Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
For his latest book project, photographer Dave Naz went to Ross and bought lots of women's cotton underpants.
Mar 28, 2003 | Dave Naz likes girls as they are.
Naz is a 33-year-old photographer who grew up in Pasadena, dropped out of Beverly Hills High, and toured as a musician for most of the '80s into the early '90s with bands like Chemical People and Down by Law (yes, named for the movie).
But around 1995, "I felt like I had to do something else," he says. When his best friend died, he decided to become a photographer. "I wanted to do something that he would have been into," Naz says. "I think he'd be proud of me."
Naz's latest book, "Panties" -- a collection of photos of girls in big-bottom cotton panties -- is all about a lack of artifice. The models wear no makeup and they're shot in real living rooms (and sometimes bathrooms) in bright, unromantic light. This is realism to the extreme. Some of the models have dirty feet or blemishes; some of the furniture is quite ugly. Some of the carpets the models are rolling around on need a shampoo.
That's because it's what turns Dave Naz on. I had told Naz before we started the interview that his work didn't turn me on, that it wasn't my aesthetic. I told him I was more of a romance lover. I like to see women in beautiful clothes in gorgeous lighting and with clean feet if they are going to be shoeless. He was open to talking about our differences and said he knew not everyone would like his work. So we agreed to disagree. He spoke to Salon by phone from his home in West Hollywood.
Why did you do this book of photos -- which is essentially a group of gals without makeup or even fancy panties?
My first book, "Lust Circus," is all girls and a couple of guys with extravagant latex and corsets and all kinds of fetish fashion with full makeup, so this is the next book -- something different. I use a lot of the same people. A lot of the shots [for "Panties"] started out with makeup and we ended up taking it off. It became this project.
I love girls with no makeup -- the fresh-out-of-bed look. A lot of photographers use light coming through the window, to make it more romantic. I wanted to make it like I normally would for a magazine shoot. I used just a little point-and-shoot.
What kind of point-and-shoot?
A Leica...
Quite a point-and-shoot!
Well, compared to a Hasselblad...
So where did all the panties come from? Were they the girls' own?
Some of it. I had a big collection, too. I'd go into Ross and buy $2 panties. I've never felt like such a pervert. Everyone in the store was looking at me. I was just checking the bottoms to make sure they were full bottoms ... they know you're not getting them for your daughter because you're looking at all different sizes. Finally, there's one girl in the book, Anna, who was kind enough to get me a bag of panties after I had had a few experiences in Ross.
I wanted to keep the aesthetic. To me the thong ... I'm not into that. It's unsexy to me. It's very "girls gone wild," which to me is the most unsexy thing you could ever do.
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