After our first introductory conversation, Shannon sent me a series of twelve photographs taken by Helmut Lipschitz in 1991. They were amazing. So, when she arrived for her fine art nude session, I suggested that we first spend a few minutes duplicating the poses from twenty years earlier. Given Shannon’s expressed interest in seeing how a body changes over time in the context of body dysmorphic disorder, this seemed like a natural starting point for the session.

I unfortunately didn’t own a background canvas similar to the one Lipschitz used and because we had less than an hour to complete our work, I elected to use the black background I typically use during my fine art nude sessions. As we began, I quickly moved Shannon through each pose so we would have time at the end to create a few photos in my typical fine art style. To further explain my approach, I was inspired to reproduce the original photographs because I felt that the documentary exercise would be appreciated in later years as Shannon’s body continued to change. And I also must admit that it was a personal challenge to duplicate that lighting and those poses. After I had captured each of Lipschitz’s original twelve poses, I repositioned my lights and photographed Shannon in my own fine art style—the style of photography that had initially inspired her to select me as her photographer.

As a photographer, my fine art nude photography celebrates the human form and uses the contrasting nature of light and darkness to accentuate the positive in every subject–regardless of height, weight, gender, or body shape. With this approach, I strive to reveal the beauty I see in everyone. As you view this body of images, it’s important to note that my fine art style is typically more forgiving than the images styled from the duplicated poses. The reboot of the original session was done as a form of documentation; those poses were not intended to beautify features as is sometimes my approach in fine art photography. In fact, my only goal for the early photos in the session was to match poses and lighting that Lipschitz used twenty-one years ago. And even though the resulting photos aren’t necessarily representative of my typical fine art nude style, I feel they are an excellent testament to how a body can change—beautifully—over time.

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

This is one of the last photographs I took during our session and is typical of my fine art nude style.
The photos seen below represent the “before and after” poses I describe in my introduction.

Photo by Helmut Lipschitz, 1991

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

Photo by Helmut Lipschitz, 1991

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

Photo by Helmut Lipschitz, 1991

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

Photo by Helmut Lipschitz, 1991

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

Photo by Helmut Lipschitz, 1991

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

Photo by Helmut Lipschitz, 1991

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

Photo by Helmut Lipschitz, 1991

[REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE SUBJECT]

Photo by Rob Greer, February 2012

After this session, Shannon wrote a blog post describing her experience. That post was picked up by the Huffington Post which in turn was noticed by a local Fox News affiliate which much have then interested the producers of the TODAY show. The TODAY show segment featured below includes in-depth analysis including interviews of me, Shannon, and several body-image experts. I’m hopeful that my readers might find this interesting.

Before, during, and after this session Shannon wrote several articles about her experiences. You can read and appreciate each one of them by following these links:

Body Image: What Nude Photos Showed Me About My Body At 26 … And 46

Love. Your. Body. Now.

My Today Show Segment On Body Image