About Photographing the female

Photographing the female is truly an exploration.  It began during Anastasia’s teenage years where she would set up the camera on a tripod photographing herself.

Through a series of mostly black and white portraits, Anastasia Trahanas both admires and challenges notions of femininity, beauty and power.  As well as her response to the males’ gaze within society.

The people she works with are special.  They’re not models but women who, nude in front of the camera, would otherwise feel vulnerable.  Anastasia gets to know her subjects over time, but the actual process of photographing them feels very immediate, almost spontaneous.  It’s all about trust – in what becomes an often-playful three way relationship between Anastasia, her subject and the camera itself.  These diverse – often moving images go the very heart of how Anastasia feels the female body is traditionally viewed and represented in photography.  These are images of beauty rather than objectification.  They are very much a personal statement of identity, cutting through barriers of class, religion and perceptions about the representation of the female form.  Anastasia views vulnerability in its purest sense.  She transforms it into beauty, overturning its more negative associations.  Stripped of their identity, Anastasia sees people as they really are.