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Well Branden,

I felt a little confused when I looked at this image.  It does not seem to be glamourous, sexy, pinup; nor is it in the usual fine art nude category.  I subscribe to the notion that a well done image tells the viewer's brain a story without words.  I can decipher no story here except one that is unpleasant.  

Most of the image is unsharp and it seems to be a sample of the worst part of the human figure: a wrinkled abdomen and one slightly drooping breast complete with stretch marks. There are several black spots on the skin that suggest a visit to the dermatologist might be in order, to be sure they are not cancerous.  Now if you said these were medical documentation photos - to compare the before with the after treatment condition, I could buy that except for the lack of sharp focus. That just shows photographic poor craftsmanship.

I looked thru the rest of this folder and see that you are exploring photographing the human figure by a kind of hit and miss approach - if you take enough images something is bound to be good.  I would suggest that you study the glamour pinup work of Peter Gowland and look at the work of John Peri who posts on Photo.net, books showing work from the 50s pinup style and do look at Playboy Magazine for its long idealization of the female form.  Then look at some representations of the nude figure as fine art- in photography as well as classical painting.  Ask yourself why these photographers and artists were so successful and see if you can start by emulating them.

If making a photograph sharply focused is a problem there are lots of books, web sites, etc. that address the fundamentals.

My regards for your effort,

Jerry Matchett

After viewing this image and reading the above comments, I was prepared for the worst when going through the rest of your portfolio. But I was pleasantly surprised. I agree that this is not a particularly good image for reasons that have already been discussed. That said, not every nude must be "glamorous" or be a cliched rendition of a classic painting. I respect the fact that you are aspiring to be creative. Craftmanship can be acquired, a creative eye cannot.