So, it's always a bit of a debate, especially in the nude photography world, as to what is art and what is.. well smut, porn or just a nude photo. In my experience, I have found that the type of photos you take (or a model wants to pose for) can be affected by the mighty $. You mention a model using an attention-grabbing headline like “cum see my art” on OnlyFans. I know models that are working hard to be artistic and don't particularly want to go down that road, but the reality is that they are competing for income with others who raise (or lower) the bar and they may feel that they need to attract that attention, by posting content that may not be their desired niche. As a photographer who does NOT rely on my photographs to earn income, in a lot of ways I am free from that kind of choice. At the same time, my motivation is to share my art and for that, I need an audience, so at times, to increase that audience, I am guilty of the same attention-grabbing headline or posts. My justification is that even my explicit photos have artistic merit. But do they? Well, to some they do. I find the biggest taboo is that a lot of people automatically reject explicit photos as porn, and don't even consider that they may have artistic merit. I muddle along, being my own worst critic, periodically removing photos that I look back on and see as not having real artistic merit, or feeling that they are more exploitative in nature. There is no black and white here. Only shades of grey, and of course some splashes of color!
Many of my photos of nudes I consider art, partly because the initial photo is not the final outcome but just the raw material I use to create the image. The photo is also rarely about a specific body part but instead is more about form/shape/shadow that makes it into art.
I also think that often art tells a story, the Helmut Newton photo does that and that is what makes it art as opposed to just a photo of an ass.
So, it's always a bit of a debate, especially in the nude photography world, as to what is art and what is.. well smut, porn or just a nude photo. In my experience, I have found that the type of photos you take (or a model wants to pose for) can be affected by the mighty $. You mention a model using an attention-grabbing headline like “cum see my art” on OnlyFans. I know models that are working hard to be artistic and don't particularly want to go down that road, but the reality is that they are competing for income with others who raise (or lower) the bar and they may feel that they need to attract that attention, by posting content that may not be their desired niche. As a photographer who does NOT rely on my photographs to earn income, in a lot of ways I am free from that kind of choice. At the same time, my motivation is to share my art and for that, I need an audience, so at times, to increase that audience, I am guilty of the same attention-grabbing headline or posts. My justification is that even my explicit photos have artistic merit. But do they? Well, to some they do. I find the biggest taboo is that a lot of people automatically reject explicit photos as porn, and don't even consider that they may have artistic merit. I muddle along, being my own worst critic, periodically removing photos that I look back on and see as not having real artistic merit, or feeling that they are more exploitative in nature. There is no black and white here. Only shades of grey, and of course some splashes of color!
Many of my photos of nudes I consider art, partly because the initial photo is not the final outcome but just the raw material I use to create the image. The photo is also rarely about a specific body part but instead is more about form/shape/shadow that makes it into art.
I also think that often art tells a story, the Helmut Newton photo does that and that is what makes it art as opposed to just a photo of an ass.
You can see examples of what I'm referring to at https://www.instagram.com/craigcolvinphoto/