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Guest
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I like this idea and would love to see the actual gallery show. - Perdita
A noted photographer takes before and after pictures of Jenna Jameson and other XXX performers. - Pete L'Official, Salon.com
Nov. 9, 2004 | Timothy Greenfield-Sanders made his name photographing luminously iconic portraits of the artistically and intellectually accomplished. Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Orson Welles, Toni Morrison, Sidney Poitier and Hillary Clinton have all appeared before his camera. His photographs manage not merely to capture but also to powerfully radiate with the intensity of his featured subjects -- their personalities pour forth from the frames.
Greenfield-Sanders has now re-focused his lens on a whole new crowd: porn stars. His latest book, XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits, released last month by Bulfinch Press, features 30 startling diptychs of some of porn's most famous performers, gay and straight, shown in their day clothes and their birthday suits. (The photos are also on display through Dec. 18 at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York.) Jenna Jameson, Ron Jeremy, Tera Patrick and Gina Lynn are among those who strike twinned poses for the photographer, in some cases revealing far more confidence in the buff than in their blue jeans. The book also features 15 essays, both erudite and eccentric, about pornography and culture from a remarkable group of writers, thinkers and performers, including Gore Vidal, Francine du Plessix Gray, John Malkovich, Nancy Friday and John Waters.
Porn stars were a radical change of pace in many ways for the photographer, who'd never photographed nudes before. But with the subject of porn becoming increasingly visible in popular culture -- Jenna Jameson's well-received autobiography being one recent example -- it became not only impossible to ignore, but also fascinating enough for the photographer to study. Though pornography has long existed in various forms, it may take the bright key lights of the mainstream -- or of a prominent photographer for that matter -- for us to honestly look at those who produce it. As Sunrise Adams, one of the porn stars who posed for Greenfield-Sanders, says in "Thinking XXX," a documentary about the making of the book that recently aired on HBO and is set to return to regular rotation soon: "Everybody's fucking somebody to get somewhere in life. We're just doing it on film." Salon recently spoke to Greenfield-Sanders by phone:
What made you decide to put together this book?
Years ago, I saw "Boogie Nights" and was struck by how interesting porn stars were, and thought they'd be interesting for a portrait series. I never thought of doing them nude. And it developed over the years, the idea. Eventually I met a porn star, and I did the pictures. He posed nude at the end, and I was shocked and didn't know what to do. The next day when I saw the pictures, they were so striking that I realized that this was a great way to shoot them because they were equally interesting both as people and as nude studies. That really was an idea just for a gallery show. I never thought of it as a book until I started to meet the porn stars and realized how interesting, how diverse and how exceptional they were.
How do you choose your poses?
You have to really remember that there's not just that single portrait there, but a whole, and the whole is 30 portraits, so you don't want to do the same pose over and over again, even though 10 or 15 people might look great in that pose. So as you use up body positions, you've got to find a new one or a new way to make someone look good. The trick was to get everyone to be different in some way, and at the same time look powerful, and interesting, and look like himself or herself.
You've said that your photo of Briana Banks was inspired by a Cézanne painting of a young boy. Were many of the other poses similarly inspired by works of art?
I have a B.A. in art history, so my thinking is always art historical. I look at a pose and think, "Oh, that's the pose of George Washington with his hand up at his chest," or, "That's Mona Lisa." I think the Cézanne painting of the bather is such a great pose, and it was an interesting start-off point for her.
Goya is mentioned in the introduction to your book as one of the primary inspirations for the diptych form you've chosen, primarily his "Maja, Clothed and Nude" paintings.
When Goya did the Maja paintings, those were radically controversial. [Labeled "obscene works," they were seized by the authorities.] I think in some parts of this country, there are probably people who feel the same way about my book. So while in some ways a lot has changed -- these porn stars can be nude and confident, and powerfully nude -- there are people that still view it as they did 300 years ago.
What did you learn about porn stars from working on this project?
I was very lucky to pick porn stars to pose for the first nudes I've ever done because these are very accomplished people in front of the camera. They're great at posing, so it was easier for me than it would have been with another group who wasn't really comfortable with their bodies. These people are very exhibitionistic and very at ease this way. It's empowering to them.
full article w/links and pic - gallery photos (click on clothed pic for nude)
A noted photographer takes before and after pictures of Jenna Jameson and other XXX performers. - Pete L'Official, Salon.com
Nov. 9, 2004 | Timothy Greenfield-Sanders made his name photographing luminously iconic portraits of the artistically and intellectually accomplished. Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Orson Welles, Toni Morrison, Sidney Poitier and Hillary Clinton have all appeared before his camera. His photographs manage not merely to capture but also to powerfully radiate with the intensity of his featured subjects -- their personalities pour forth from the frames.
Greenfield-Sanders has now re-focused his lens on a whole new crowd: porn stars. His latest book, XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits, released last month by Bulfinch Press, features 30 startling diptychs of some of porn's most famous performers, gay and straight, shown in their day clothes and their birthday suits. (The photos are also on display through Dec. 18 at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York.) Jenna Jameson, Ron Jeremy, Tera Patrick and Gina Lynn are among those who strike twinned poses for the photographer, in some cases revealing far more confidence in the buff than in their blue jeans. The book also features 15 essays, both erudite and eccentric, about pornography and culture from a remarkable group of writers, thinkers and performers, including Gore Vidal, Francine du Plessix Gray, John Malkovich, Nancy Friday and John Waters.
Porn stars were a radical change of pace in many ways for the photographer, who'd never photographed nudes before. But with the subject of porn becoming increasingly visible in popular culture -- Jenna Jameson's well-received autobiography being one recent example -- it became not only impossible to ignore, but also fascinating enough for the photographer to study. Though pornography has long existed in various forms, it may take the bright key lights of the mainstream -- or of a prominent photographer for that matter -- for us to honestly look at those who produce it. As Sunrise Adams, one of the porn stars who posed for Greenfield-Sanders, says in "Thinking XXX," a documentary about the making of the book that recently aired on HBO and is set to return to regular rotation soon: "Everybody's fucking somebody to get somewhere in life. We're just doing it on film." Salon recently spoke to Greenfield-Sanders by phone:
What made you decide to put together this book?
Years ago, I saw "Boogie Nights" and was struck by how interesting porn stars were, and thought they'd be interesting for a portrait series. I never thought of doing them nude. And it developed over the years, the idea. Eventually I met a porn star, and I did the pictures. He posed nude at the end, and I was shocked and didn't know what to do. The next day when I saw the pictures, they were so striking that I realized that this was a great way to shoot them because they were equally interesting both as people and as nude studies. That really was an idea just for a gallery show. I never thought of it as a book until I started to meet the porn stars and realized how interesting, how diverse and how exceptional they were.
How do you choose your poses?
You have to really remember that there's not just that single portrait there, but a whole, and the whole is 30 portraits, so you don't want to do the same pose over and over again, even though 10 or 15 people might look great in that pose. So as you use up body positions, you've got to find a new one or a new way to make someone look good. The trick was to get everyone to be different in some way, and at the same time look powerful, and interesting, and look like himself or herself.
You've said that your photo of Briana Banks was inspired by a Cézanne painting of a young boy. Were many of the other poses similarly inspired by works of art?
I have a B.A. in art history, so my thinking is always art historical. I look at a pose and think, "Oh, that's the pose of George Washington with his hand up at his chest," or, "That's Mona Lisa." I think the Cézanne painting of the bather is such a great pose, and it was an interesting start-off point for her.
Goya is mentioned in the introduction to your book as one of the primary inspirations for the diptych form you've chosen, primarily his "Maja, Clothed and Nude" paintings.
When Goya did the Maja paintings, those were radically controversial. [Labeled "obscene works," they were seized by the authorities.] I think in some parts of this country, there are probably people who feel the same way about my book. So while in some ways a lot has changed -- these porn stars can be nude and confident, and powerfully nude -- there are people that still view it as they did 300 years ago.
What did you learn about porn stars from working on this project?
I was very lucky to pick porn stars to pose for the first nudes I've ever done because these are very accomplished people in front of the camera. They're great at posing, so it was easier for me than it would have been with another group who wasn't really comfortable with their bodies. These people are very exhibitionistic and very at ease this way. It's empowering to them.
full article w/links and pic - gallery photos (click on clothed pic for nude)
