Nudes of 'ordinary' women by Jane Lancashire

This is a topic dear to my heart and about which I wrote in my personal blog. Following that post I contacted Jane Lancashire, after seeing her website. 

Jane is a photographer who specialises in doing nudes of women who do not model, either professionally or semi-professionally, and who want such images for themselves, just to feel good about themselves.


The results are stunning as you can see from the photographs :

Says Jane:

It is such rewarding work, celebrating the natural, feminine curves and reminding women how beautiful they are. The creative journeys I share with clients make this a particularly enjoyable type of photography.

Clients will find that even if they have some reservations about removing their clothes, this passes almost immediately and almost everyone has commented on how liberating the experience is."

The testimonials on her website, from women who have experienced being photographed nude, often for the very first time, are proof that what she does is amazing, in terms of helping women to feel beautiful and confident.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Therefore it is perfectly possible to obtain high quality images when photographing women who may not be conventionally beautiful, but as people they are interesting and have a beauty which the camera may (or may not) capture, depending on who is taking the photograph. Jane knows how to make a woman unleash the inner goddess which is in all of us.

When I see Jane's images I feel that the only difference between me as a model and any of her clients is simply that I am more used to being photographed and feel very confident in front of the camera, regardless of who is holding it. It took a while to gain that confidence but I have it now and it will never go away. This is what allows me to be a model. There are times when some (male) photographers, usually middle aged,  try to shutter that confidence by claiming that "the best models are girls under eighteen". I look at them with pity, as what they are saying is but a projection of their desires. I am a photographer myself and I know that the camera is but an extension of my eyes. It sees what I see and my images embody my own prejudices. I believe women are beautiful, simply by being themselves,  and it's wonderful to see someone like Jane putting this philosophy into practice.

I can't help quoting here what one of the women photographed by Jane says:

"Thank you Jane for reminding us of who we are, who we can be and giving the choice of who we wish to be"

Thank you Jane for doing what you do!

Alex



More about Jane at The Real Does Not Efface Itself