[Natalie Nattis | ph. Robert Voltaire]

In the words of Robert Voltaire:

When you were young you remember seeing a portrait of a topless woman on the beach.

The photograph was taken on the French Riviera.

The woman in the picture was obviously beautiful, but there was more to her than that.

Yes, she was topless and as a young man that did not go unnoticed.

But there was something else.  Something that you would carry with you in your subconscious mind for many years.  It was a seed planted in your mind before you knew you would become a photographer.

An idea.

You would ask yourself: why aren’t American woman allowed to be topless on the beach?

The photo represented freedom.  

She was an independent spirit who didn’t give her nudity a second thought.

And she shouldn’t have.  There was nothing indecent or immoral about it.

That image has never left you.

That summery elegance. 

Their secret connection.

Unrestricted.

They say if a photographer falls in love with a model she will live forever.

[Brianna Stone | PointSevenMach Jue 2017 | ph. Robert Voltaire]

In the words of Robert Voltaire:

You are sitting in front of her. She is standing.

She slips off her thin cotton dress and discards it on the sand.

You lower your eyes and wait until she is ready to pose. You don’t do this because you are uncomfortable looking at her. You do this because you don’t need to look at her. You lose yourself for a moment in a quiet reserve, a place where you often disappear to before you work.

She clears her throat. She is ready now.

You absorb the qualities that you like about her. She has thick brown hair and kind, seductive eyes.

You see everything.

You lie back against a rock and she towers above you, this bronzed goddess, this womanly figure completely open to your direction.

You will have to work quickly. It is freezing outside.

The weather and time constraint doesn’t bother you. You know the shoot will be amazing. You’ve done this before.

This is your job and you’re good at it.