"I didn't think we had a shot in the world for (an) Overall (win)," says Hester Nash, curator for RetroRaunch.com, which won the Best Site Concept prize at the AVN Online Adult Internet Awards Tuesday night in Las Vegas. "(But) ours was truly different. Everybody else's was the same basic material."
What distinguishes RetroRaunch is its concentration on black-and-white imagery and classic erotica. "The girls are very natural and real-looking," says Nash, explaining why the site went for the black-and-white look. "It's all old, and they didn't redo their bodies. Their bodies are very different, they're very natural. And it's historically interesting, artistically interesting, and it has a lot of layers and levels that appeal to people."
Nash says RetroRaunch "sort of fell into" the black-and-white mode, after she met a collector. "Once I saw his collection, I just fell in love," she says. "I just thought these were great photos…(S)ome men need a really raunchy, raw, you know, nasty-looking full color kind of thing. But depending on the taste of the man, a more refined guy, I think, will enjoy (black-and-white)."
She also insists black-and-white erotic photography lends more enhancement to the whole of a woman, rather than isolated portions of her - or, the whole man, for that matter, since RetroRaunch also features male imagery for both women and for gay surfers as well.
"You make it more artistic," she says. "Instead of just seeing a sex object, she's an erotic object. There's a lot of sides to the human being, instead of just objectifying them."
RetroRaunch plans now include branching out into erotic fiction of the classic kind, Nash says. "Women always respond to fiction and writing and words, and the old style of writing erotica is very interesting," she says. "It's also sexier."
