Veteran photographer Jay Allan will host a reception for his photo exhibit featuring nude porn stars from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday, at Crush boutique, 7555 Melrose Ave. in Hollywood.
The boutique, owned by glass sex toy manufacturer Phallix Glass, will host the reception as part of Allan’s new exhibition featuring nude photographs of such stars as Teravision head, Tera Patrick, adult stars Venus, Rebecca Lord, Isabella, Charlie Laine, Violet Blue and Monica Mayhem. Admission is free.
The exhibition, dubbed “The Naked Eye: Fine Art Nudes in Black and White,” will run from Saturday until July 7.
“The idea came about when I was shooting all these different girls for Hustler and Penthouse and I noticed that the girls, when they weren’t shooting, they didn’t look like porn girls, but they looked like these cute girls just hanging out,” he said.
“I wanted to capture them just being themselves and when you see the pictures, you can see their true personality coming out.”
Himself a veteran of countless shoots for both, adult and mainstream magazines, Allan sought to catch his models in spontaneous, unguarded moments. But that was easier said than done.
“It’s hard for these girls not to pose, because that’s what they do all the time,” he said.
“Monica (Mayhem) is always putting on a show when I photograph her so it was a struggle at first to get the real Monica. But she’s great to work with and she looked gorgeous.”
Mayhem, who is friends with Allan, said she enjoyed the shoot by getting creative herself with poses and angles.
“It’s always fun working with someone you know and like and he let me do what I wanted,” she said.
Likewise Patrick’s photo session showed her softer and more approachable side, Allan said.
“Her personality really came out and she was great.”
Patrick herself noted she was pleased with the entire artistic process.
“I have known Jay Allan for several years now and have always wanted to work with him,” she said.
“When the opportunity came along, I jumped at it. He was wonderful to work with and it was a nice change to shoot something that was so artistic.”
Although he plans to follow up the exhibit in the future with another show, Allan is continuing to work with magazines and also with video.
“I really feel the market for photographers for adult is diminishing,” he said.
“So I’m dabbling a lot in high definition video with a company called Orgasm that has the quality of Playboy, but is more explicit.”
For more information on the reception and the exhibition, Allan is online at www.jayallanphoto.com.
