The Situation

As it is, Nudity is generally considered to be a bad thing for some ones career. The act of being naked in front of a camera seems to be very much taboo in industries (out side of the creative) that pretend to be professional. Honestly, do you think a banker is somehow less professional because they might model nude at the weekends...Christ, after 2008 that might show they are more driven and professional than there counterparts!!

Regardless, here we are being bombarded with standards of professionalism that don’t hold up to even the slightest hint of scrutiny.

Possible reasons for this

I had a problem with this part... justifying this level of bullshit is difficult. But here goes.

I blame religion. Well that was easy!

The original rule setters do have a lot of blame landing at their doorstep these days and now that studies are showing that people who do not identify as having a ‘less questionable’ moral compass than those that believe in a magic man in the sky, we can all see why. They set the original rules, and they were shit.

Interesting statistics about this (in America so its a bit extreme)

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/01/10-facts-about-atheists/

Ok, so a less inflammatory idea might be that nudity is associated with sex and we have a serious issues with that (but even that is because of...see above).

Excuses to justify this are stupid

Seriously, they are. Being naked is LITERALLY the most natural state for the human body. Our issues around it are frankly dumb. Don’t get me wrong, clothes serve a very important function, such as protection or insulation... it is fecking cold most of the time in scotland, but the fact that social media has now banned the (female) nipple is an embarrassing step backwards.

Worse than this is our apparent willingness to put up with violence on TV but not nudity. Acts of violence are less upsetting than two people in love.

If you listen to those that wish to shame people who pose nude or take part in any part of it, you will notice very quickly that it is a form of control. It is especially effective against women as their bodies have been (very wrongly) labelled as taboo and not to be seen in almost every culture to varying level of extremes.

Whats the solution?

This is just my idea. You should formulate your own plans of attack because...these are my ideas and probably need more thought.

As a photographer (especially a male one) I am often seen a pervert for wanting or even taking part in nude photoshoots. This is detrimental to my business, my industry and, frankly unhelpful for society.

My solution is to fight. At every level. From day to day conversations, companies being held to account for there pathetic control methods through to government being held to account for their stupidity. I will fight it.

My final thought is you should read better articles than this. Ones that are more nuanced, and far reaching will give you a better understanding of this problem. I need to keep this short for a blog. Hopefully I will come back to this in a few years and be more capable of providing a deeper argument of why nudity and professionalism are not mutually exclusive.

But most importantly, do it anyway. As I said in the Army ‘Fuck it, Fire!” Screw what others think and make your art. Draw, paint, sculpt, pose and, be naked if you need to be.

Just don’t iron while naked! It’s a terrible idea that can only end in tears. *from experience

Be polite

Be efficient

Have a plan to shoot everyone you meet