Appearances and Mental Health

I think that we live in a society that puts far more energy and effort into appearances than truth. That most of us are insecure within ourselves but are not open to accepting this. As such we put up fronts to protect our inner state of being.

However to my mind this is just manifesting a deeper and more dangerous level of insecurity. It is much about loving appearances rather than loving people and ourselves. The more we do this the more we are manifesting an intimidating and competitive world.

Aesthetics, DepressionTony Ryan12 August 2016Comment

Commodity Bodies

I am regularly running workshops helping photographers to photograph the female nude. In one workshop the theme for the day was about not being competitive in a cold way. The concept or philosophy being that we humans tend to compete against each other in a need to protect ourselves and also to have control. This is also very apt for women with bodies and faces like the model I photographed in this particular workshop.

AestheticsTony Ryan10 April 2013 Comment

Young Nudes Not so Black and White

nb; The following piece was written a few years ago in follow up to another piece I had written about an Australian photographer who was in the news for photographing people under 18 years of age.Mr.Rudd was at the time Prime Minister of Australia and had made some strong comments in the media about Mr.Henson.

In writing Child Pornography my motivation was not so much about Bill Henson and his photos as it was about beauty, freedom and innocence. I am 44 yet I still so believe that the world can be a beautiful and pure place. When I heard of Mr. Rudd’s comments I felt a deep passion to open up discussion about what had transpired.

AestheticsTony Ryan24 November 2010Comment

Why Women - the reason behind the photos

Why have I chosen to photograph women on this site and not men? The first reason is that women are my passion. As a photographer I love photographing women whose aesthetic beauty I find to the most captivating of all God's creations.

I don't find the shape of mens bodies to be perfect in an artistic sense and further I am just not passionate about their looks, they do not inspire me to be creative.

AestheticsTony Ryan21 March 2005 Comment

Anita’s Thoughts

These photos mean a great deal to me. Like most females, I have struggled with my appearance since I was about 13. However I was actually severely depressed for several years and admitted to hospital following a suicide attempt. No- one needs to hear about the pressure on girls to look good in society, it's pervasive in every aspect of our lives. Our insecurity is an excellent marketing tool, enabling the cosmetics industry and plastic surgeons to make millions from us every year.

Models, Depression, AestheticsTony Ryan5 November 2004 Comment