

Katy Grannan, photographer

I will be taking a couple days break from blogging as I'm off to Portland again till Sunday. See you after then.

I've been a fan of D. Brian Nelson ever since I saw his "Night Photographs" and "Hotel Rooms" series. His ability to make gorgeous photos in difficult lighting situations borders on the incredible. This is another one for the permanent links section.

Night Photographs & other work

If you like his main page, I'd also recommend his erotic photography. Although strongly sexual, these photos still have the quality you would expect of a photographer of this calibre.

D. Brian Nelson's Erotic Photographs

Gary Gaugler's work has a charming vintage feel to it that goes beyond the sepia tone.

Fine Art Figure Photography

Here we go with cautionary tale #3

Nude model sues after photos land in magazine

"Steve Danzig is a Melbourne-based artist working in digital and digital photo media. His current series titled, Unearthly Delights documents all areas relating to social behavior constructs. From Jungian archetypical psychology to social matrixes relating to religion, sexuality and socio-political metaphors."

More galleries of this artists work can be found here:
art of steve danzig

This link via indigo blog

Matuschka's work deals with the theme of breast cancer. Having had a mastectomy herself, she becomes both photographer and model. She is perhaps best known for her famous image beauty out of damage which has been widely published. Her most current work appears to be becoming an exploration of gender. She is also an activist and painter, and has a terrific web site.

Matuschka Early 21st Century Art

Some fine male and female, black & white figure work by Olaf Starorypinski can be found here

I'm getting huge traffic (by my standards) from Aimee Deep's blog these past couple of days. So if you're coming here from there, welcome! If you are hoping to find nude pictures of Aimee, then sorry, you're outta luck. However, you will find some truly fantastic work by the worlds best photographers, so stick around and explore.

I've featured this artist before, but I can't think of someone who deserves more attention than my personal favourite photographer Emil Schildt. He is a true photographic renaissance man, moving effortlessly between techniques and materials and mastering them all.

Emil Schildt