Tom Saint Clair
MGT's cover photographer's passion for the erotic

By DREW Rowsome
24 April 2018

"I started to shoot my first nude male models when I was 18," says MGT cover photographer Tom Saint Clair. "At the beginning and for many years, it was just for fun. But then my friends began to tell me that I was perhaps a little bit talented and my husband, who is also now my agent, encouraged me to do it professionally." Saint Clair's father was a professional photographer and "as far back as I can remember, I think he always inspired me. Of course we never had the same themes . . ."

Saint Clair has never lost his love of the art. "Photography is my passion and not my main job," he says. "I'm an attorney at law, so when I accept a shoot. even if it's a commercial one, it's because I like the project and the models. When I shoot a model I want to share with my followers my vision of masculinity which is a vision where the male model is strong and masculine but where you can also feel his weaknesses and breaks."

Being labelled a "Fitness & Celebrity Photographer" suits Saint Clair just fine. "Fitness models are easier to shoot because for them a good photograph of their body is a kind of reward," he says. "Furthermore most of the fitness models are comfortable with artistic nude shoots which are the main part of my work today. I'm mostly looking for the natural. I like to photograph a model that doesn't seem to pose. The model must be at ease with his body and nudity because he will spend three to four hours naked in front of my lens. A few years ago I was looking for a body more than a face. I have evolved and now I think my goal is more balanced."

Saint Clair also enjoys working with fashion models and he finds most models easy to work with. "In my career as a photographer, only two or three shoots have been difficult," he says. "The first two because the models were very uncomfortable with nudity and I preferred to just stop shooting after 15 minutes. And the last because the model was beautiful but stupid enough to eat hay. I did the questions and answers and felt like I was rowing in sand. We finished the shoot but I didn't try to work with him again."

One model he will work with again is Attila Toth. "I think one of my best shoots was the one we did in Miami," says Saint Clair. "Attila's a fitness model that I really admire and who has since become a friend. He is a remarkable professional and I am very proud to have worked with him."

Capturing the beauty of the male body occasionally requires some preparation on the model's part. "For abs, they usually warm up just before the shooting,," says Saint Clair. "As for intimate parts, for underwear shoots or when the model agrees to be published frontally nude, it depends on the size of their resting sex. Some are more advantaged than others. Those who are not the most advantaged I ask them to get a little more fit."

Being able to communicate that request is part of Saint Clair's process."I think that a successful shoot where the model is nude requires a relationship of trust and empathy between the photographer and the model," he says. "That's why I always want to meet the model and take the time to talk with him before a shoot to allow both of us to start without being strangers." But it is also advantageous for the model. "Photographing a nude model is much more engaging for the model because he shares or offers a part of his intimacy.  An underwear shoot, on the other hand, is quite common."

While Saint Clair believes in nudity as valid artistic photographic subject, he is not sure that exposed penises are the definition of erotic. "I don't think it is the fact of showing the sex of the model but rather the fact of photographing him in an atmosphere or a situation that will speak or challenge the person, man or woman, looking at the photo. It is the desire and willingness to see more." And viewers can see more, Saint Clair notes that, "On my website I do not publish erotic photos but only underwear photos, portraits as well as my various published work for fashion or fitness magazines. On the other hand on my OnlyFans site I publish the erotic photos I  make with some of my models. They are essentially photos that remain artistic but where the customer subscriber can see the sex of the models who have agreed."

The OnlyFans concept is changing both the way photography and porn are distributed. "OnlyFans modified the relationship of  models with full frontal nudity," says Saint Clair. "Before OnlyFans many models refused to have nude photos of themselves published. With OnlyFans they have realized that they can earn a lot, a lot of money by doing it - up to several tens of thousands of dollars per month. Personally I do not like pornographic content so I stick to publishing artistic and erotic nude photos. But I don't judge those who go further."

Saint Clair compares OnlyFans to Twitter. "It is a space of freedom without any censorship so we can find the best, as well as the worst. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between art,  the erotic and pornography. because showing a woman's vagina can be considered pornography but also art, as it is the case of Gustave Courbet's painting 'The Birth of the World.'" The distinction is hard to make. "Of course art is the opposite of pornography and yet sometimes a talented painter or photographer can telescope these two notions." It is a feat that Saint Clair manages frequently.

No all social media is as open-minded as Twitter. "I am regularly censored by Facebook," says Saint Clair, "and more rarely by Instagram. What is frustrating is that sometimes this censorship is totally unjustified but Facebook trusts its censorship algorithms more than human control. There is therefore no possibility of dialogue. Censoring a photo is an infringement on freedom of expression. I know that Facebook is a private company but, since it is in a monopoly situation, I think that it is the state which, in the last resort, should be able to judge whether a photo contravenes community standards.
Now, for now, Facebook can sell information about your privacy, your sexuality, etc, etc, and arrogate to itself the right to decide what can be published or not. It's a form of digital dictatorship and Mark Zuckerberg's crocodile tears in front of the US Senate makes me laugh."

Saint Clair also laughs when asked what his fantasy shoot would be. He is already shooting exactly what he wants to create artistically, so he has an intriguing answer. "I would love to be 25 again and pose nude for Bruce Weber, Rick Day, Dylan Rosser or Tony Duran who are among the photographers I admire the most and who continue to inspire my work as a photographer."

Saint Clair's calendar Full Frontal was a worldwide hit and now he is "in discussion with a very large publishing house for the publication of two mirror books East Boys and Miami Lights. I don't know yet which one will be published first. But it'll probably go on sale for Christmas. In the meantime, photos already published from these books can obviously be purchased. Just contact me or visit my online shop."