I get the next question or comment every now and then:
“Wow, being a photographer is really cool. All those handsome models to take a photograph from. All these naked women in front of your lens. All those photographs of nude models …. Have you ever ever felt the urge to uh, to uh …. .. And what does your wife think of this, all that female beauty, within your reach? “.
Well, what does my wife think of that?
Well, firstly, being a photographer is indeed really cool. For years I worked hard (I repeat, “years of hard work”) – after years of study in addition – to get where I am now, a professional photographer who was initially interested in photography and who has finally been able to make a living out of being a professional freelance photographer (and in the process lost a hobby, but that is more than made up by my interest in music, playing guitar and wine, but this whole aside).
Secondly, we, freelance photographers, photograph certainly not every day (professional) models – unless it is your specialization and shoot nothing else but fashion and models. But there are not many photographers who do that.
In my line of work I photograph just about everyone, young and old, beautiful and ugly (whatever “beautiful” and “ugly” may mean), thick and thin, sympathetic and downright boring or annoying.
Thirdly, you will not believe it, but if I had a supposedly “smart” model to photograph (with or without a little or no fabric to the body), or if I have to take pictures of a series of potted plants, or pack shots of cosmetics or construction workers on a wharf, or architectural photographs in a modern building, or ….. in a way that remains more or less all the same to me. The same, you say? Indeed, the same, namely “how do I compose my image “, “how do I adjust my exposure’, “how do I guide the model”, “what background I choose”, “what angle do I choose,” “what does my customer want”, etc, etc …. As a photographer you are busy thinking about all those things at once, leaving very little brain activity remaining for pervert thoughts or comments, in order to get your subject between the sheets.
And that’s often the tone of the comments or questions from people when they talk about fashion photography and model photography.
Really, people. As a photographer, we are really busy with our profession. We work really hard to make images for customers with the intention that customers use the images to their case forward.
And the last thing we think about is to get the model in to our bed.
And my wife’s happy with that!