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I had the chance to attend a workshop on photographing the human nude about a week ago, and I’m so glad I was able to go.  I may have studied photography in school but since I didn’t go the route of professional photographer I need to remember to constantly make the effort to improve my skills. 
 I haven’t done much of human figure/nude photography before, it’s quite intimidating to have a naked person stand in front of you, waiting for you to give direction.  Luckily most of the models at the workshop had the experience I didn’t; one was a dancer, one looked like she had done plenty of modeling before, and one who just was having so much fun with the whole process it made my job easier.  In the end, I thought the dancer was almost too easy to shoot because all of her poses were beautiful, and reduced the challenge.


I have to say, a room full of nude female models sure brought out the dirty old man in many participants of the workshop.  There was at least one rather rude gentleman (I use the term loosely) who bossed the rest of us and kind of ordered the models around.  The rudest of all was the equipment salesman at the workshop (from the sponsoring company.)  He had brought lenses for people to try, and was so kind as to “help” me with the equipment (in that “Let me help you there, little lady” way), insulted my camera as an antique, and let me know the perfect lens to use in case I wanted to you know, zoom in on a nipple.  The cherry on top was when he  proceeded to make a few remarks when the model was on the ground reclining, and I also lay on the ground to shoot her from a low angle – about how we were both now rolling around on the ground.  Uh-huh…and you’re a professional salesman?


Using studio lights is always a treat for me these days, as I don’t have access (or pay for access) to a regular studio.  After this weekend though, I’m thinking quite seriously about investing in a kit of my own, because it’s just so much fun to use!  And I have a garage now, so some limited room to actually just use them at home.  On the whole I had a great time at the workshop – I learned a bit and came away with lots of inspiration, which is exactly what I wanted!


For the full portfolio, click the photo above, or follow this link – and remember, this was NUDE human figure so don’t click if you’re not ok with it!

http://www.stanford.edu/~cheungd/HumanFigure/