porn – Camera Obscura

Pinhole polaroid porn and umigraphy portraits, by Arnoud Bakker

Arnoud Bakker — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:28:47 +0000

Text and photography by Arnoud Bakker.

A thousand words, thats what they told me, a thousand and otherwise they will not publish my thoughts and works. I think that’s fair. By telling and thinking, a thousand is just enough to explain what I think I’m doing.

As I was raised and educated as a photographer, that was like 12 years ago, when I finished Art academy, ARTez (the AKI) in Enschede (NL). I loved the darkroom that time, and I made myself a way, -by making kind of collage-like-big-paper-and-stuff-negatives- to create a world that was mine, without the -It just looks like- look… No, by being extreme with tape, cutting, and glueing, it went beyond that. It became a new reality for me.

While considering the fact that photography was still analogue in that time. A couple of years later the digital revolution was a fact, and everything became possible. With a digicam, a CF, photoshop and some patience.

Although I’m not a purist, I noticed that I didn’t felt comfortable with the new situation. I had the feeling that I was pulled in this digi-race in order to survive. But the uniqueness of an image had been degraded to zero. Nowadays every file can be copied a thousand times. Black and white pictures are printed on PE color paper.
And every minor unwanted detail can, -and will be – erased by the easy power of the clone-stamp. I didn’t believed the digital photo anymore. It even looked like people didn’t believed photography anymore.

Once there was a time, people believed photography, you could see that it was real, because it was on the picture itself, that was the proof, and otherwise it could not have been made. Now the time had come for me to decide to continue analogue photography.

Also the fact that analogue had been replaced by digital, didn’t meant that photography was explored in every way. Actually there was, -and still is- a lot of unexplored areas in photography.

I started to combine several processes. Common processes, but just combined in a different way, so new possibility’s announced.

The day the umigraphy was born. Named after a huge repro-camera, the “umigraff” (Actually I “invented” it a long time ago, but back than I didn’t felt the need to use it right away because of an overdoses of other techniques). But now It gave me the back possibilities to create valuable photo’s . The pictures became little objects again, precious, and because of the absence of a negative, they are uniques.

The beautiful silver soaked paper, that is in the camera (mainly 8 x 10″ ) during the exposure, is also the final print. Touched by the light that was there during the photo-moment, as if the paper is a silent whiteness. The photo, as if it has stolen a little of the light, and a little of the soul, of the one who is portrayed. Just like in the old times, when the Indians were afraid of being portrayed, afraid to loose their souls.

On the other hand, it gives me as a mortal, the opportunity to get a kind of grip at life, by collecting all these small pieces of soul. As if the models, the young women, kind of trust me with a piece of them. It gives me an affirmation of my existence.

* * *

An other project I have been working on is a “pinhole polaroid porn project”. As there is a lot of disciplines in photography, pinhole is one that has my interest as well. It’s a magical thing, to catch light. Perhaps even more because the instruments being used are primitive, self build and understandable. A perfect tool for light catchers in the purest form. Funny thing though, is the fact that porn is an underexposed subject for pinhole users. So I decided to explore the possibility’s of it.

I realized the ‘inconvenient’ side-effects of the camera obscura. Extremely long exposure times, a blur because of a lack of lens, and unsharpness because of movement. On the other hand, I was happy to see the first results. because its dimness. Its that effect that makes it more comfortable to look at the pictures. They became a kind of paintings. Man can say the project is a “failure” cause no matter how hard I try, the important ingredients for porn are missing.

Because of the exposure times, face expressions, become less intense, and the razer sharp pink colored skin has turned soft and greenish, by the behavior of long exposure on Polaroid. In order to get a little sharpness, I desired to use flash now and then, when I thought it was needed.

The profit in use of Polaroid, man can immediately see the results. And still there is a lot of unexpected coincidences and surprises involved with this material. But also the uniqueness of Polaroid and the light-catch story as told above are important for me.

As has been written in my photobook “Atropa bella donna”¹ “Arnoud Bakker is an alchemist who wants to create golden girls on paper”.

I try to combine a ‘perfect’ woman, and by collecting all kind of different aspects of women, I catch their light, their soul, their sexuality, their forms, in a stereographic way, their moves in small pieces of 8 mm film.

I will try to get it all, with one camera, with two camera’s, with big camera’s with small camera’s. I want their winks, their moments, their eyes, their light, mouths, tooth, their scars, their skin. I want their braveness, and their naivety. I try to order them in rows, as if I make an archive. A collection. And how things can be overwhelming like in a museum for example.

Once there was a time, I was not aware of what I was looking for, I was fascinated and restless, but couldn’t explain what I was searching for. Actually that was a good condition to be in.

The more I try to explained what I’m doing, the more it looses it’s magic, the search for a destiny, is as important for me as reaching the destiny itself. I think this , “the-Frankenstein-put-everything-together-project” as you might call it, will be a lifelong project.

Might be a bit strange for one, but I think it’s just too beautiful.

For more photography please visit Arnoud Bakker website.

Atropa bella donna, Arnoud Bakker, published by Noorderlicht, isbn 978-9076703-39-8.

Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline

Paulie & Pauline — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:48:01 +0000

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

Text and pictures by Paulie and Pauline.

Porn stars don’t have sex like the rest of us. Do they? After all, they do it wearing high heels and false eyelashes. They utter phrases like, “fuck that dirty hole!” while balanced on a barstool or suspended from a veritable trusswork of penises. They lick and suck and seldom kiss. At least that’s how we see them. And, given the nature of their work, many of us assume that all porn stars must be jaded, emotionally detached individuals who live in a hedonistic blur, void of any real intimate relationships.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

When we began photographing couples in the porn industry five years ago, we found that to a large extent the opposite was true. Far from being incapable of intimacy, the people we met thrived on the strength of their personal relationships. In spite of what the mainstream media chides as the “degrading” sex in which they engage for a living, we were not confronted with empty, passionless individuals. To be sure, the American sex industry is a large and hazardous machine that has snagged its gears on many who were too young, too naive, or too desperate. But we discovered that the industry is also populated by many deeply committed couples who could easily be described as ordinary people with extraordinary jobs.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

The idea for this project originated during a photo shoot in New York City with porn legend Adam Glasser (a.k.a. Seymore Butts, the “Tushy Man”) and his co-star Mari Possa, whose budding off-screen relationship had been chronicled in the Showtime television series “Family Business”.

© Paulie and Pauline
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Adam and Mari asked to take a break a couple of hours into the shoot. Jet-lagged and exhausted from their busy promotional tour, they spooned together on the bed in their hotel suite. Instead of dozing off as we expected, they talked softly and caressed each other like two new lovers who were enjoying a moment alone during a rare break in their busy lives. With their nod of approval, we continued shooting.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

There was nothing staged or performative about the way Adam and Mari reached for each other. No production assistants or makeup artists darted about. We did our best to remain invisible while attempting to capture their intimacy. The chemistry and ease between them was apparent. They smiled. They laughed. They were surprisingly quiet. And they kissed. Just like the rest of us.

After we saw the photos we made of Seymore and Mari, it occurred to us how much like us they seemed to be. And it occurred to us that we’d never seen anything about porn stars’ real lives. Other photographers’ projects seemed unwilling to look behind the gloss and performances, focusing instead on the banality of porn sets or the novelty of seeing porn stars in their street clothes. We wanted to get to know porn stars and their lives completely removed from their work. And we especially wanted to know about porn stars who were in committed relationships because, frankly, they seemed so ordinary. In contrast with most of the media’s exploration into their lives, which mostly focuses on the perception that porn is dehumanizing, we wanted to see their humanity. We found time and time again not only that porn stars were “normal people,” but that many of them maintained solid romantic relationships just like ours.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

Many porn performers explained to us that their performances were an extension of their own kinky sexuality. These are people who, as individuals and as a couple, made a choice to work in porn and to balance the needs of their profession with those of their private relationships. We felt like they were very much like us, and that their relationships were beautiful, supportive, and nurturing. And so, we decided to meet as many couples in porn as we could and try to document something real and genuine about their relationships that could resonate with anyone – everyone. In contrast to their aggressively sexual performances, we asked them to let us just spend time with them as a couple – no direction, no script. And as they went about their daily lives they slowly revealed themselves to be funny and sweet, playful and silly, insecure and supportive – beautifully ordinary thinking, feeling, loving individuals and couples.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

The book that we recently published about this project (“Off the Set: Porn Stars and Their Partners” Aural Pink Press¹) certainly doesn’t try to make a statement about the porn industry as a whole. Like most of the other industries in what we think of as the “human circus” – whether it’s popular music, professional sports, or reality television – the porn industry is a vast and varied place that does not operate without a certain human cost. We only mean to turn attention to one discreet part of the porn industry where we discovered a sense of community. These ten couples are a microcosm within that rough beast slouching toward Canoga Park But we believe that their stories can contribute something meaningful to the very incomplete current discussion about porn.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

We hope that our photos, and certainly the essays in the book written by our subjects, give a voice to porn stars that hasn’t really had a forum before. There are definitely more people now who are producing scenes and videos that reflect individuals, rather than bodies. The sex may still be explicit, but there is an increasing focus on real chemistry between partners and real pleasure, especially women’s pleasure. The porn industry is becoming more diverse with its performers, and with its performances, and it’s reaching a much broader audience. We think that it’s time to generate real, meaningful discussion about the role of sex workers, and we think they should have their own voice.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

As a book of documentary photography, “Off the Set” is the first book that attempts to truly humanize this particular group of individuals who remain pushed to the margins. As individuals and as couples, the people we photographed for this book have fought to express themselves on their own terms. We didn’t approach them as though they were exotic animals, carnival acts, or victims. We asked them if we could just be with them for a while when they were just being themselves because that’s what we found truly interesting about them. They invited us into their homes, made us tea, opened a bottle of wine, let us play with their dogs, and talked to us about their families while we waited for opportunities to preserve a moment when they were just purely, beautifully human.

© Paulie and Pauline
Please visit Off the set: porn stars and their partners, by Paulie and Pauline for the full size image.

“Off the set: porn stars and their partners” is available on Amazon at this adress.