What is sexy?
In a world where everything seems to be scrutinized, judged and criticized I find myself increasingly in awe of anyone who’s comfortable enough in their own good self to be naked.
Particularly beyond the boundaries of their bedroom door.
Hell even in your bedroom sometimes you’re not safe from society’s expectations and judgments.
How do you/we measure up?
Are you sexy?
Are you sexy enough?
What the hell is sexy anyway?
Being a ‘photographer’ (how do you even define that anymore) I’m often privy to moments in peoples lives that challenge them to step outside the comfort zone.
Some people relish the opportunity.
Some take a little longer to gingerly edge across the line.
And some never do.
Either one of those three is entirely fine by me.
For me, my interpretation of ‘sexy’ comes entirely from someone’s core.
It can be subtle, it can be outrageously obvious or it can simmer just below the surface.
I first met the young lady in my blog today several years ago in a beautiful corner of the world quite by chance as a friend of a friend.
I noticed in an instant (my opinion only but I know you’d feel the same way if you met her) a sultriness and an “X” factor (not to be confused with “EX” Factor – I should be so lucky) that she had surrounding her when we met.
I remember thinking “this is going to be awesome.”
And I wasn’t wrong.
Her sexiness translated to my images effortlessly.
She wasn’t confident in the shoot by any means, if anything she was nervous and very unaware of her appeal.
I knew though, if I ever got the chance, I’d love to shoot her again.
I can walk through a group of one hundred people and my photo radar can usually single out at least one person with something about them I’d love to shoot.
StayZ is one such person.
We met up several weeks ago in remarkable circumstances where you could easily argue (and we do) that ‘the universe provided.’
Aiming to meet ‘somewhere’ down a major highway (and we were talking about a 40km radius) I pulled out into traffic from a roadhouse literally 50m in front of her car.
“You’re the car behind me aren’t you?” I quizzed when I phoned her moments later.
She was.
It was literally too amazing to fathom.
We found a wooded area to the left and pulled in – I always seem to find a great place to shoot – thank you Universe once more.
She’d assembled some pretty cool themes in the two weeks we’d planned to shoot and I remember feeling a real air of excitement as we found a spot to start.
Like anyone, she has a story.
It’s also a story of resilience, of recovery and of determination to move forward and live the rest of life on her own terms.
She didn’t go into detail.
She didn’t have to.
What I did take from it though was she’d certainly been down a road where there were only two options.
And I’m glad she took the right one.
Regardless of where she’d been and what had happened, I noticed immediately that essence of sexiness was still there in spades.
She was open.
She was cheeky.
She was fun and she put her faith in me and what we could jointly achieve.
You can’t ask for more than that.
I remember feeling so overwhelmingly proud of her throughout the two hours we spent shooting.
I find her damn sexy.
And I always have.
I think a sexy mind, a killer set of curves and a willingness to step over the line that most people stand safely behind makes for an epic shoot.
And from my point of view that’s exactly what it was.
I wish there was some way to put these shots up as a complete SG set but I don’t think that can happen without her applying for SG Hopeful status and that was never the plan for either of us.
This her first ‘public viewing’ of her art and I hope she’s as proud as I am of the results.
“I hope I did OK for you and your project,” she says humbly.
“Yeah, you did more than OK,” I smile, trying not very hard to conceal my pride, “you did awesome.”
I hope one day we can shoot again.
I love the essence of this woman, not only for what she’s been through and to, but for how she’s emerged in the time we’ve known each other.
She excites me photographically and sensually.
I think she’s incredibly sexy.
And there’s that word.
And that’s the beauty of art.
It’s subjective.
My opinion is my own and people can or don’t have to agree with me as to what that actually is.
Shooting StayZ was a privilege and an experience I enjoyed immensely.
I respect and admire her courage to unveil her beauty and her body in a community filled with diverse, beautiful and courageous Suicide Girls the world over.
Thank you Stay, it was a blast…
