What are erotic photographs, what is eroticism and what should I know?
Eroticism is how the eye plays in pleasure, in a world considered private. It is not the same as pornography: eroticism suggests and provokes, and lets the imagination finish the job.
Erotic photography lives on that border: the body, the gaze and the gesture blend to awaken desire. At Obscuro Placer we go as far as the artistically explicit, and there we stop: we do not make pornographic content.
A history of eroticism
Erotic photography and eroticism are the subject of our article, but this is nothing modern or new: it has been with us for as long as people have existed. Some theories hold that early humans evolved softer, more attractive and more prominent sexual features, adapted for sight and pleasure; later came a more conscious use of what was erotic and, along the same lines, a stricter handling of what was forbidden.
How it developed through history
As counterparts of one another, since the time of the Greeks and Eros (the god of pleasure), desire had its own place among the gods, and nearly every culture, from Pompeii to Japanese shunga, has portrayed pleasure.
Later, art took the woman as a means of expression, and the “Venuses” arrived: Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” (1538), Goya’s “The Nude Maja” (around 1800) and Manet’s “Olympia” (1863), whose direct gaze and lack of mythological disguise scandalized Paris. They can be considered among the first images to represent, with full intent, not only nudity but eroticism, exhibition, the forbidden and pleasure hand in hand with the sense of sight.
With photography, eroticism found a new canvas, and in the 20th century it reached galleries and museums. It is, certainly, the tool that will be, for Obscuro Placer, the foundation and canvas on which we shape our art and photographic style.
The tragic side
Sadly, the erotic has not always been well accepted, and it has gone through periods of censorship and prohibition. For centuries, the dominant religious morality in the West, especially that of Catholicism, limited sexuality to reproduction, reduced the phallus to something aberrant and demanded that a woman’s body be covered and her sexuality hidden beneath her clothes.
Goya had to answer to the Inquisition for his “Majas”, and it was not until the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s that eroticism began to find a more open place; even today it remains an uncomfortable subject for many.
What are erotic photography and eroticism to us?
It is important to begin by making clear that for us, “Obscuro Placer”, eroticism is something perfectly normal, with no sinful, immoral or evil context; quite the opposite: we consider it, without a doubt, the summit of sexuality, pleasure and desire and, even more important, an extremely important pillar of our society and of personal relationships; in other words, something that should be cared for, protected and encouraged. That said, we will explain a little of how we see and feel it.
The concept
To make public what everyone knows but nobody talks about because it is improper, yet which exposes an open secret: desire and pleasure. What matters here is turning the viewer into an observer of intimacy, into the daring gaze that watches what is forbidden and hidden, and from that creating a means of arousal and a fusion of art within it.
Indirectly, clothing itself works in our favor and provides a fundamental feeling, the desire to see; in the same way, undressing serves that same end, which is pleasure, because desire demands to see. This leads us to think of exhibition, as the viewer becomes a “voyeur”. But arousal does not depend on a single reason, nor on how much you manage to see: the mind takes part in everything. What counts is what we like, the pleasure it gives us, the barrier we feel we are crossing, the privilege of seeing what few see, exclusivity and complicity. Generally it depends on all of that, and even so, in almost every case there is a direct relationship: as the level, intensity and intent of an image rise, the desire it awakens tends to rise too.
How do we make our erotic photos?
We speak of nudity and eroticism from the dimension of beauty, from the romantic point of view of eroticism.
Nudity can be art as long as the subject (the body) is treated as a whole, so that sexual attributes do not take on sole importance and everything works detached from that aspect (“Freud – 1905”). Sigmund Freud set down some clear concepts that separate art from pornography; we agree with that idea to a large degree but, on the other hand, we give our own version, on which we build our own art.
We believe in a whole, where the body and sexual attributes are the main characters, but are also wrapped in a set of circumstances, such as the lighting, the elements, the moments and situations that finish seasoning and complementing the art and the intention.
Our erotic signature
As in all our styles, we allow ourselves to be creative and curious, but it is in this style in particular that we allow ourselves a degree of aggressiveness and a direct, clear way of communicating, at times without detours; in contrast with other times when everything is wrapped in the mantle of false innocence and small, barely visible subtleties that make the viewer believe in an innocent, mischievous idea of what is going on underneath.
We love adding to the mix not only sexual attributes but the exquisite range of facial expressions and visual messages that every gesture gives us, while they speak clearly of what is being lived in that moment; but on the other hand, we also work on an aspect of anonymity.
The use of anonymous photos, rather than distorting the person in each photo and prioritizing only what is forbidden and hidden, is something we use at Obscuro Placer as a medium or tool to create a safe space for our clients and to become accomplices and open a small crack in the system, achieving a mischievous balance between society’s obligation to hide the forbidden and the rebellion of showing and disobeying, thus finding, ironically, eroticism and pleasure in these nudes sheltered and fueled by the very anonymity that seeks to mitigate and limit it.
Erotic photography as a couple or alone
An erotic session can be experienced as a couple or alone. As a couple, the camera becomes an accomplice to the intimacy that already exists: looking at each other, teasing each other and daring together, and keeping that moment as a memory of your own. Alone, it is an encounter with yourself: seeing yourself as desirable, seeing yourself through other eyes and deciding how you want to show yourself. In both cases, everything is done with consent, clear agreements and respect for each person’s limits.
What you can gain from an erotic session
Beyond the photos, many people say a session like this leaves them with something more: a sense of adventure and adrenaline, the satisfaction of having dared, the chance to break through a fear, to accept themselves and to see an image of themselves more attractive than the one we sometimes picture.
Besides, everyone moves at their own pace. Some start with a subtler style and, over time, discover themselves in more liberated and daring stages; each step brings the sense of achievement of having crossed a personal frontier, and of feeling more confident, brave and powerful. For some people the experience is even felt as therapeutic, and that is why we look to work with therapists who see it as a support for self-love. It never replaces professional care.
Desire and eroticism: why they are essential in our lives
Desire, pleasure, attraction to the body, sensuality and eroticism are a vital part of our lives. They are not a whim or a vice: they are tied to how we see ourselves, how we love ourselves and how we relate to others.
Healthy self-esteem needs this side too. Feeling desirable, brave and powerful is not frivolous: it is a way of loving yourself, and when this part is repressed or shamed, confidence and enjoyment are often dimmed as well. Not every session gives the same to every person, but the experience can leave a mark, and a good one.
Why we believe it is worth it
We believe eroticism has been demonized, criticized and judged very unfairly. We want to normalize it in a healthy, consensual way and break down the prejudices that repressed it for centuries. We are a studio and we sell photos, but we also defend an art that must not be lost.
Our invitation is simple: once in your life, allow yourself the experience. Give yourself a session, alone or as a couple, and find out what it feels like to see yourself this way.
“A contemplation of the body with a sexual aim is, to a certain extent, the property of all normal people; it is even what offers the possibility of directing part of their libido toward higher artistic ends.” — Sigmund Freud
