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Erotic Art with Alex Manfredini: The Artist Behind the Camera
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When it comes to erotic photography, Alex Manfredini is an artist at his craft.
His career spans over thirty years, during which time the globetrotting photographer has traveled to many countries for photoshoots with celebrities, high fashion models, and other photo subjects fortunate enough to be captured by Alex’s artistic eye.
Manfredini has won multiple awards for his iconic work, which has been featured in art galleries, museums, in publications like Playboy and Hustler, and in private art collections. His passion for erotic photography is clear when you gaze upon his imagery. If you’re lucky, you can book him for a private session and discover for yourself how he can capture your beauty in his photos.
Read my interview with the influential, passionate man behind the camera.
How did you first get started in photography?
After completing my schooling in France as a Food Stylist in my early twenties, I started shooting food for companies such as Goya, American Spice, McCormick, Beck’s, and many others, along with hiring models to shoot with the food products themselves for advertisements.
What’s your favorite part about being a photographer?
My favorite part of being a photographer is to exercise my artistic side, which allows me to visualize a concept in my mind, and then using my photography skills to reproduce my artistic concept.
You used to photograph models for Hustler, Playboy, and other popular publications. What was it like to have worked at such a high level and be so highly regarded and renowned?
It feels like recognition for your trajectory, excellence, and passion for your job. Comparing it with the sports world, it is like when you started playing basketball on your block with your friends after school, and then one day become an NBA player for a major team.
Of all the photoshoots you’ve done throughout your career, do you have any favorites? If so, which ones and why?
I think that when I was chosen to do the first calendar of Sofia Vergara in 1997. It was a photo shoot that I'll never forget because I was almost unknown at that point of my career as an artist and they gave me a golden opportunity to become recognized as a top photographer. Other shoots were also important in different ways, like my shooting experience with Bob Marley's family in his hometown in Jamaica.
Besides celebrities, who else are your typical clients?
Women and couples between twenty and seventy-five years of age who want to capture their intimate moments with an artistic touch.
When you photograph people who are naked or in erotic poses, what do you do and say to make them feel more comfortable and at ease?
My natural talent after 30 years of experience, combined with my personality, makes my clients feel so comfortable that they forget they're actually naked.
What advice do you have for people who are interested in having photographs of themselves nude but may be shy or worried about not having a good body?
Everybody is beautiful. One of my skills is to find the right angles to shoot the beauty in them properly. My advice to them is to be themselves in front of the camera so I can capture their essence.
You describe your photography as “classy” and luxurious. What do you do differently from other photographers to maintain that elevated level of quality and artistry?
There are artists, there are photographers, and there are guys with cameras. As an artist, I compose in my mind prior to shooting the trigger. The composition, lighting, pose, and props must be exactly as I imagine them. The image must tell the story, intriguing but not splashing it in the face of the viewer.
When looking for an erotic photographer, what should people be looking for?
I highly recommend that they look for a professional erotic photographer who has proven experience in the field. Not only for their artistic photography skills, but it is also very important to check their background to know if they have been involved in a problem related to a photo session that could make the client feel uncomfortable. Especially when clients are first-timers in an erotic photo shoot.
What occasions do people tend to wait for until they do a photo session? Do you need to have a special occasion in order to book a photoshoot with you?
The reason varies. Some people want to capture a special moment in their lives, while other people want to give a portrait of themselves as a gift to their significant other(s). Other people try to spice up their relationship and rebuild intimacy with their partner by doing an intimate photoshoot.
Other than photography, you offer a lot of other services. Can you tell us about them?
We offer our clients the opportunity to relive their memories with our exclusive luxury handmade photo books, wall art prints, and other photo print products. For anyone who wants to learn how to shoot erotica, we offer 1:1 photography workshops.
How can photography be a perfect way to make a person immortal?
When a photo is created in an artistic way, not only the person becomes immortal. The artist as well, by leaving their art that will perpetuate their life and work.
What is the greatest compliment one of your photography subjects can give you?
The greatest compliment is to be an influence on the future artist that sends me their works and tells me, "I was inspired by your photo." I'm not worried about being copied. If someone copies your work, it means that your work is so good that it's worth being copied.
Why would someone want to have erotic photographs of themselves on display in their homes or in a coffee table art book?
People love to have graphic memories of themselves, including erotic ones. I can provide them with the whole experience of a photoshoot, and then they can keep those images in a coffee-table book or by putting up large prints in their homes so that they can always remember those moments.
You used to travel a lot to photograph your clients on location. Has that changed for you over the last few years, and if so, in what ways?
Obviously, COVID had a huge impact on the way that I was usually traveling for my shoots. I was handling different ways to do my shoots while traveling, from organizing Photo Tours to a specific city for a week and booking multiple shoots to my flying2U program to travel to your city just to do your photo shoot.
You’ve lived in and traveled to many different places over your life. How were the perceptions of beauty (i.e., what people think is beautiful when it comes to nudes or erotica or the human body) different in those places?
Nudity is perceived differently depending on many factors (e.g., social culture, religion, etc.). But as a general rule, Europe is more open about nudity and erotica than any other places I have worked in.
Tell us about the reality show you are featured in!
It was a great experience. One day, a TV Production Company contacted me to produce a reality show based on my experience with clients as an erotic photographer. Of course, we protected the confidentiality and privacy of my clients by replacing them with actors who performed to reproduce the experience. And then, the reality show "I Want Alex's Job" was created.
What would you say has been your greatest career accomplishment (so far)?
Besides my Photoshop Guru Awards for six consecutive years, earning various other professional awards.
Do you have anything on your bucket list that you’d like to do that you haven’t done yet? (e.g., a model you want to photograph, a location you want to use as a setting, a gallery you want to be featured in, etc.)
I am blessed that life has given me the opportunity to have done most of my bucket list wishes. But as a photographer, I always add some crazy shoots I'd love to do to my bucket list, like an erotic shoot on the International Space Center with the Earth in the background. Who is in for that?
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