National Nude Day, Pornochic, and the Creativity of AI

Today is National Nude Day, and my view of the nude has probably always been a little different than the holiday intended.

I’ve long been drawn to what I think of as pornochic, where fashion, sexuality, fantasy, and photography overlap. I’m not interested in photographing the nude simply because it is nude. I’m interested in creating images that have attitude, mystery, confidence, and enough sexuality to make the viewer stop and wonder what is happening beyond the frame.

This image is an AI creation based on one of my original photographs from a studio session with model Shauna Toerner in downtown Los Angeles. AI allowed me to take that photograph and push it into a surreal fantasy. The repeated figures, identical red masks, and bold red chair create a scene that never existed in front of my camera, yet every element began with one of my own photographs.

What excites me about AI is not that it replaces photography. It doesn’t. It gives me another creative tool for exploring ideas that would be impossible to produce in a real studio. I still begin with my own camera, my own lighting, and my own photographs. AI simply lets me continue the creative process after the shutter has been released.

For me, photography has never been limited to recording reality. Sometimes the most interesting images are the ones that exist somewhere between reality, sexuality, and fantasy.

You can see more of my photography, projects, motion, and my Blog on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com

Thank You!