When I’m 100, I’ll Still Be Doing Pin-Ups

When I’m 100, I’ll Still Be Doing Pin-Ups

Friday night I was at a fundraiser Halloween party. I saw a woman dressed in 1950’s vintage clothing. She looked beautiful.

I approached her with my card and said, “I do pin-up photography. I want to take your picture.”

She laughed that familiar nervous laugh I often get when I approach women to photograph them. (After all, who does that, right?) I assured her I was serious. What woman doesn’t dream of being a pin-up gal?

I approached other women that night…and a waitress in a local restaurant Saturday.

Why do it? It’s simple, really.

I take pictures to celebrate people. If I don’t approach people, they’ll miss an experience that could transform how they see themselves.

As photographers, we see the world through a lens of composition, pixels, lines, and light. As a pin-up photographer, I see “it” —  that WOW factor about you that makes you beautiful.

In fact, I often see YOU differently than you see yourself.

I’ve fallen in love with pin-up photography because I want women to celebrate their womanhood. Just as there is no one-size-fits-all standard of beauty, there is no one-size-fits-all pin-up girl. Look at my gallery of images, and you’ll see that being a bombshell means different things to different people. Some like it sensual. Some like it cute. Some like it downright hot.

Pin-up can be summed up in one word: attitude.

It’s true.

Here are a few quotes from famous pin-up ladies — paired with my modern pin-up clients — that sum up why I love this taking fun and flirty photography.

 

“It`s not about seducing men, it”s about embracing womanhood”  – Dita Von Teese

 

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”  – Marilyn Monroe

 

“If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.” – Katharine Hepburn

 

“When I’m 100 I’ll still be doing pin-ups.” – Jayne Mansfield

 

“I was never the girl next door.” – Bettie Page

 

 

“When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers I kind of wanted to be a vampire.” – Angelina Jolie

 

You see, I don’t take photographs because of the actual image (although the image is the end result of the pin-up experience). I take photographs because images have power. If I dig deep down to the heart of it, I take pin-up pictures because of the feeling I get when I see a woman look at her pictures for the first time.

We’re both changed from the experience.

One recent pin-up client said to me, “Is that really me?”

“Yes,” I said.  “It’s really you.”

Why do I do it? It’s the look… that look… on woman’s face when she recognizes her beauty and the light that emanates from her.