I received this email last night:

I just happened to stumble upon your blog, and, not that I have a problem with it or anything, but I was wondering, why do you do nude photography? What value does it personally add to the idea?

I get asked this question a lot. There are about five questions sitting in my ask box that ask this very question. I think I’ve probably answered it before. But today I plan on making a definitive list for everyone as to why I do nude photography.

Why I do nude photography:

1. This is the most important reason, which is why it is reason number 1: because I like to, and I want to.
   
2. I love my body. I like looking at it. I like touching it. I like making it work for me. An obvious extension of this would be to photograph my body in ways that appeal to me, or ways that challenge the way I see my body. That really interests me: photographing my body in weird places and in weird positions, what I like to call awkward nudes. Pushing the idea of what a beautiful nude photograph consists of is exciting to me.
3. I don’t like clothes to distract from what I’m trying to portray in my photographs. Clothes add more information to a photo and cause a viewer to think about the connotations certain styles of dress bring to a subject in a photo. Usually I’m not interested in opening these dialogues with a viewer; I want them to simply see a person—a person they can relate to because the only thing they know about me is what I can convey with my body and my face and these things are universal.
4. I’m not really into clothes so dealing with them is not interesting to me. I have fashion posts that I do which clearly demonstrate how clueless about fashion I really am.
5. I feel very comfortable being naked. I have no shame about my naked body, or any embarrassment about it. I hope this attitude comes through my photographs, because that’s something I’d like to catch on.
6. I like to photograph other people naked, and I wouldn’t ask for anything I wasn’t willing to give as well.
7. Being naked has a very definite type of intimacy to it, and that is something I’m trying to achieve in my photos. I want to make intimate connections with people. I want people to feel involved with me, to recognize things about me that they recognize about themselves and then we both, hopefully, have the opportunity to learn something new about ourselves. I feel like stripping it all away and offering just a naked body makes this easier. Gets to the point faster.
8. Being naked in my photos demonstrates the trust I put in people. And I like to trust people. I like to think people are worthy of trust. And putting your naked body on the internet is a pretty bold move in regards to trust. I don’t know what people will do with my pictures, or how they will react to them, or what they will say about my body; so I’m trusting people blindly. Maybe that’s naive, or stupid, but I like it. 
9. I was just reading this thing that said that one thing that makes nude photography great is anonymity, so try not to show the person’s face, because it will make it a better picture. I find that a lot in nude photography; just a body devoid of personality and character. So that’s another reason why I do it. Because I am a naked person with a personality attached. I’m not some faceless, nameless naked chick; I’m Katie West and I like Star Trek and my cats and sunny days and I can’t cook, and I have bad days and I cry really easily and I love Detroit and live in Toronto and really like to dance. I think it’s important to show a woman who is naked on the internet and who is a full person and who isn’t doing it for money, or because someone told her to, or because she’s trying to be an actress, or whatever. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those reasons—they are all great reasons (well maybe not doing it because someone told you to, that’s actually a pretty bad reason), but they’re not the only reasons we have for being naked. I just want to be a bit pushy with sex and nudity and normalize them as much as I can, in my own way.
10. I am also naked in my photographs because I get messages like this all the time: “I’d just like to thank you for sharing and perpetuating your idea of self-love. So many (myself included) self-deprecate and have a hard time believing there is beauty on the inside and outside of themselves. As many others who follow your blog, it has helped me begin to cherish myself and feel the love.” Which is kind of the greatest thing ever.

Okay, that’s all I can think of for now. Hope that answered your question.