When I was 18, my best friend went on a trip to Florida with a girl that was his high school sweetheart at the time along with her family. They packed 7 people into a early 90's Chevy model conversion van and headed down I-75 to Fort Myers Florida for they're annual trip. (*insert music for National Lampoon's Vacation starring Chevy Chase here*) Before leaving, my best friend asked me if there was anything that I wanted him to bring me back seeing as I had never been there. Truth be told, 20 years later, I've still never been to Florida. I've never been South of Dayton Ohio for that matter. Anyway, I'm sure my response to his question was something of a smart-assed answer in the form of "bring me back a hot girl in a biniki" or something to that effect. Unfortunately, when they returned I did not get a hot girl in a bikini. What I did get was an alligator paw back-scratcher and postcard. As interesting as an amputated Alligator paw that was shellacked and jammed onto the end of a piece of bamboo might sound, it was actually the postcard which garnered most of my attention. The title on the front of the post card was "Shake n Bake" and featured nothing more than 2 very round, very beautiful, female bums that were lightly dusted in an even coat of sand. I'll admit that at the time I thought this was just plain awesome! They're skin was tanned and slightly shiny and they had two of the most perfectly round asses I had ever seen. And the tease of their sandy bums amounted to nothing less than photographic perfection to an 18 year old Canadian kid who had never been to sunny Florida.
Fast forward almost 20 years and it's amazing how little some things have changed. If my best friend were on his way somewhere warm and asked if I wanted anything, my answer would invariably be the same. However, if he was going to send me a postcard I must admit that a pair of perfectly round bottoms would be just fine, although, minus the sand please. Maybe I'm just getting old and the carefree innocence of rolling around naked in the sand has lost it charm, but I can't help but think of the practical and inevitably 'gritty' side effect of doing so. As a result, this idea is no longer as sexy as it once was.
As a photographer, I spend a fair amount of time looking at other peoples work both for the enjoyment of it and for inspiration. As a glamour and fashion photographer the work that I like to create and see created by other people often has a certain sexiness to it and that sexiness usually comes in the form of a female model. But as with many of photography's cliché concepts, the depiction of a model either nude or clothed rolling around in the sand is tired and worn out, and in my particular case has lost it's appeal.
I guess there is a significant amount of personal taste associated with whether you like these types of images, but aside from their obvious unoriginal theme, I can't help but hope that the models don't spend weeks trying to extract all the sand from their various nooks & cranny's. I think it's that very idea that stops me from liking those types of photos. If I were running along the beach one day and a very beautiful and naked, but sand encrusted woman stopped me and insisted that I 'take' her right then and there, I can't help but wonder if I would stop and brush all the sand off of her first. :P
Just a little insight into my wacky world on a Monday afternoon.
