One of the biggest names in photography in India, Rafique Sayed writes exclusively for Fotoflock.com. In this column, he shares his thoughts on the use of nudity in fine art photography.

Fine art is difficult to define. It is the creative vision of a photographer and it changes its shape accordingly. It is not photogenic nor is it commercial. Fine art is when an artist comes up with his own concept and is committed towards it. Though art is subjective, fine art stands apart from commercial art and photojournalism.

The essentials for capturing fine-art
There has to be a desire to create something. There has to be a commitment to be original and different. You need to be in love with the kind of image you are creating. It differs for every photographer as each has his/her own vision. That is the reason you cannot define it. It has a vast expanse from abstract to nature and you can come up with pretty much anything. But it also depends on the buyer, the exhibitor and many people who accept it and define it as fine art.

Fine art is not just about nudes
Unfortunately in India when we talk about fine art, nudity is the first thing that comes to our mind. And that just narrows down the whole concept of fine art. Nudity is one of the concepts of fine art but not the only thing. Moreover, you will see that a lot of nude pictures show models with perfect bodies and while doing so the photographers create a concept of beauty. Now the moment you create one concept of beauty as a photographer, it is too dangerous because beauty has no concept. What you call beautiful may not be interpreted in the same way by another person.

To me beauty is a concept where the character of a person means more than what you can see. Beauty without character has no image. How many people in India use male models for their nudes? They always go for female nudity. And even then female nudes feature women who have a well shaped body, which seems ridiculous to me. There are a few international photographers, none from India, who have shot fat women and produced brilliant images. So it is what you look for in the other person that matters the most in fine art.

Nudity and the photographer
A photographer has to be comfortable with nudity to exploit the true potential of this style of photography. Talking about sex is still a taboo in this country. Renowned sexologist, Dr. Prakash Kothari has said in one of his books that most men in India never seen their wives naked. Indians are not very comfortable with their body. And if you don’t love your body, however it is, you are not going to be comfortable with anyone else’s body.

The human body is beautiful irrespective of its shape and size. So the photographer has to be just as comfortable as the model when shooting nudes to bring out its beauty.

Trust and comfort of the model
No woman would want to go and pose naked in front of any other person.  So a comfort level has to be established between the photographer and the model. I am not talking about physical aspect here but the psychological one. The model has to be comfortable and understand that she is creating an image. So, psychologically the model has to be more open and strong to go ahead and be a part of the process.

Fine art nudes in India
In India, people are still not open to fine art nudes. I haven’t sold many of my nude pictures in India because painting is still an abstract but the photographic nude is the real body. And people aren’t yet ready to display it anywhere other than their bedrooms.