Art nude photography: to capture vacuousness or vitality

I did a shoot the other day with a photographer I have now known for five years, or maybe even longer. We are not close friends, we meet only from time to time to shoot. At some point we even had some miscommunication but it all resolved itself. I don't bear grudges nor does he - those who do always strike me as tremendously opinionated and, deep down, extremely insecure. I love his work, as he painstakingly turns his photographs into delicate, painterly images, which take a long time to be completed. But he also produces very realistic portraits, nude or clothed, with perfect lighting and the ability to capture the humanity of his subjects.
We shot digital and film. It was a cold morning,outdoors, early start for both of us and neither of us loves getting up early. But we did it. We then continued indoors. It was a leisurely shoot, during which we talked a lot, as one sometimes does on shoots, ending up revealing very personal things. I could have spent hours just shooting.
He teased me because apparently when I first met him I told him I would not carry on modelling into my 50s. I have obviously reviewed that opinion, because I am still doing it. Now what I say is that I will give it up when people stop asking me.
And thinking back I don't think that modelling 'at my age' as someone recently and very bluntly put it, has been particularly difficult. For every ten, even twenty photographers obsessed with youth and willing to photograph only young things, there is at least one that is willing to photograph older women, because the beauty of photography is not necessarily dependent on a conventionally beautiful and young subject, but on being able to bring out the character and beauty of the person that is being photographed. That is the true challenge. Think of Ari Seth Cohen's project. He photographed the beautiful woman who then went on to model for Lanvin - yes, Lanvin! Haute couture, no less (and how many young things get that honour?)

Jacqueline Murdock for Lanvin

What about art nude?  Art nude too. In real life people come in all ages, shapes and sizes. It is ridiculous to think that eroticism is predicated on youth. Would you say that Michelle Pfeiffer has lost her sensuality - I will not point to Helen Mirren here as she apparently hates being the poster girl for ageing gracefully, according to celebrity columns. Or Jerry Hall, 57, mother of two beautiful daughters, Lizzie and Georgia May, both models. Yet Jerry has her inimitable style, a statuesque body and could teach younger models a thing or two. Or Yasmina Rossi, also 57. See her in this shot, with her taut body.

Yasmina Rossi by Djamal Zoughbi

One of my favourite photographers is Josh van Gelder, who photographed the women chosen for the Dove campaign. I would love to shoot with Josh and who knows, it might just happen. I like Josh's work because he loves his subjects and is able to bring out their beauty, retaining their personality. Josh specialises in fashion but he does other things too. There is an interview in two parts with Josh, published on Models 1 blog. I was struck by three of his statements:

1) you can't transform a picture of a girl that is dead in the eyes into a picture of one who is full of life no matter how much retouching you do.
2) His favourite thing in the world is to photograph a beautiful girl using nothing but daylight, with very little hair styling and make-up involved, and to shoot her as simply as possible.
3) He is always inspired by the subject of the shoot, trying to put across who the person is.

If Josh is able to achieve this in his fashion and editorial photography, I see no reason why this could not be achieved in art nude. The fans and copy cats of David Hamilton (with slightly older girls than his child models) abound, but thankfully art nude goes beyond Hamiltonesque tastes.

(Photos of Alex B taken by Nadia Lee Cohen)