'Bodypainting'

There's a lot of bullshit around on the internet - one part of the bullshit that offends me, and that I'm discussing today is 'bodypainting'.

So, here is some fanastic and creative bodypainting:

By Victoris Gugenheim

By Lauren Baker

There is a beautiful and highly skilled culture around bodypainting - there are competitions, festivals and events that celebrate the talent and artistry of serious practitioners.

Bodypainting is NOT something that any random photographer can do. More often than not, unfortunately, it seems like a thinly-guised excuse to touch a naked model. A recent thread (you all know the one) discussed a model having a photographer's handprints all over her (no, he didn't miss the boobs, of course not). No, it is not art. No, it is not professional. Unless you're a doctor of some sort, there is no 'professional' way to grab someone's tits. As a result, I've seen some truely heinous bodypainting online...really really terrible. It's taking a lot of self control not to post it here, but I'm nice.

A few seem to put random swirls on a model, which look like they take about 5 mins (dragged out, of course to prolong the touching) and apparently 'its art'. The same photographers seem to also enjoy bondage photography (is that because it also involves close proximity to the model, I wonder?). There is a photographer on PS/NM famed for his fruit-arrangements on models who openly admits that his shoots are recreating past sexual encounters - all of his shoot themes seem to involve actions or ideas that will involve him touching the model. I've also turned up to a shoot to find one room covered with painty tit-prints from previous models - yes, I left. But it just seem to be normalised. No touching the models, unless ofcourse you have some paint or rope.

Before the smart-arse comes along and says 'well how do you paint a model without touching her', here it is - models, don't just agree to any shoot. Look at the quality of work - is the bodypainting any good? Has the photographer ever done it before? Will they be using decent paints, or will they just buy an acrylic set and try to use that (there's a reason real bodypainters have specialised paints!). Ask if they'll be hiring a professional bodypainter, and then look at their work. Be critical because it's your body - your skin that will get a rash, your image that will be damaged if it looks like you let photographers cop a feel, and ultimately, it's your body that's being used for cheap thrills.