Fine Art Nudes by Craig Morey

Photogarpher Craig Morey was born in 1952 in Indiana, USA. Moving to San Fransisco, where he now works, he co-founded the San Fransisco Camerawork, which continues to show the most innovative work in contemporary photography. Starting in 1988, on assignment for Penthouse, Morey began creating a series of striking black and white nudes, which appeared in numerous publications worldwide.

www.moreystudio.com

i love black and white pictures , makes them look more like artwork then porn!

nice work...:-)

Vinny,
I perfer color. Black and White photos like this harken to the Japanese rape of Nanking, Chinese women and Korean comfort wives.

I really strongly disagree with the current "black and white equals art" mentality - it takes a lot more than that for something to truly be art (and CLM has a point also).

Great pov's on the subject " b&w = art" ,but why does people react differently to the artwork we see , like this .. but not this to some people (like people who live in states by the bible belt )

Dr. Lee, why on earth do you think CLM has a point? I found that statement to be ludicrous.

yeah, i agree with clint. maybe you are thinking a bit too much? :-)

I agree that CLM's point is bit of a stretch, but I can see where he's coming from: there's a certain 'brutality' to black and white imagery, so (combined with the fact that it gives photos an historical feel) I can understand why it might put him in mind of such things. For these reasons, I think black and white is most effective for documenting certain perhaps not-so-pleasant things - instant art it is not.

I'm sorry... Did I read correct? Associating Black & White photography with war crimes and not-so-pleasant things? That's just weird.

I've got another one for you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cantikfotos/240269073

Actually, for me some of these of photos have a kind of 'CSI' feel to them!

I'm not saying black and white can't work for glamour, but I do see what CLM means, and I think it is seriously overused as a means of making a photo 'artistic', when it actually does nothing of the sort.

I agree with your statement that B&W is seriously overused. But I find it strange when ppl have war crimes associations with it.

i like cantik's work a lot.

but i think that this disscussion just goes to show that it's not only beauty that is in the eye of the beholder, but a lot of other feelings/associations too. images are powerful things, as i mentioned in my intervew before.

DR. LEE

I haven't checked back here to see replys in a while.

Yes, you do see my point of view.
Black and White imagery to me feels too "brutal" as if it was plucked from the historical records.
It has no character in my opinion, only sharp accuracy with no humanity.
Color in my mind gives photos humanity, warmth and character.

As for the Japanese rape of Nanking comments... Yes I have seen old historic photos of Japanese comfort wives stolen from Chinese/Korean villages. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Take a look at this one for instance.

http://theglitteringeye.com/images/nanking.jpg

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=japanese+nanjing&ei=UTF-8&fr=slv8-&x=wrt

I guess many people would wonder why a Black American would bring up The Japanese rape of NanJing - probably wonder how that could possibly be on my mind.

Well, after having lived in China for 2 years, it was all the Chinese could talk about.

I'd be sitting down having coffee and a conversation with Chinese girls and
OUT OF NOWHERE - here comes the story about the Japanese invading China - raping Chinese women.

Robin


So, you see absolutely no way I could make an instant connection between B&W photography and war crimes?

It might help you to know that besides being strongly versed in Science, I am also strongly versed in America, Asian and European History

NUDE ASIAN WOMAN
TIED UP
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH


I guarrantee you if you show this picture to many people WITH NO CAPTIONS they will believe it has something to do with rape/prostitution OR if they know any history, they will believe it has to do with the Japanese in WW2.

"It has no character in my opinion, only sharp accuracy with no humanity.
Color in my mind gives photos humanity, warmth and character." ~ CLM

Hmmm, odd. So what about all the tone, depth, shadow, shading, nuance etc that black and white can and does offer the eye?

I would say B&W offers more warmth and character than color. Color photos provide "sharp accuracy", giving the mind no chance to be creative and 'fill in the blanks'. (in color, "red is red". with b&w, "is it red, or is it green?") Color provides the eye with "humanity" only because we view the world in color.

2 cents.

Actually, I think black and white is cold. This can be interesting and useful for certain things (especially for documenting unpleasant things), but IMHO it is rarely useful for glamour photography. It can help to add an artistic feel to certain images, but it absolutely does not make an image art by itself.

Krazy4Kobe

"ART" is a cultural, social construct which varies from person to person.
Recognizing this, I would never downgrade someone's viewpoint on art simply because acceptance or disproval is 100% mental.

Its like those Rhorshach Ink Blot tests. Everyone sees something and feels something different.

I have seen many B&W photo's of horrific things and warcrimes. But I still don't see the connection between Fine B&W Art Nudes and these horrible things. But that's just me. But I am happy about it, because if I did see that connection I think I would seek guidance. (No offence intended!)

Robin

When you spend as much time as I do studying World Wars and racist politics, you start to look at things very differently.

Well, that I can understand, I think.
I am glad I don't have to study history that much though, because it's a shame it affects the way you look at B&W photography.

CLM -- my comment wasn't about "art" - it was about color vs. black and white photographs.

As for "art"...I think B&W photos are used extensively by amateur (and amateurish) and untalented artists to try and give their work as much artistic merit where there is none. I also think B&W is used by people who don't really understand the nuances and what can be achieved with B&W photography.

Ansel Adams anyone?

"if they know any history, they will believe it has to do with the Japanese in WW2."

I agree that what happened in Nanjing in WWII was terrible (and I've read "The Rape of Nanking") but Asia and it's history is too large to associate a B&W photo of a tied up Asian women with that one event in history.

Just my opinion.

I also want to add one thing to this. It's possible that the person taking that photo intended the viewer to have certain reactions to it, depending on their background and point of view. Art is often interpreted differently by different people. The fact that there is this discussion going on about one photo suggests to me that the piece of art is successful.

isn't 70 years enough to get over something? not to forget, but to move on? pretty much every population/nationality/race experienced something awful/unpleasant in their history.

chinese are still angry about what happened in shanghai that many years ago, race baiting "activists" play race card because of a slave trade that took place 200-300 years ago, osama bin laden is still pissed off over reconquista that ended in 1492 etc. can i declare war on mongolians then? they burned my hometown in 1241.

memories for that kind of stuff are very long. remember that there are still people alive who experienced firsthand what the japanese did all over asia; not just in china. 70 years is the blink of an eye. nothing to do but try to be better to each other in the here and now.

Nik2...i think the chinese messed with my country a few hundred years ago also.....damn three ships :)))) by the way i am part chinese...they came in to vietnam and messes with women and now we are all mixed breed...:)

I think black and white pics are very sexy...don't care for the bondage part..