My time as a Glamour Photographer

Blog 1 of 2

I have never made it a secret that before I set on my spiritual path I was a glamour photographer. So I thought it would challenge everyone’s perceptions of me (if they even have one) by posting three blogs on the subject starting with this one. While I doubt you will find much enlightenment in what I have to say, you may find it at the very least intriguing. I have included some photos over the blogs but I have censored them so as not to offend anyone sensibilities which Iknow is in truth impossible as for some even the subject will be highly taboo.

When I was about 15 (1992) I was standing in the play ground at school and a group of boys asked me what I wanted to do when I left school, I answered just for a laugh, be a glamour photographer. Little did I know that many years later that is exactly what I would do, was this the law of attraction at work?

My first dip into the quick flowing ocean that is glamour was to start from a simple e-mail. It went something like this:-

‘I’m a model and I own a studio, I love your digital art and was wondering if you could turn me into a vampire’

Some weeks later, ill equipped and nervous as hell I was taking photos of the model. I did turn her into a vampire and she liked it as did I. Over the coming months I shot (with a camera not a gun ) her model friends who all like what I had done. Changing women into vampires and fairies was fun up to a point, but I had got a taste for studio glamour photography and wanted to learn more.

Some months later I met a guy who was running a studio locally. He said he would give me some tips. So off I went with my camera and met him. The studio was big but cold but Martin was a helpful chap and over the next few weeks I began to grasp the basics of how to light a shot. Any how time past and an odd friendship grew and the idea of a model agency came up. I had been using models for my work but half the time they didn’t turn up or had no clue what to do when they arrived they weren’t models just good looking women. There is a significant difference trust me.

We decided that if we started a model agency up it should be different than others we had used. We would take everyday women who wanted to be models and show them what it was like to work in front of the camera so they would see if they liked it. Martin could tell them what he knew about the industry (more than me) so they would be forewarned before taking the plunge and best of all we do it for nothing. The only time we would make any money is when the girls got a modelling job. It seemed the perfect idea the girls got free promotion on the web plus a hand full of images/or a cd to start a portfolio. We got the chance to offer photographers brand new models and we also got models to promote the business. I’m sure as many of you are reading this you are think it was a scam or had a seedy side to it and it really it didn’t trust me. I never pushed any women into doing topless or nude work and in fact we had a number of models on the books who never did that for all kinds of reason. This was a strictly no ‘touchy feely’ operation we where both happily married and over stepping the professional line with a model was a no no for us. At the high point we had over 40 local budding models on our books but of course not all of them got work as they where only ever book if people like their look. What people look for in a model is not always as it would seem and some times the most unassuming girls got jobs while the glamour pusses didn’t.

Time went on (as it always does) and I soon discovered I did not have the pushy/bouncer personality to be a model agent but I did have a natural affinity with women and the innate ability to get the best out of them during a shoot. Much time pasted and I found I was becoming very bored and I had come detached from the agency side of the company so I left on as good as terms as possible. Martin kept the company name all the photos and all the problems and I left with a big dent to my wallet (I had invested a lot of money in the company has had Martin) but I did have an invaluable schooling in studio photography. I created my own small home studio and decided I would only work with models who fit my look requirements. Much to my wife’s frustration and disbelief I still didn’t rate my ability as a photographer despite everyone telling me they loved my work. Once on my own I mainly undertook time for print shoots (which will be explain in a following blog ‘I want to be a model, how do I start?’).

I kept learning more and more about photography and most important of all lighting (which is everything in glamour). Over the next few years I produced some great images which I hope the models are still very proud of. I pored hours into digital dark room work (Adobe Photoshop) to create images that where visually stunning without looking too visually fake. Sometimes I would spend 8 hours on one photo and so the rod for may own back began to grow. Normal images no longer worked for me or the models, every photo I gave my clients had to be spot and blemish free, perfection was a reality in my world. Just before my holiday to Scotland in late 2006 and the subsequent awakening with my first visionary work ‘oppressed’ I was physically but most of all mentally exhausted. I had grown to hate glamour photography because of how much of my life it was taking up.

While I haven’t shot glamour in over 3 years I can’t say I will never shoot glamour again as it is in my blood now I have to say it doesn’t conflict with my nonduality beliefs and teachings. For me a body is just a body, it is meaningless. Everything you think or don’t think about is all down to your own perceptions or fetishes. It is you and your belief that makes boobs/bums sexy, nudity crude or something taboo it’s never the body, the model or even the photographer. Yes all three are trying to tap into general perceptions of Western sexuality but once you strip out you mental programming you are just looking at bodies that were designed ultimately to hunt and reproduce both natural states of being.

While even now I have hundreds of ideas for great images, but to do glamour photography well requires a great deal of money for sets, lights and the right outfits. Yes you can make great glamour on a shoestring but right now I don’t even have a suitable studio camera.

Want to see some great glamour?
I am a great admire of the work of the American photographer David LaChapelle as that for me is what true glamour should look like visionary, fun and at times hot. I guess many people doing what I do now would keep a past like mine a secret but I have never done anything to be ashamed of. My only regret from my glamour days is I didn’t have enough money to make it work as I would have liked. In fact I am still paying off the many thousands I invested in equipment and studios. Also its a shame that I have thousands of photo that for now will never see the light of day.

Watch out for my next Glamour Blog ‘I want to be a model, how do I start? ‘

Just glamour

The eyes have ‘it’
Despite what you may think the eyes are the most important part of a glamour shot
Model:- Natalie

Oh what a Tease

My generic remake of a classic 50’s pin-up mag cover that never was. Photo by me Tony Pinfold Model:- Alexandra Sim-Wise