Nudity and Photography

Nudity and photography have gone together since the development of the first camera. The first nude photos were referred to as "cheesecake" photos or simple nudes. As an art form, however, nude photography is quite different from that of erotica. Nude photography focuses on the human body as a work of art, whereas erotic photography focuses on the sexuality of the subject.

Female body photography often incorporates nudity.

Photographers who wanted their work to be viewed as an art form began using the terms figure nude or art nude as the painters of their time did. Early artistic nude photographs would show a photo of a nude body, but the face was rarely seen.

Many nude photographs, even today, focus on a particular body part. The bodies or body parts of the subject are photographed using various lighting techniques. Occasionally, these parts are covered in oil to show muscle tone or covered in droplets of water.

The pioneers of nude photography include the following:

• Felix- Jacques Moulin: Mr. Moulin opened his photography shop in France in 1849. He sold photos, especially daguerreotypes of teenage nude girls. When local law enforcement learned of the nature of the daguerreotypes, he was arrested and sentenced to one month in prison. After serving his sentence, he returned to his shop and photographing nudes. This time, however, he was more discreet and sold these photos from the backdoor of his shop. Critics applaud the early nude photos by Mr. Moulin. He later garnered attention for L'Algérie photographiée, a three-volume folio of photos taken while he toured Algeria at the request of colonial authorities.
• Edward Weston: Known as the "pioneer of precise and sharp presentation," this photographer specialized in photographing life forms, seashells, landscapes and eventually nudes. His photographic technique showed the foreground of his photos as clear and sharp as the background. He co-founded Group F/64 in 1932 with such notables as Ansel Adams and Willard Van Dyke. When he was alive, his photos were sold for $7 – $10 each. Today, his original photos are sold for $5,000 and up.
• Ruth Bernhard: Ansel Adams declared that Ruth Bernhard was "the greatest photographer of the nude." Ms. Bernhard began photographing nudes in the late 1920s. By 1934, she was photographing them exclusively. Most of her work is done in the studio, and the prints are in black and white. Some of the best examples of her work can be found in her book, The Eternal Body: A Collection of Fifty Nudes.

Nudity and photography are still popular today, though many people are unaware of the distinction between pornographic photos and artistic ones. There are many websites on the Internet that exhibit nude photographs as an art form, though there tends to be a mixture of artistic nudes and erotic ones in a single exhibit. It is therefore up to the viewer to determine the category that a nude photograph falls in.

Last, but not least, there are the nude photos of infants. Many parents take photos of their children nude when they are babies. Most often these photographs are taken in the bathtub, on a rug or on top of a bed. The photos usually only show a baby's bare behind and rarely a frontal view. For all intents and purposes, these photos fall into the category of artistic nudes, as there is no intended sexuality in these photos. While some people find these photos embarrassing later in life, they are simple and innocent photos of young children.

The study of nudes in photography will continue to be a popular art form. Photographers today can manipulate photographs in ways that the pioneers could only dream about. As photography continues to evolve, the art of photographing nudes will undoubtedly change as well, taking it to even greater heights.

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