Take calendars, for example: breasts simply sell better. Period. Large breasts still sell better than small ones in 2026, that's pure market research. Personally, I don't have any preference at all, but that's not the point. I need to understand what my viewers want to see, or I might as well pack it in.
Science offers some fascinating explanations: were you breastfed as a baby? That could have influenced your breast preference, according to some psychologists. Others claim it's down to hormones during puberty or early visual imprinting. But then why are some men primarily attracted to a shapely backside? Evolutionary biologists argue it's about fertility signals: wider hips, better childbearing capacity, and so on.
Then there are feet. When I photograph bare women's feet, I know for certain: a significant proportion of men are completely into that. Foot fetishism is one of the most common forms of sexual preference, period. Neurologists suspect this is because of how feet and genitals are represented in the brain, in neighboring regions of the somatosensory cortex. Pure wiring, so to speak.
Is all this superficial? Of course inner values matter most, that goes without saying. But I work in a visual medium. It's about seeing, not personality. I photograph forms that appeal, and I have to put myself in my viewers' shoes. That's my job.
Cultural anthropologists have a different theory that makes me think: what's considered attractive today is primarily dictated by the media. Kim Kardashian here (sorry, I don't know the name of the currently most hyped model), Instagram models there, the same body types everywhere on endless repeat. Because these images are so relentlessly present, we men eventually believe these are our own preferences. In reality, few of us have truly specific preferences; we simply adopt what's being sold to us as desirable.
That sometimes makes my work difficult. Do I photograph what I find aesthetically pleasing, or what's currently being hyped by the media? Do I follow the supposedly biological programming or current trends?
Honestly, I often wonder: why are there such different preferences at all? Why does one man respond to breasts, another to butts, a third to feet? Is this really evolution, or have we just talked ourselves into all of this?
If you ask me about my preferences, you'll be disappointed. For me, the face is actually what matters most. That's where the real communication happens. Through the eyes, the tilt of the head, the mouth. It fascinates me every time how much a few millimeters of change in expression can make — and how eyes can convey longing and desire without saying a word. But that doesn't sell as well as breasts.