Neolestat: Artistic Nudes For Your (Sorta) Wild Side

Naked lady pictures are really great and all, but when anyone with a camera and a naked lady can do it, how do you make yours a little more interesting than the norm? Well, Neolestat—who is actually photographer Andy Craddock in web disguise—does it with a variety of beautiful, but not necessarily professional models, an aversion to Photoshop filters, and a playfully kinky vibe that adds some spice to his images while still keeping it simple. Oh, and maybe an occasional octopus on the vagina. Honestly, you can never go wrong with a few extra tentacles.

· Andy Craddock — Neolestat (neolestat.com, via Otomano)

With shows in Berlin, Athens, Zurich, Los Angeles, and other jet-setting destinations, photographer Jesse Finley Reed has been around the block more than most. And we here at Fleshbot don't only appreciate his eye for composition and color, we also like his frequent choice of subject matter: naked dudes. (We're really easy to please.) A group show featuring some of Reed's latest work opened at Sloan Fine Art in New York last night and we could not identify more with the theme: in his artist statement, he explains that the dim, backlit nudes and semi-nude studies feature men he met "through online communities in Berlin and New York". (And you thought Manhunt hookups were just for backyards. Silly!) If you can make it past the quirky (and currently malfunctioning) site links, you should also visit Reed's portfolios of hot guys showing off and his homage to Judy Garland. In fact, there's plenty of good stuff in there that would look great on our bedroom walls. And in our beds too.

• Jesse Finley Reed (jessefinleyreed.com, via towleroad.com)
• Jesse Finley Reed @ Sloan Fine Art (sloanfineart.com)

We've seen a lot of badly designed websites over the years here at Fleshbot (we do write about porn, after all)—but French glamour and art nude photographer Frederic Peche's is definitely one to remember: the text-heavy layout has all the sexiness and verve of the minutes from your local zoning board meeting. In fact, it's so badly designed and unappealing that we're not really sure how we managed to find the photos at all; good thing that "Portfolio" is one of the three or four French words we remember. But we're glad we stuck around, because Peche's photos are pretty hot. And at the end of the day, isn't that what really matters? Come on, it's not like you're going to jack it to good web design. Or at least most of you won't, anyway.

· Eyes Wide Open (eyeswideopen.fr, via studioimagens.wordpress.com)

Mark Helfrich is a Hollywood film editor, who has worked for decades on big-time box office productions like "Predator," "Rambo," "X-Men 3," the "Rush Hour" series, and the Elizabeth Berkeley epic "Showgirls." (Who could forget?) Last year, he made his directorial debut as the helmer on "Good Luck Chuck," starring Jessica Alba. Since he's deep into film and pictures, he naturally has a strong interest in photography—specifically, artistic nudes, like the ones he contributed to the coffee table book, "New Erotic Photography," and the others in the gallery on his website. Unfortunately, there is one key piece of this equation that seems to be missing. Movie director + erotic photographer + R-rated sex comedy = no Jessica Alba nude scenes? That doesn't quite add up right, does it?

· Mark Helfrich - Photography (markhelfrich.com, via notaboutlove.com)

According to the title of one of her online portfolios, German photographer Sabine Schoenberger apparently feels nostalgia for many things—especially things that involve vintage lingerie and exposed nipples. Funny, that's the exact same stuff we get all misty-eyed about too! Especially when the lingerie and nipples happen to be connected to models as lovely as the ones Schoenberger gets to work with. Actually, they don't make us misty-eyed so much as ... well, let's just say it's not our eyes that are feeling moist all of a suddden.

· Sabine Schoenberger Photography (sabine-schoenberger.de, via body-collector.com)

We're big fans of the DIY ethic, mostly because whenever our bosses ask us to stay a little late and put in some extra work our response is usually, "Do it yourself!" But there's a different kind of DIY that we're also fans of, and it's in the same style as the homemade self-sufficient photography that made MySpace famous. Photographer Uwe Ommer devoted a whole book to the self-shot naked portrait, helping his models to create nude photographs that they snapped on their own. Ommer obviously lent a helping hand with the setup and lighting, so the results are miles above the pouty-look-in-the-mirror snapshots that are a staple of social networking profile pics. But the concept remains the same—leave a beautiful girl alone with a camera and see what she can create. We don't want to ruin the surprise for you, but it's pretty hot.

· "Do It Yourself" - Photos de Uwe Ommer (uweommer.eu)
· Uwe Ommer — "Do It Yourself" (book @ taschen.com)

Color film was invented about 400 years ago (give or take), yet some photographers and filmmakers still stubbornly continue to use black and white to capture their subjects. Why is that? Well, people still listen to records on vinyl and look at dusty old paintings in museums—so why not use an antiquated technology to depict beautiful women too? Silver Beauties (alas, it's not a site for 60-and-over pornstars) certainly thinks that way and if you're looking for sexy photos of the world's most gorgeous women you'll find them here—as long as they're in black and white. The portfolios on view include nude and lingerie shots of actresses, models, and a bunch of international babes you probably haven't heard of, all free for your browsing pleasure. And just think: if you're color blind, you won't even know the difference!

· Silver Beauties: Pictures of beautiful sexy women in black and white (silverbeauties.com; thumb of Letitia Casta)

We used to get in trouble a lot when we were growing up for what our teachers referred to as our "attitude", though we never exactly understood what that was supposed to mean. And now that we've had a chance to examine the portfolio of the Buckinghamshire (UK)-based erotic photographer who simply goes by the name of Mark, we're more confused than ever: after all, we don't recall running around school topless in full clown makeup or with studded codpieces on our face, and we definitely would have remembered showing up for class with gas masks on or with giant clothespins clamped to our nipples. Somehow, though, Mark's very sexy alt-style models make naughty things like that look almost innocent—and a hell of a lot of fun. If that's what attitude is all about, we totally should've tried to misbehave more.

· Photos With Attitude (photoswithattitude.net, via fluffylychees.blogspot.com)

We'd like to say that the photos that comprise photographer Cherise Isis' recent "American Stripper" exhibition at Peer Gallery in New York City were more than just shots of hot topless dancers wrapping themselves around poles—you know, that they made some sort of Grand Statement about the way women were commodified by the voyeuristic gaze of an audience and that they offered a glimpse into the often sordid underbelly of certain kinds of sex work. But the truth is that most of these action portraits are a lot more gentle in their grainy soft-focus dreaminess (even when they show strippers lighting their boobs on fire); the occasional smile peeks out from the sea of arched backs and heavy-lidded eyes and several of the dancers don't appear to have slid to the bottom of the poles in question so much as to have floated there, lost in their own private reveries of desire and exhaustion like spent muses at the end of a long shift. Guess they really are more than just shots of hot topless dancers after all.

· Cherise Isis' "American Stripper" (on view 'til 6/14 @ Peer Gallery, NYC; see online photo exhibition here)

The charmingly antiquated phrase "boudoir photography" usually conjures up slightly tacky images of marabou-trimmed negligees and overstuffed satin pillows: the Sears portraits of erotic photography, if you will. But that doesn't describe the work of Eddie Ostrowski, whose photos you may recognize from those Gawker Artists banners that pop up on this site every once in a while (and which is how his work came to our attention). Bringing talent and technique to the endeavor of taking sexy photographs, Ostrowski makes the genre of boudoir photography actually seem, well, classy. So if any ladies out there reading this are looking to look your best for that special someone, you might want to give Ostrowski a call. We hear his services are available for hire.

· Eddie Ostrowski (eddieguy.com)

You know what they say about Russian girls, right? Yeah, we don't either (hey, it's a really big country). But from the looks of photographer Sergey Skokov's portfolio, we're guessing they must say something about the fact that a lot of Russian girls tend to be beautiful, naked, and are fond of being beautiful and naked outdoors. (Oh, and a lot of them appear to be quite flexible too.) As far as stereotypes go, we guess it could be a lot worse.

· Sergey Skokov Photography (skokov.com, via afuckaday.blogspot.com)

It might sound like fun, but in reality the job requirements for being a professional porn scoper-outer are quite rigorous. Chief among them is an ability to sniff out nudie pics on websites where they may not be so obvious. Sure, galleries labeled "nudes" or "erotica" are easy to spot ... but who's ever going to guess that the "Core" area of photographer Slava Filippov's online portfolio actually means "photos of hot naked chicks"? Pros like us, that's who. Lucky for you we're generous when it comes to sharing our secrets.

· Slava Filippov (slavafilippov.com, via otomano.blogspot.com)

Being a good citizen means more than just paying your taxes and helping little old ladies cross the street: it is also your duty to look as sexy as possible at all times. Failing that, you should track down other sexy citizens and maybe take some photographs of them during their sexiest moments. It's important that we share our collective sexiness with each other and with the world in order to make our streets and homes more warm and fuzzy. Photographer James Christopher follows this edict at his website Modern Citizen, where his pretty portraits of hot babes contribute to a better (and more naked) society. That's just being a good neighbor.

· James Christopher - Modern Citizen (moderncitizen.com + Flickr, via japanese forms)

Yes, we know what you're thinking: "Ho-hum, another Fleshbot post featuring some tasteful, tepid European art nude and/or 'glamour' photographer. What happened to all that freaky Japanese stuff you used to talk about?" (Do we know you like a book or what?) Well before you get all antsy and click over to the next post, take some time to browse through photographer Nicola Serra's small but choice portfolio of erotic delights. Unlike some erotic photographers who are all boobs all the time, Serra seems to have a particular penchant for taking pictures of beautiful buttocks as well, and his portraits are suffused with a delicious erotic tension whether his models are wearing silly animal masks or bound with duct tape. Even his blog of recent work scrolls vertically horizontally instead of up and down like every other photography blog we've seen. See? We told you he was different!

· Nicola Serra Photographer (nicolaserra.com, via Indie Nudes)

Because we don't get out much (if we did, who knows what we might miss?), we have to rely on other people to make us feel like we have some sort of social life, even if it's just a vicarious one. Lucky for us we have friends like Autumn Sonnichsen who not only tell us stories about hanging out with sexy models like Erikitty but who also remember to take their (er, her) camera along to record every naked late-night ice cream run too. And even luckier for you that she shares all those pictures with us when she gets home.

Spend some time with the frisky Erikitty via Autumn's exclusive-to-Fleshbot gallery after the jump.