E.J. Bellocq was a photographer in 1930's New Orleans. Most famous for his shots of opium dens in Storyville, I was drawn to his more personal work which features mostly portraits of female prostitutes from a rede light district . He used a 8x10" film camera mostly. I found it very interesting that this series of portraits was pretty much a secret project and wasn't really discovered till it surfaced accidentally in the 1970's. They were all printed from glass negative plates. I really love the personal a relaxed style of portraiture. None of the pictures seem forced and that feeling really resonates in each one.
I find his approach to these photographs of women, especially the nudes, are very unique for the time they came out of. They are far from exploiting or objectifying the women, and instead it is a literal study of the human form. I think in even the most sexual(imagery wise) of the photos, there isn't an overbearing sexual connotation to it. I actually feel like there is more of a naivety and innocence to the collective work. Personally, I think Bellocq was going somewhere with this series and I would have loved to see more. I think the creepy, secretive nature of the photographs adds a lot of context in my eyes, but even just on an aesthetic level, these portraits are brilliant.
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