The Playboy Line

Remember the infamous and bloody Siegfried Line of World War 1? Me neither. I ain't that old. But, perhaps like me, you've read about it.

The 20th Century saw lines of all manner being drawn-- Real, imaginary, even arbitrary. These lines depicted a point or place or, well, a line where crossing (or not crossing) that line indicated something. It's like drawing a line in the sand or, when we were kids, drawing a line and daring someone to cross it... usually as a preamble to a fight. Other words for these kinds of lines include borders and boundaries.

In glamour photography, there's a known line, a border or boundary, that most shooters are aware of: The Playboy line. Not everyone might call it that but most shooters know what it is and where it's at when it's spoken about.

The Playboy line speaks to a model's limitations in terms of what she will or will not do in front of a camera. If I'm negotiating with a model and I ask her about her limitations and she says she's okay with everything up to Playboy, I know where that line is and I know exactly what she's talking about. She's willing to pose naked in a classy and tasteful way without open or "pink" shots or beyond.

On the other hand, talking about the Playboy line -- in terms of limitations -- and discussing Playboy's photographic style are two different things. Don't confuse the Playboy line with Playboy's photography style. If a model tells me she's hoping we're going to do some Playboy style photography, that says something different to me then if she tells me her limitations are up to Playboy. For instance, I can try to light a model in a Playboy's style and still shoot her for content that crosses the Playboy line.

Sounds confusing, huh?

It's not... Trust me, it's not.

When I was a kid, after having reached puberty and beyond, getting a hold of a Playboy magazine was the best! Playboy contained images of the most beautiful, sexy, women, in varying stages of undress, that I could imagine. Playboy spawned an industry: The lad-mag industry and it's still with us today, not only in the form of Playboy magazine, but with periodicals like Maxim and FHM.

There was one of those self-help or self-awareness books (or whatever they're called) a few years ago that became popular. It was called "Everything I Need to Know in Life I learned in Kindergarten." For me, as a pretty girl shooter, almost everything I need to know about what makes women appear glamourously beautiful, provocative and sensual, almost unreal from the perspective of Goddess-like, sexual allure, I learned from Playboy.

That's not to say everything I shoot attempts to mimic Playboy's style. But I'll admit that almost everything I think I know about shooting pretty girls has been influenced, to some degree, by Playboy. And that holds true for the vast majority of glamour shooters out there whether they admit it or not.

The Playboy line is still with us today. In some ways, it's even better known today as a benchmark for contemporary glamour and tease photography. It's also more acceptable these days. With the proliferation of other well-known magazines that crossed the Playboy line years ago, as well as the internet with it's millions and millions of images of beautiful women photographed well beyond the Playboy line, the Playboy line and Playboy's style seem almost tame, vanilla, out of vogue. Personally, I don't think it will ever become passé and it will remain with us for generations.

I decided to blog about the Playboy line because, earlier today, it came up on one of the photography forums I frequent. Some guy in Florida was pimping... I mean promoting some glamour models and the issue of whether or not he qualifies as an agent came up. (He does and should be licensed which he's not.) Also, some back-and-forth went back and forth regarding the limitations of his models. It was fairly confusing to me as he tried to es'plain... I'm still not sure what their limitations might be.

The pretty young thing in the images I posted are Charmane. I'd love to shoot her again cuz she's definitely got lines I'd like to cross. (Just kidding. C'mon! The thought would never cross my mind while shooting. After all, I'm a professional photographer first and a normal, red-blooded, guy second... just like the rest of you pretty girl shooters, right?)