Since I returned from Istanbul, after working as a photojournalist, I have been looking for engaging people and subjects.

Currently, I'm updating how I shoot "boudoir" to go beyond a sweet, Victoria's Secret look. Rather than capture what a man's gaze might hope to see, I hope to shoot images that serve the model, that give her (or him) an expression for sensuality and sexuality. Of course, I'm looking for models who have a personal sense and strength to project sensuality and sexuality.

I am looking for people who live on the edge and people in transition. I want to try to capture that edge in the image. I would like to do more work with nudes, very tattooed people, and sexually charged imagery. If you are such a person, I just want to capture your strange and powerful energy.

If you are such a person, please contact me. I'd like to photograph you.

Unless I'm shooting a commercial project, I can only afford TFP.

Having spent a lot of time working around war and death, it is hard to come back to the US and take pictures of cute cats, cute girls, or cute anything. It just doesn't feel real. So, I'm looking for that edge.

My background: I have reported war- and human rights-related stories since 1999. I have been working on stories around the identification of the missing from war and disaster for four years — mass graves — beginning with an in-depth study of the UN police's missing persons unit in Kosovo. While I both report and shoot pictures, I worked primarily as a photographer and writes articles to accompany my photo essays. I have exhibited photographs in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and the U.S., and my collection of Kosovo pictures earned me a World Press Photo award in 2003.

I am a graduate of U.C. Berkeley's graduate School of Journalism, where I studied print reporting, radio, and photojournalism, with extra studies at the Human Rights Center in war, post-conflict, and international human rights. I have published in various European and American magazines and newspapers.

David I. Gross

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