December 6, 2016

New Fashion Nudes

At the beginning of the German winter season, when it gets dark outside at 5 pm already, it is just the perfect time for browsing photo books. Luckily, there's a new one out which looks promising. The superficially unarranged pictures of 15 photographers convey a subtle form of sexyness despite today's social media masked requirements.

For at least one decade the arty snapshot style gained new popularity. Derived from amateur travel photography it became increasingly spread in advertisings, e.g. some Calvin Klein or American Apparel campaigns.

The spontaneity of the candid and the accidental makes those images somewhat believable and real. Sometimes you're not sure if things were staged or if you are witnessing a true moment. These pictures appear to have accidental cropping, imperfect lighting and even color faults. And they transport a certain lifestyle, a feeling of youth and rebellion.

I believe these photographs are more than just snapshots. And the fifteen contributing photographers to this book (James Beddoes, Viktor Cicko, Mike Dowson, Dido Fontana, Andrew Kuykendall, Marco Leonardi, Giovanni Lipari, Paolo Pamintuan, Francesco Petrucci, Ryan Pike, Splice Pictures, Ellen Stagg, Collin Stark & Jessica Stark, Marc Van Dalen) prove they have the certain 'swag' to make such images look good.

I don't care if this style gets the label 'fashion' or 'erotic' as long as the images are appealing. And most of them are, in my opinion.

It is also very nice to see some familiar faces among the models!