Tour Link: Tour Hegre Art Here
Videos: 306 (1280x720, DivX, 4000 kbps, ~15 min. per)
Photo Sets: Over 2000 (6000x4505, ~60 photos per)
Update Rate: Daily
Exclusive: Yes
Search Engine: No
There are a few extremely respected and well-known internet only glamour sites that dominate the genre. Petter Hegre’s site is definitely one of them. I first ran across his work when the site was still called the Hegre Archives – I’m not certain as to what caused the rebranding but his work these days is reasonably comfortable being labeled either Art or Porn. Hegre’s most marketable talent is his impressive skill at locating and hiring astonishingly beautiful models from impoverished nations across the world. Mostly this means Eastern Europe and recently South America. I’d liken the importance of this talent to the significance of a specific Hollywood producer presenting a film back in the early days of cinema. It was a seal of approval.
With Hegre Art, you know the style of women that will be featured. Often petite, they will always have delicate bone structures – slender limbs, necks and so on. Many of these models would look at home in the glossy pages of Vogue; nude save for a pair of high heels and a purse and sporting a look boredom and indifference. I know Hegre spends time and money with modeling agents to locate these women, but the truth is that he has the final word about who steps in front of his camera – and his word is good.
Once the camera is clicking, it is a different matter. He undoubtedly has talent in this arena as well, but it is has been a much rougher road. Over the years, he has struggled with finding his style. Lighting has been a real hassle. As you go through his early work, you can see him playing with natural light, basic on camera flashes and finally graduating to professional lighting equipment. He’s had a devil of a time deciding the importance of the background. It was quite often he’d choose free sets with models standing on the ruins of old factories or out in a currently unoccupied field. The occasional jogger in the background solidified the thrifty nature of the set. He’s also invested more in his equipment. His cameras have gone from respectable amateur level grainy to exquisite professional perfection. Most images wouldn’t look good at the site’s highest resolution of 6000px – but these images are nearly as crisp at that resolution as they are at 1000px.
Hegre finally seems comfortable in his job. He’s been doing it for seven years come last January and the work is better for it. He focuses the entire body of the image on the model unless he has happened to come across a fantastic set. If the set isn’t going to be an interesting and productive character, he simply removes it completely, using a professional backdrop in its stead. Many of his models don’t spend a second in front of the camera clothed, but if they do – the clothing matches their coloring well and Hegre will often match the backdrop to both the model and her clothing for a stunning combination. It is refreshing to see his skill as a photographer is finally nearing his talent as an artist so we are at last getting to see what Hegre is seeing in his head.
He also has a knack for positions. Glamour porn photography tends to be rather limited in its accepted positions for the models. This is often for two reasons: One is that many photographers are trying to limit the explicitness of the sexuality depicted in the photos. Two is they are appealing to the expectation of the masses and don’t run the risk of some bad or goofy photos. I can’t say all of Hegre’s ideas work, but you’ll see some very interesting stances that these fit women are able to twist into. He certainly won’t ignore a funky position just to avoid an explicit shot. Granted Hegre must be honoring the request of some of the models who care about the naughty bits as there are a few that remain as modest as the Cheesecake of yore. Unlike that era though, he tries hard to keep each shoot fresh and intriguing. His work may not benefit from a comforting sameness, but you won’t be bored either.
Hegre has always tried to enter the arena of movies and I have to admit that his newest films are miles beyond the start. The earliest tries were little more than a documentation of the photo shoots with fun music laid on top of it. The video quality is now better, the lighting is better and the models are performing for the video rather than taking direction for the still camera. The music remains.
While Hegre’s photos to shy away from the explicit, they don’t hunt it either. Very rarely will you see a model spread herself open and even the multiple model shoots won’t show anything more sexual than some naked nuzzling. That works fine for the photos, but video needs more. I find it somewhat absurd to drop two naked girls in a bed and have them rubbing and squeezing each other and then never having it escalate beyond that. The style and quality are all there, but I personally don’t find it to translate to the moving medium well at all. At Hegre Art, photos remain King.
What Hegre really needs to learn is that the models have interesting faces, too. He doesn’t forget this when he chooses them, but he seems to think of them as sexy automatons once he picks up the camera. With the exception of very strong willed models, you’ll see nary a grin or a frown. The beauty of his work is undeniable, but there is a certain coldness to the character of it all due to the blank expressions. It is erotic, interesting and staggeringly beautiful, yet it rarely makes you smile. Perhaps this is Hegre; maybe he doesn’t find an inherent humor in human sexuality like I do. While he is a skilled craftsman and a man of great talent, I can’t help but feel his work would benefit if it occasionally gave us a knowing smirk.
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Posted by: Toadsith on Mar 22, 2009
Rebel Tags: Website Reviews, Glamour Sites, HD Video Sites, Photography Sites
