Photographing Nudes

That first time is a big deal. Actually, it’s always a big deal.

Jerry Uelsmann, Untitled (1977) — This image was my key inspiration. It took one curvy shaded line to make the rock alive and sexy. This was on the wall in my living room when I was 14 and I looked at it for countless hours.

I grew up in a home covered in historic photos from folks like Adams, Cartier-Bresson, and Kertesz. But to be honest, I was more interested in the nudes. Maybe it would be better to cop to it and just admit that I was a normal teen boy and these were sexy to me; I was well aware that I couldn’t go to a 7–11 and buy a Playboy magazine but I could sit around my living room and look at any number of naked bodies photographed by Ruth Bernhard, Jerry Uelsmann, Lucien Clergue, Harry Callahan, Ed Weston… as a teenager I felt like I had seen a lot of women’s bodies from a lot of points of view, but I didn’t yet know how I’d see women —I was still developing an understanding about attraction and sexuality. A camera, as someone famous said, gives you permission to look. And I wanted permission.

Susan (Rubin, 1980) We were in high school. She was dressed.

I don’t like saying it, but I’ve always felt that I was a solid photographer — I’m not a gifted musician, I can’t draw. But composing moving objects in a frame always felt natural.

I was attracted to a number of girls at my high school, but none it seemed would date me. Some, however, were up for being in…