An Erotic Fitness Photoshoot

NSFW

Friends tell me they can spot my photos, because they have a certain look or style, but I'm hard to pin down into a specific genre.  I don't stay within the boundaries of Boudoir, Pinup, Art Nude or Glamour photography.  Obviously I don't fit into the fashion category either!  I guess I just like to make images that seem sexy to me. 

One thing I know is that I feel I must capture the personality of the person who is posing for me.  Even a physically gorgeous model doesn't seem sexy to me if she never looks at the camera or if she has the stereotypical, blank, fashion model look on her face.  I think the idea with that look is to make the model seem unattainable, but I just don't find that concept attractive.  When I photograph a person, it's not just about shapely body parts.  I want the viewer to think, "I'd like to get to know them."

The theme for this photoshoot and blog post is "fitness erotica."   Photos in this genre are fairly rare, unless you include the images of female body builders who have developed more or less male physiques.   I've been waiting to find a model with an athletic, but feminine body who wanted to do a fully nude, fitness-themed photoshoot.  It was a long wait, but I finally found a great  model who recently moved to my area and was looking for local photographers to work with.  Ashli Skyy is a former basketball player, not a bodybuilder.  She surprised me by showing up with her hair in a Mohawk.  At first, I thought this might be a problem, but as we talked, I began to see how the hair style fit perfectly with her high energy personality.

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I started with a high-key look, ie: a white background.  Two Alien Bees to light the background and two in front using umbrellas.  Since this was my first erotic fitness shoot, I used the minimum amount of fitness equipment, just a pair of 10 lb weights and a bench.  I wasn't sure about the pink sneakers, but she liked them, so why not?

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OK, we both wanted to do an erotic fitness shoot, so it was time to heat things up!

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All that beautiful musculature made me decide to ditch the high-key style and try a contrasty art nude look.  It takes me about five minutes to reconfigure the studio.

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I like the way the black and white art nude shot turned out, but since you can't see the model's face, it's rather depersonalizing.   Not really what I wanted to get from this shoot.  Let's try including the face and processing in full color now.

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Now that's more like what I envisioned!  But can we get just a bit more seductive?

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That's the look I wanted!  Powerful, seductive, muscular, yet soft and feminine.   Mission accomplished!

Ashlii was pleased with the photos too, and sent this note:  "My first erotic fitness shoot was fantastic.  The pictures came out incredible!  Beyond Boudoir Photo was very professional and helped me with my poses.  Being a new model, it was great to work with someone who knew what to capture."

Here is her Model Mayhem profile:  http://www.modelmayhem.com/3354678   If you are a photographer in the Portland area and need a model with her look, I highly recommend her.   By the way, she has a number of wigs if the Mohawk doesn't work for you!  : )