Rachel Lovitt joins us

Rachel Lovitt by Brian Mackey
"The Shower Portraits"

Self-portrait fine art nude photographer" and art model, Rachel Lovitt is from Northeastern USA.

When I saw her photos for the first time, I felt this little beat in my heart, telling me I just found a true artist, and you know how much I love this feeling.

" I am a self-portrait fine art nude photographer. I take fine art photographs of myself nude. How do I do it ?

I started out using the self-timer feature on my camera for self-portraits. Generally, I would set it for ten seconds. I soon realized that some shots needed more time to set up and pose, especially when shooting on a ladder in a photographer’s studio. I needed to be able to trip the shutter, climb the ladder, and then pose in time for the shutter release. So I began varying the timer from ten seconds to twenty seconds, selecting a time that was suitable for the pose and location."

"Dont Want to Cry Anymore"

" Now, however, I use an infrared remote. The IR remote has made it much simpler to shoot, but I still often use a timer setting rather than an immediate shutter release. I don’t want the remote to appear in my photos ! Sometimes I can hide the remote near my body. Other times, well… I’ve been known to fling it (gently, of course) across the room to get it out of range of the viewfinder !

"Equilibrium III"

" When I shoot self portrait nudes, I tend to run back and forth to the camera a fair bit, particularly when setting up a new angle or changing the zoom. I think this would look incredibly amusing to an outsider… nude woman peers through viewfinder, adjusts camera and camera settings, runs to sofa and poses, presses remote, hops up and runs to camera, looks at camera and makes any adjustments needed, then runs back to sofa to pose again… It must look downright comical !

Little or none of the running back and forth occurs during an emotional set. In such a shoot, I simply let my emotions dictate the poses and the expressions. I merely pause for the shutter release. I find a very short timer or no timer is best for these shoots. That way I can “dance” through the expression of the emotion, posing fluidly one shot after another.

"Checkmate"

" For me, self-portrait photography is a journey of self-empowerment. On this journey, I am empowered to explore, examine, and reflect upon my own values and aesthetics, my own body, and sense of who I am.

In photographing myself, I am finding myself. Sometimes, the discovery and resulting image is beautiful and inspiring. Other times, it is sorrowful or even frightening. Self-portraiture demands that I look at myself, perhaps more deeply than ever before. I have not always liked what I have seen and learned about myself, but I have never regretted taking a single photograph.

"Cleanse"

" I also collaborate with other artists to make social and political statements about women’s issues in which I cannot be effective with a simple remote and a tripod. I have completed several editorial series addressing topics such as body image, self esteem, violence against women, and women’s cancers.

This artistic and personal process has been one of the most fulfilling and rewarding journeys as a woman, a mother, and an artist. My digital photography has given me the freedom to express my opinions, my pains, my perspectives, and my beliefs on many of the issues that women face today. We live in a fast-paced, multi-media-saturated age in which we are bombarded daily with images and messages. Hopefully my work provides a wider view of what a woman truly is and can be, not merely what the popular visual media presents."

"The Mourning After"