I just wrote this in the Everything SG group, in response to a bunch of people who have decided it's time to start attacking the photography and modelling currently happening on SG:
I'm a little sad that some of you have moved on from finding faults with the new site and its implementation to finding fault with the girls and the photographers.
Every set I shoot is a labour of love, on the part of myself, on the part of my wife who does the post-production/editing, and most of all on the part of the model. You can label these as 'playboy with tattoos' or accuse them of being bland because they are shot on a bed or wherever, but you're missing something important.
There are so many amazing sets throughout SG history with fantastic costumes, props, themes and elaborate storylines. They're great and I have no problem with them.
But there is also art and beauty in shooting simply, in letting a model's beauty and personality shine through more subtly...in the way she's moving, posing, smiling....the ways her eyes are shining....or even the way she is not smiling, because every model brings a different personality and mood to the set.
To be honest, I don't mind having my work being described as Playboy with tattoos. Playboy is renowned for beautiful, tasteful photography. You might take issue with the lifestyle of Hefner or the management of the business, but you can't say the photos are mere smut. They are art.
To me, the quality of photography on SG has continued to reach ever higher levels. The bar is continually raised. To produce a consistent set of 50+ images with no use of editing software verges on the absurd. Would you insist on your mechanic tuning your car without the use of software just because mechanics 50 years ago didn't have software? Would you trust engineers to build a new Golden Gate bridge without software now? Photoshop is just a tool. It can be used well or it can be used badly. It can complement the model or it can obscure her. What it can't do, is make up for bad photography. You still have to have a good photo to begin with.
Ultimately though, if you don't like the new website, and you don't like the art we are producing on this site either, then what are you here for?
