3 minute read
LGBTQ+ Life Through A Lens
Brighton-based photographer Tom Selmon’s work captures the beauty of raw, untouched nature and the lure of queer nightlife in all its liberated glory. Alex Klineberg takes a peek
Tom Selmon is a photographer based in Brighton. He has over 12 years’ experience and his work is wide ranging. His main areas of interest include untouched nature, queer nightlife and erotica.
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He moved to Brighton last September. The move was partly a result of the lockdown and also a desire to find new imagery to capture in a new city. He’s already taken a lot of photos in Brighton he’s proud of so he considers the move to be a success already.
Street casting is one of his preferred approaches to photography. This involves capturing images of people he spontaneously finds while walking the streets. This can also involve contacting people via social media and setting up a shoot. Naturally, there are plenty of things to photograph as you wander along the seafront in Brighton.
The lockdowns have affected different industries in different ways. Some industries have been forced to shut down entirely, others continue to function in a diminished way. Tom had this to say on his lockdown experiences: “Lockdown gave me the time and space to rethink my whole approach to my photography, which ended up with my starting Prints by Tom Selmon. Of course, the whole situation has been challenging, particularly at this present time.”
His online print shop is well worth checking out. As we’re spending more time at home, home furnishing has become even more popular than usual. If there’s ever been a time to spruce up your living room it’s now. Tom’s work is printed on Giclée Hahnemühle Pearl 285gsm paper. The prints include nature photography, nudes, erotica and LGBTQ+ nightlife.
Tom works full-time as a photographer. He does fashion production jobs as a side hustle and he launched the print shop last summer.
Robert Mapplethorpe is one of his biggest influences. Mapplethorpe is famed for his transgressive black-and-white photographs of celebrities and male nudes. He was immortalised in Patti Smith’s bestselling autobiography Just Kids. Mapplethorpe’s work was considered to be controversial in America back in the 1980s.
As we discussed with Tom, depicting female nudes is far less taboo, whereas male nudes are more provocative. Showing a male nude presents a man in a vulnerable way. Historically, it’s been easier to depict women as vulnerable. Male artists have certainly had few reservations about depicting women without any clothes on – walk around any art gallery and see for yourself. Perhaps depicting male nudes will prove to be less controversial in years to come.
Tom doesn’t think erotic photography will ever cross over into mainstream culture (it wasn’t easy to find an appropriate verb for that sentence). Even Madonna couldn’t manage it with her Erotica era at the height of her fame. Some photographers have depicted nude female subjects in more innovative ways, such as Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin. But the nude body – especially the sexualised nude body – will always be controversial. Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction almost caused America to implode.
Tom discussed his latest work with us: “My upcoming project is to create the second issue of UN-FOLD, which is a zine I selfpublished last year that celebrates nudity, eroticism and queer culture.” Check out his prints and consider livening up your living room.
