What is beauty? by Terry Walker

In my profile I have the comment, ‘I reject the catwalk/playboy stereotype of beauty, I believe beauty is not confined to one body shape or ethnicity.’ A few people here and on other sites have asked me questions about that statement so here are a couple of the answers I have given them.

Question

You have some amazing images! I noticed in your profile you say that you reject the catwalk/playboy stereotype of beauty… how do you relate that statement to the images of models that seem to fit a lot of those characteristics?

Answer

I’ve been meaning to put the answer your question in a blog/journal/whatever for some time as the apparent contradiction bothers me too.

There are two factors that influence what appears in my published work.

1. Heavier women are less likely to put themselves out there as models, and the ones that do are often subjected to what I consider abuse. Most models out there conform to the ‘norm’ at least with regards to body shape.

2. The pool of models in my area is very small so I work with whoever is available. Even if I had the money I would still find it difficult to pick who I wanted. If I found myself in a town/city with lots of 5’2” 130lb models I would be a busy man indeed.

I get a reasonable amount of private work from wives/girlfriends wanting shots for their husbands/boyfriends (Fleur De Lisa for example). Many of them tell me that the deciding factor when selecting me to shoot their images was due to that statement. Even the slender girls like Lisa have body issues and I feel that statement reassures them too.

Occasionally a private client will allow me to use their images like this one
(another Lisa would you believe) and I love that when it happens, but of course it wouldn’t be a good idea to try and sell those shots on here when they are paying me for the privilege :D

Another question relating to the same quote on my profile

Question

Tell us about your most unusual nude model?

Answer

I don’t think I could describe any of my models as ‘unusual’, they are all very beautiful women just in different ways. I do find some models more difficult to shoot of course. I find shooting tall thin girls more of a challenge than those with a fuller figure. When I look for potential models I start off trying to find someone between 5-0 and 5-3 and weighing between 130-150lbs. Living in Shreveport however means I can’t be so selective, and in some ways it has helped me because I am forced to work harder on my images.