Sofa Sofa - STEVEN R. TABOR

Sofa Sofa

Is inner-beauty revealed when we are at ease?

Our sofa is a place for relaxing. It’s for reading a book, watching TV, lounging and chilling-out. It’s a safe space. It's a place where there are no dress codes; where everyone can be themselves, and can do their own thing.

The images in this series were taken of the model Maya in photo-shoots held in December 2019 and March 2020. Our house was used as the setting for the photo-shoots, and Maya was asked to pose as she wished in various rooms of the house. Later she posted a number of images taken from these photo-shoots to her social media sites. The ones that attracted the most comments and “likes” were those of her on the sofa. Why this is the case is hard to say, but perhaps it has something to do with the combination of a comfortable sofa and an attractive model at ease.

This series was inspired by the work of one of my favorite photographers, Sanne Sannes. Sanne Sannes (1937-1967) is known for his erotic portraits of women. Most of his photographs were made in natural light, many are out-of-focus, employ big film grain, and are often underexposed. Sannes made use of extreme close-ups of breasts or faces, merging bodies in double exposures, and scratching his negatives. Although eroticism was predominant, it was Sannes’ goal to capture the emotion of the model. In 1966, he commented on this in the Parool newspaper: "‘My photographs cause a stir because they are emotional (…), because the woman is not showing her exterior, but her interior: erotic desire, fear, distress, timidity. (…) The models in the American Playboy Magazines are frigid. I am not photographing sex. I am photographing eroticism. And to me, that makes a woman simply beautiful."

If you'd like to see the full series, download the PDF catalogue by clicking here.