For over a decade, SugarHipsLebeau, a self-published photographer and nude self-portraitist, has narrated her life journey through her photography. Her images depict her vulnerability, her evolving sensuality and the rich texture of a passionate life.
Although, an avid student of film and darkroom photography, SugarHipsLebeau has been capturing digital images for her Daily Crotch Shot and MyNudeSelfProject Tumblr blogs on a daily basis with her Canon Rebel xsi for the past two and a half years. These two projects have gained her a small cult following of exuberant fans in the Twitter/Tumblr worlds.
The first thing I would say is that, “I am a published self-portrait artist and photography is my medium”. That usually does not offer itself up for more questions and that is a good thing for me. A fan/friend once called me “and indie artist”. I may adopt that title.
How long have you been shooting?
12 years self-portraits and most recently within the last 2 years concert photography.
When I am working with another person I am inspired by so many different factors. It can be an expression, the way light is highlighting a room. The person usually has an idea they are playing with and that makes things easy. When I am doing self-portraits, I usually see something in a way I stretch in the morning, the way my hair looks, the mood I am in. What I do is not always pretty.What photographers inspire you the most?
I would love to tell you the story of my first seeing this photographer’s work but, it’s better in person. Jan Saudek is a photographer that most inspires me today. Inspired by but, not trying to re-create his art. He has the ability to show true rawness in his models. He is both behind and in front of the camera. He is a brilliant madman.
What makes you different from other photographers today?
I believe my fans can better answer this question for me…but, I shall try. I don’t know if I am any different from some photographers today. I believe that with the internet there are so many images available to the viewer and many of these images tend to look very much the same. I blame photo editing programs. They can be a great thing and also an assembly line of bad images. We are all overly photoshopped these days. What I have tried to do is to keep my photo editing at a minimum and to not follow the trend of what other photographers are doing. I like the look of skin…it’s bumps and lines. I am very much against the plastic tan people we see all over the net in photography portfolios. With my images I want the viewer to see what is real and to find that beautiful or make them wonder about what I was thinking when that image was taken. I often photograph myself as I am getting up in the morning. What is more real than that? I also avoid being erotic which I think I have managed to do pretty well. There are a lot of girls who photograph themselves that seem overly sexual in their images. Nothing wrong with that. It’s just not me.
What do you want your current fans to know about you?
I want my fans/friends to know that I am doing what I do because of the emails I get from women telling me they are inspired by my images and that they are learning to love their own bodies. That is the biggest compliment that I can ever receive. To new fans, I kind of feel bad because they missed out on the 2 1/2 years that I ran my tumblr blogs with daily images. The current fans have an advantage over you because they were able to watch me grow in my art.
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