A life as a nude model: just look, don’t touch

To make one thing clear right from the start: photo models are not there to be touched, but to be photographed. A rule that some photographers don’t want to understand.

“There are men who believe that touching is included in the fee.” “But these are mostly amateurs, while the professionals keep their hands on the trigger,” Vanessa Wolff explains to me. The 31-year-old has been a model across Germany for ten years. Munich, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt/M and Hamburg are almost the Neukölln native’s second home.

We are sitting in a Kreuzberg café and Vanessa tells me about her experiences in the industry. “In the beginning I had a lot of inhibitions about making my point of view clear and many a shoot fell through because I stopped it prematurely.” Of course I like having sex, very much so. But only with my boyfriend. I’m monogamous and happy with Benny.”

Vanessa laughs, winks at the waiter and orders a large bottle of mineral water. But with carbonation please, she calls after him.

She started when she was seventeen. She was a hairdresser’s apprentice in Hanover. A customer asked if he could take some portraits of her. “Back then I was very introverted, overly sensitive and every skeptical look caused me to panic.” I couldn’t imagine what a photographer would find in me.”

I used to feel like a gray mouse

Today Vanessa is no longer shy and is quite confident. The waiter brings the mineral water and two glasses. While he looks at Vanessa’s legs, some drops go wrong when pouring.

Vanessa with friend Benjamin and dachshund Paul.Rolf Kremming

… and in actionRolf Kremming

“I took my first nude photos secretly in my sister’s basement in Hanover. I was fine with the photographers and I let go of my clothes and inhibitions for the first time. He painted my body with motifs by the Spanish painter Joan Miro. They became class pictures.”

Shortly afterwards, Vanessa moved to Berlin to live with a friend and introduced herself with photos on the “MK-Modelkartei” internet platform.

“I was surprised by the many offers because I felt like a gray mouse myself.” But the more I stood in front of the camera, the more confident I became.”

Some people only use the camera as the front

Of course, not everything went well. For example, there was the Munich “photographer” who pressed the shutter button four times in an hour with a mini camera. Most of the time I played was just a. I felt very uneasy and was happy when the time was up. I’m not even sure it even had a movie in it. I certainly wouldn’t do it again today.”

Vanessa and her favorite newspaperRolf Kremming

In Vanessa’s experience, there are three different types of men who hire a nude model.

50 percent want to take beautiful photos and have great ideas, 30 percent just want to take a photo of a naked woman and twenty out of a hundred just use the camera as an excuse.

“Some brag about the pictures and even claim I’m her friend. I see it calmly. Everyone has their quirks. I now have so much self-confidence that I can adapt to any crazy guy.”

However, she got really angry with a Berliner who stole 400 euros from her pocket. “For the photos, I rubbed myself with oil and then took a shower. He used this time to steal. After that, he kind of paid me with my own money.”

Classic still life in nude.Rolf Kremming

Vanessa likes to travel, but only by train because she is afraid of flying.

She moved eleven times from her hometown of Hanover to her current apartment because when she was young she was restless and fidgety. “But now I have arrived and have settled comfortably in Neukölln with my friend Benjamin.”

Here she also has enough space for her unusual hobby. She collects, breeds, sells and trades plants. Twenty pots of flamingo flowers (anthuriums) and 150 pots of koyas from white to pink to red stand on the window sills and in a glass display case.

Moving out is their business.Rolf Kremming

She pours me more water, her red fingernails shimmer in the evening sun and Vanny, as her friends call her, lights a cigarette. I have two vices, she tells me, grinning like a twelve-year-old who’s been caught with his finger in a jam jar. “I smoke too much and unfortunately I’m often late. But I worked on two bad habits every day.”

Nude photos in the middle of the Kudamm – with grandpa

When I asked her what her most exciting shoot was, she spontaneously said it. “Last year I walked naked across the Kudamm for a magazine.” It was very exciting and there was a huge crowd of people at the corner of Joachimsthaler. An old couple, I guess in their mid-eighties, stopped, the old lady smiled at me and nudged her husband over to me and took a photo of Grandpa and me.”

At 1 meter 60, it is too small as a catwalk model. But with the dream measurements of 79-60-82, 46 kilos and her brown, sensual eyes, she belongs to the elite.

“I like to show myself naked.” I enjoy letting go of my clothes. I used to be an introvert, but now I’m the opposite. I enjoy men’s looks because every look means a compliment. Unfortunately, every now and then it happens that a photographer’s imagination runs away. First they’re fiddling with the blouse, next their fingers are on my bare shoulder and then, well, you know. I usually see it in my eyes and then I totally switch to cool and Don’t touch me Uh.”

One person was particularly bold and wanted to take bondage photos for a catalog. As the rope was knotted around her body, she accidentally touched her breasts. “When this happened a second time, I asked him to please stop.” He got angry and called me a bitch. I unwound the rope and I was gone. And all in just under three minutes. When I got outside I had to cry. What an ass, I thought.”

A wasp is flying around my glass and I want to drive it away. “Hey Rolf, stay calm and don’t scare them.” I’m highly allergic to bee and wasp stings. If she stings me, you can take me to the hospital straight away.”

When Vanessa is traveling, she always books a beautifully furnished room with a balcony, which also serves as a photo location.

Filming in Messi’s apartment or on the farm

“A beautiful environment is inspiring for the photographer and for me.” I’ve also had shoots in a castle, a castle and even a dentist’s office. My worst experience was in a Messi apartment. I would have liked to disappear again, but I felt sorry for the man. He had severe back problems. So I grabbed a stick vacuum, broom and floor rag and cleaned.”

Her workshops are a lot of fun. For example on a farm, in the abandoned Russian barracks or lost places.

“The challenge is particularly great.” There are often five to six photographers and everyone has different wishes. Sometimes with your eyes closed, then again with a bedroom view. For one I should wear black suspenders, for the other I should pose like a rocker with a leather jacket. Naked with a cigarette, or as a maid on a tractor. What I found funniest was the idea of ​​feeding geese wearing only a headscarf.”

The interview was finished, we were both happy and since Vanessa wanted to go to Karstadt, I offered to drop her off there.

“With pleasure, I just have to take off my dress and get into my jeans.” I’m not going to the department store with a dress on. Everyone is looking at me.” ■