Sharing the viewfinder
"The “gaze” is a term that describes how viewers engage with visual media. Originating in film theory and criticism in the 1970s, the gaze refers to how we look at visual representations. These include advertisements, [...]
Werner Herzog – Lo And Behold: Reveries of the Connected World – Official Trailer
Legendary master filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams) examines the past, present and constantly evolving future of the Internet in Lo and Behold: Reveries of the [...]
18 Photos Of Celebrities Before And After Photoshop
Celebrities already have an arsenal of image improvement tricks, like make-up, the best personal trainers, plastic surgery, and the list goes on. That list also includes tweaks and touch-ups using Photoshop software. Read more [...]
The 45 most seductive women of all time
From the article at buro24/7.com.au: "What makes a woman seductive? If you ask Leonardo da Vinci, it's the mysterious, beguiling smile of a certain Mona Lisa. For Botticelli, it was tendrils of golden locks swirling [...]
The great art cover-up: Renaissance nudity still has power to shock
From the article by Jonathon Jones in The Guardian: Sistine Chapel buttocks are veiled, while Leonardo’s Leda was so saucy she was destroyed. But prudish censorship only confirms the pulling power of art. You never [...]
Article: If famous works of romantic fiction were written while dating in 2016
From the article from The Daily Life by Clem Bastow: "Last week, after another no-show Tinder date, I poured my heart out in a Facebook status (diaries are for chumps): despite my enduring optimism about meeting [...]
Fomosexuality? Interesting phenomenon…
From the article by Dr Nikki Goldstein at news.com.au "Our lives have been overtaken by the concept of FOMO, and this ‘fear of missing out’ on anything is pushing us to quick fixes and further [...]
Article from The Book of Life: Sexual Non-Liberation
From the Book of Life: We are repeatedly given messages that we live in sexually enlightened times, that we belong to a liberated age. And therefore the implication is that we ought by now to [...]
How Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick Wrote ‘White Rabbit’
When Grace Slick wrote “White Rabbit” in late 1965, she never imagined the song would pave the way for psychedelic rock and inspire several generations of lead female rock singers, including Pink, who covers it [...]
Photographers I Admire – Lutz Dille
From The Compassionate Eye of Lutz Dille by Vincenzo Pietropaolo: The street is like a stage of everyday life, the public sphere of much of our existence, especially in larger cities where the critical mass of [...]
Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness
Before clothing, the nonretractable human penis would have been conspicuous to potential mates. This observation has generated suggestions that human penis size partly evolved because of female choice. Australian researchers have found that penis size [...]
From article: Forget romance. Some women just want sex
From the article by Vanessa de Largie at The Courier Mail We’ve known for a while now that clean-cut Richie Strahan is Australia’s newest Bachelor, and it has just been announced that TV news anchor Georgia [...]
Article: Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists
From the article at Psychology Today: Let's start by getting our definitions straight: An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in [...]
Updated! Playboy Without A Hefner – Article
From an editorial on HOP by Cooper Hefner: Yesterday, I did an interview with Business Insider. The piece was titled, “Hugh Hefner’s son speaks out against Playboy’s decision to go non-nude and sell the Mansion.” I spoke more openly [...]
Signed up for Werner Herzog’s Masterclass!
When the legendary director Werner Herzog was 19, he stole a camera and made his first movie. 70 films and 50 awards later, Werner is teaching documentary and feature filmmaking. You’ll learn [...]
Article: Mirror Sex: Why We Absolutely Love Watching Ourselves F*ck
From an article at Elite Daily, Gigi Engle on LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX Watching ourselves have sex is a turn-on in itself. You get to take on two, very sexually exciting roles all at once: the voyeur [...]
What I’m watching…François Truffaut documentary: ‘La Leçon de Cinema’
The documentary examines Truffaut’s life and career in astonishing totality, highlighting selected clips from many of his best and most-loved films, including under-appreciated gems like his crackerjack movie-within-a-movie, Day for Night, and [...]
Emilia Clarke: “You know I did it, why can’t the boys do it?”
If you haven't seen the latest episode of Game of Thrones (episode five: 'The Door), stop reading NOW. For those that have, you'll probably be aware of the, ahem, revealing scene in question. In the [...]
Do you play ‘The Long Game’?
Watching both videos will only take several mins. Yet, YouTube would advise that this is WAY too long for an successful online video in 2016. Think about it. [...]
RIP Philip Townsend 1940 – 2016
I only just read that Phillip Townsend passed away earlier this year. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/26/philip-townsend-obituary See Photographers I Admire - Phillip Townsend to see why I lament his loss. As the Sixties swung and Britain subverted the [...]
Article: Seeking a connection to the earth… A look at modern paganism
From 'Seeking a connection to the earth... A look at modern paganism': Paganism is a broad umbrella term for earth-based polytheistic religions — anything from Greek traditions to Nordic, Celtic and beyond. Unlike Abrahamic religions [...]
Jawdroppingly beautiful footage of a RC drone flying through a firework display will leave you breathless!
The spectacular display is filmed by actually flying the drone through the middle of the display – the results are staggering. Mind you... were they just lucky? Flying A Drone Through Fireworks [...]
What I’m reading… Sexuality in Western Art
The book covers art from the so-called "prehistoric Venuses," cave paintings and carvings and takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the whole of western art (with a few diversions to eastern art such [...]
The secrets of filming sex scenes and why I prefer real in my art
To hear most actors tell it, filming sex scenes is no turn-on. There are big cameras, of course, and big crew members that come with them. It’s a performance with a stranger-turned-scene-partner, for a director [...]
When Sex Ed Goes Wrong – by Evan Cooper at HOP
From HOP: Talking to teenagers about sex is difficult – no one wants to do it but everyone agrees it is necessary. But for millions of teens, both in the US and elsewhere, sex education [...]
Article – The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Sex by Pamela Madsen
From the blog post by Pamela Madsen What we are is fragmented and that is what we are conditioned to be. We are conditioned from the earliest of ages to successfully sever the core of [...]
Recommended – Photography tutorial: ‘Exploring lighting and exposure’ with Ben Long
Well, actually I'm not watching this excellent series of videos at lynda.com. I watched them all years ago... It''s just a heads-up to the many people who ask me where they can learn about photography. [...]
Robert Cornelius’ Self-Portrait: The First Ever “Selfie” (1839)
Oxford Dictionaries announced their word of the year for 2013 to be “selfie”, which they define as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded [...]
A rising trend – Females assert themselves in sex-selfies
The word ‘selfie’ was coined in Australia. The first use of the word selfie in any paper or electronic medium appeared in an Australian internet forum on 13 September 2002 in Karl Kruszelnicki's 'Dr Karl [...]
The 25 Year Difference
Enough said! And here is another. This time the advancement in only 9 years.
The Future of Sex Tech Looks Awesome/Terrifying
From the article b Laura Secorun Palet: Would you 3-D scan your genitals? Or have sex with a robot? How about tracking your intercourse with an intimate wearable? You might want to start thinking about [...]
Oculus Rift is going to destroy families and relationships
From an article by Kyle Smith Smartphones today are zapping dates, dinners, conversations and spontaneous meetings so everyone can disappear into his own independent iFog. Another filmmaker, Wim Wenders, foresaw this as far back as [...]
What I’m reading – Romping Through the Apocalypse by Joy St James
A new post by Joy St James... From Romping Through the Apocalypse, the latest post from Joy St James: Some people get drunk. Others take drugs. Still others channel their worldly despair into workalcoholic [...]
Ansel Adams: Photography With Intention
With an oeuvre that’s both innovative and enduring, the US photographer Ansel Adams is almost universally regarded as a master of his craft and a pioneer in photographic art. Because his black-and-white landscapes [...]
What I’m reading… ‘David Bailey’s Democracy’
From An Introduction by Desmond Morris... When viewing these portraits it is important to make a distinction between nudity and nakedness. To me, these are naked bodies but they are not nudes. Traditionally the nude [...]
Why Females are Selective… In the Vagina
We seldom think of ourselves as “purely biological” organisms, but it’s a good exercise sometimes. If we take our conceptions of love, sexuality, and self-actualization out of the picture, we occasionally stumble upon some really [...]
Why does our Instagram generation think its snaps are so special?
When two amateur photographers on a cruise took the same picture of an iceberg, one accused the other of plagiarism. This ridiculous row is just the tip of a very ordinary iceberg From the article: [...]
How the Joy of Sex was illustrated…
Forty years ago, a London publisher was working on a groundbreaking sex manual - a "gourmet guide" to sexual pleasure, with copious and detailed illustrations. But how could this be done tastefully and legally? Read [...]
Apple’s iPad Safari users watch more porn than Android tablet users – report
Steve Jobs may have won the battle with Adobe by excluding Flash-driven websites on his apple devices, but even with the restrictions on apps, he was unable to prevent his iPad being used as a [...]
One-Third of Amateur Porn Is Filmed in the Bible Belt
A six-month research study of all amateur porn submitted to Homegrown Video, an amateur video hub, found that nearly one-third of all homemade sex tapes submitted to the site were created in the Bible Belt, [...]
Rise of ‘revenge selfies’: How people are employing hot models to pose as their new partners
You seriously have to be kidding! BeautifulPeople.com, a dating website for 'good-looking people', has launched a revenge selfie service. From article: The rise of Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook makes it increasingly difficult to get over [...]
2016 has definitely not been a great year for music
Bowie, George Martin and now Prince. The music remains. Amanda
Inside The Surprisingly Sexy World Of Tumblr Porn
From the article on huffingtonpost: Even a cursory search turns up a whole host of sexy Tumblr blogs that are explicitly geared toward women, primarily straight women. They have names like "Yummy Porn for Girls," [...]
Life between f**ks….
People have sex. Even if they are not supposed to. Especially if they are not supposed to. The only people not having sex are married people, who are supposed to have sex. Mortgages, career. Buy [...]
Video: Virtual Reality and The Digital Love Industry
Soon, virtual reality is going to crash into our lives in a way we never even imagined. Though dating and masturbating have long been commandeered by the web, it's only been as [...]
The missing penis…
Here is a question I often ponder when photographing the male form.... Throughout history and across different cultures, the penis has often been valued as a symbol of considerable power. Yet the penis has seldom [...]
Facebook’s Plan to Stop People From Livestreaming Sex
From the Wired article: The internet, the old adage goes, is for porn. But, with a few clicks online, you can find a lot more than that: drugs, graphic violence, you name it. In a [...]
Article: 11 Bloggers That Drove Results by Defying Conventional Wisdom
From an article by Sarah Rickerd at jeffbullas.com Every now and then it pays to go off the beaten path. While conventional wisdom certainly has its place, there are many instances where defying it can [...]
What I’m reading… ‘The Medium is the Masses’ by Joy St James
Without seeing my face, you can’t tell I’m depressed. But aren’t you depressed, too? Just about everybody seems to be lamenting the sacrifice of quality to quantity in today’s media landscape: Jim VandeHei, the outgoing [...]
The new world of porn is revealing eternal truths about men and women…
Porn’s new pervasiveness and influence on the culture at large haven’t necessarily introduced anything new into our sexual repertoire: humans, after all, have been having sex—weird, debased, and otherwise—for quite a while. But pervasive hard-core [...]
What kind of sex are you filming anyway?
“In my opinion, there are two things that can absolutely not be carried to the screen: the realistic presentation of the sexual act and praying to God.” ― Orson Welles Sex can be just about [...]
Are we transcendentalists with iPhones ?
"The practice of self-portraiture has never been cheaper or wider. The #selfie hashtag on Instagram summons a torrent of self-portraits, ranging in style from glamour shot to mugshot. Now, we are a mob of self-portraitists. [...]
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…
Filmmakers intentionally use penis shaped objects for dramatic effect more often that you'd expect. In this video, let's look at how phallic symbols contribute to the visual storytelling of a film. More [...]
Light and Dark….
"I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working [...]
How JG Ballard predicted social media, in 1977
From an article by Toby Manhire In The Internaut: An imagining of the future by JG Ballard, the British essayist and sci-fi author, in a 1977 essay gives a pretty impressive account of the pervasiveness [...]
Article: Sex selfies are on the rise, but here’s why they’re not such a bad thing.
From the article by Amanda Chatel, YourTango: A sex selfie isn't just a sexy photo meant to tease, tantalize, or even be saved forever as proof that, hot damn, you were hot when you were [...]
On watching: The Kubrick ‘Gaze’
This ‘gaze’ in a Kubrick film is usually a closeup, where it appears as though they are looking directly into the eyes of the viewer, threatening to break down the 'fourth wall'. [...]
Is Compersion a Form of Sexual Mudita?
Interesting article... from the conclusion: I do indeed feel that compersion is a form of sexual mudita. But I also feel that to evince that in a relationship requires a very deep self-examination and maturity [...]
Mirror, mirror on the wall: A brief look at katoptronophilia!
From the article by Dr Mark Griffiths: “Theories suggest that katoptronophilia is fed from a basal narcissistic instinct. It is a combination of narcissism and degradation and a feeling of over powering dominance. It’s like [...]
Article: Shedding Light on the Myths About Women Who Have a Lot of Sex
From the article By Marrie Lobel Nothing irritates me more than persistent half-truths and complete fabrications hyped as fact. Myths about women’s sexuality are continually refurbished and bought by the masses; old mores sold as [...]
From article: The vagina, it seems, is having a cultural resurgence…
Forget the Playboy “pussy”, the Grey’s Anatomy “vajajay”, or the Tony Abbott-style “precious flower.” These days, it’s all about the vagina-bomb: the casual, tongue-in-cheek referencing of the technical term for female genitalia at any time, [...]
Article: An inversion of the “male gaze”?
".... it's not just corporations that misunderstand female desire. Probably since the first pixelated penis arrived in a poor, unsuspecting woman's Inbox, we have suggested that men be a bit more thoughtful when it comes [...]
The mainstreaming of radically honest sex scenes on television
Sex scenes used to be a decoration or a prize for the protagonist and little else. Now, they’re a potent storytelling device. “What’s great about the current era is that people’s vulnerabilities can be revealed,” [...]
The Uterus is Connected to the Universe, and other insights – from an article by Kara Maria Ananda
From an article by Kara Maria Ananda: Women's bodies hold within them an incredible organ filled with sexual and creative power... A women's menstrual cycles and stages of life are intrinsically linked to the cycles [...]
“Being popular on Instagram is like being rich in Monopoly, isn’t it?” says Stéphanie Delpon
From the article: French Girls Do Everything Better, Even Instagram (And It’s Because They Don’t Care) “I would say that the contemporary obsession with social networks is a fairly universal phenomenon, not necessarily linked to [...]
Recommended reading: Phallic Worship a History of Sex and Sexual Rites
From a review: With so much history and religious -cultural reasoning underlying phallic symbolism and worship, I'm personally amazed, as the author appears to be, that Western civilization, for the most part, considers this such [...]
How far have we come? A quaint video from 1984 about connecting to the ‘internet’
Off topic? Hardly, when you consider how you are reading this post or watching the video. Who would have believed all this back in 1984? 1984? Why do I keep thinking of [...]
This had been a sad year for music…
George Martin, producer for The Beatles, dies aged 90, Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer, and musician. He is sometimes referred [...]
Lacking inspiration?
Visit my primary tumblr. Five years and over 40,000 images. Really amazes me that people want to improve their photography, yet think that solely taking their own pics is enough to stay on top of [...]
Article: “Pornography Addiction” – Science or Naked Rhetoric?
From the article in Psychology Today by Karen Franklin Ph.D: No one really knows what percentage of Internet use is sexually oriented, or how much money the porn industry is making. Many commonly cited figures [...]
Article: Censorship and the Fear of Sexuality
From the thought provoking article by Dr Marty Klein: Censorship is frequently discussed as a civil liberties issue. As the title of this talk suggests, I want to discuss it in another way, on a [...]
Article: Inside China’s sexual revolution
China’s attitude to sex has gone through a “revolution.” Across 20 years, Chinese citizens are almost five times more likely to have sexual relations before marriage than ever before. According to Li Yinhe, China’s first [...]
Are People Being Rude? Or Are We Overthinking Things?
From the post by Zac Scy at medium.com: One thing we can’t escape in our daily lives is the fact that we have to deal with people. Well, I say “have to” since it can [...]
How Can Anyone Resist Writing About Sex?
From the article by Julie Greicius: Gina Frangello’s views on writing sex and the importance of female friendship are hard to argue with. Her latest novel is A Life in Men. "I think sex is [...]
Forget the Tinder dating app – go and meet real people
From the article by Susie O'Brien: Dating has certainly changed in recent years, and not necessarily for the better. Singles are more likely to head to services such as Tinder, RSVP.com.au or Plenty of Fish, [...]
Emma Watson calls for feminist alternatives to pornography
Emma Watson has called for the creation of "awesome alternatives" to pornography that empower instead of objectifying women. Watson spoke as she interviewed the iconic feminist campaigner Gloria Steinem to coincide with the release of Steinem’s [...]
Old selfies dating back to the 1800s
In the 1880s companies like Kodak invented mass-produced affordable cameras that allowed for multiple copies to be made of images on 35mm film. "A hundred years before, you had to pay to have someone to [...]
23 Free Photography E-Books for you!
From Lightstalking, an excellent source of daily photography posts: You’ve seen them appear in some of our earlier posts on freebies. But today we decided to put all the eBooks together (and many more!) in a [...]
Sexy selfies are becoming a normal way to flirt
"Demand for raunchy photos and videos between couples is so high that app developer Antony Burrows created Disckreet, an app that allows couples to safely record their intimate files. It requires both partners to be [...]
Article – Dubious New British Airways Ad Speaks Volumes About How White People See Indians
From the article by Natasha Noman on mic.com: If you're familiar with the Broadway musical Avenue Q, you already know that "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." And so, it would seem, British Airways [...]
Article – Pornography or erotic art? Japanese museum aims to confront shunga taboo
From the article: Japan’s adult movie industry is among the biggest in the world, and its range of pornographic manga is eclectic and ubiquitous. But it has taken centuries-old works of art for the country [...]
The Turin Erotic Papyrus – The World’s First Men’s Magazine???
Another step back in time. From Wikipedia: The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001, also called the Erotic Papyrus or even Turin Papyrus) is an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll-painting that was created during [...]
I Modi (The Ways) – A Step Back in Time
I Modi (The Ways), also known as The Sixteen Pleasures or under the Latin title De omnibus Veneris Schematibus, is a famous erotic book of the Italian Renaissance in which a series of sexual positions [...]
Article: Engravings of Female Genitalia May Be World’s Oldest Cave Art
From the article: Since their discovery in 1994, the spectacular paintings of lions, rhinos, and other animals in southern France's Chauvet Cave have stood out as the oldest known cave art, clocking in at about [...]
Visit my tumblr… tantriclens on tumblr
Four and a half years, over 32,000 images and a massive worldwide following. Updated daily. Enjoy! Amanda xx
People are suffering from a condition where they think they are on a television show
“Given our current surveillance society and our culture of instant fame, fueled by the internet and social media, the belief that you are being controlled comes in the form of the belief that you are [...]
Composition In Storytelling – Another excellent video by Lewis Bond
The cinema screen is just another canvas for an artist to create images. Composition is the tool that gives those images structure and purpose. Like his other videos available on YouTube, this video [...]
Article: Instagram Sensation Nude Yoga Girl Explains Her Practice
From The Cut/NY Mag: Nude Yoga Girl first appeared on Instagram less than a month ago. To a certain extent, her account is precisely as advertised: a girl, nude, doing yoga. But it looks like [...]
Article: What a girl wants: The rise of porn for women
From the article: One of the world's most popular pornographic websites recently revealed that women make up a quarter of its global audience. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Men are more visually stimulated than women. Everybody [...]
