12
Advertising photography aims to sell. Better yet: it is virtually compelled to do so if it is to fulfill its fundamental purpose—to help products, brands, or services achieve commercial success within the prevailing spirit of the times. In this respect, this genre of photography always delivers something more than "merely" aesthetic images. At its best, it seeks to engage the viewer in the most subtle manner possible—to tap into their emotional world and awaken their desires—in order to anchor the advertising message deep within their subconscious. The intellect, meanwhile, is welcome to remain on the sidelines.
In a truly brilliant fashion, this "art of seduction" is distilled in a surreal-looking black-and-white photograph that Ulrich Pracht shot in Malta for the swimwear and lingerie label Night & Day. Here, several layers of implied, dreamlike narrative overlap. A beautiful woman in lingerie has chosen the hood of a shrouded car as her sunbathing spot. Several men—perhaps restaurant employees?—stand nearby, smiling amiably, almost reverently.
The backdrop is formed by the façade of a venerable church in Malta. One might ponder the car—perhaps a prototype still meant to be hidden from the public eye?—or the men who have gathered here to catch a glimpse of the vehicle, only to discover, instead, a young, glamorous woman. Yet, above all else, it is the story of the graceful model, Theresa Morelli, that takes center stage here. By choosing the car as her resting place, she has conquered a male domain—a fact that, evidently, holds no interest for her, just as the men surrounding the car hold no interest for her. Or is she, perhaps, attempting to seduce them? In any case, her elegant posture signals that the young woman feels entirely at ease in her unusual position and surroundings. A certain tension is left to the viewer’s imagination: namely, how this daydream unfolds. The message, however, is not. To young women—and their partners—this photo conveys the sense that the time is ripe for women to present themselves with self-assurance, body confidence, and feminine glamour, even in traditionally male domains. Or, at least, to achieve this goal by choosing lingerie from Night & Day. "Touché!"
„Infusing my work with glamour and a distinct lifestyle aesthetic, I spent more than a decade and a half creating enchanting, seductive imagery for Night & Day—establishing visual standards of excellence that were unrivaled within the industry.“
PUSH UP
The Art of Seduction.
12.1
BODY ART & LINGERIE
Perfume of Desire.
For Ulrich Pracht, a love for the beauty of women has been deeply ingrained from the very beginning—a passion that has only intensified over the years. His Body Art, Lingerie, and Soul series, as well as his nude studies, are exquisitely graceful compositions in which photography and Impressionism converge to form a new, erotically expressive visual language. These creations are, in essence, photographed emotions—sensations born of his artistic staging that we, the viewers, perceive. Here, femininity, intimacy, and natural beauty unite.
Bathed in soft, enchanting light, a parallel world emerges—hovering between dream and reality. In his commercial work for clients such as Triumph International, Chantelle, Privacy, Boecker Pelze, Classic Pelze, and Revillon, this artistic vision is paired with impeccable product presentation, yielding tangible commercial success for his patrons. His models appear at times as playful icons of luxury, and at others as sensual women of pure indulgence. Yet, hovering over all these images is something truly special—what the photographer himself describes as "a diffused perfume of desire."
12.2
PLAYBOY
Ulrich Pracht’s extensive photographic oeuvre reveals that he preferred to drape the female form in fashion in a multitude of ways. Nevertheless, in his own distinct manner, he did confront "naked life," producing several photo series for the men's magazine Playboy—doing so with the caveat that sensual eroticism, coupled with uninhibited nudity, cannot be supplanted in real life by even the most masterful nude photography—no matter how titillating it might be.
Most often, his subjects were stunning young women eager to be photographed in the nude. He captured them in settings ranging from luxury apartments to the black volcanic deserts of Lanzarote, and—last but not least—inside the Republic’s very last steam locomotive depot in Neuss. "However varied my photographic philosophies may have been, my primary objective was to stage female beauty and, through soft eroticism, to suggest rather than reveal everything—thereby giving free rein to the imagination. It had to be sophisticated and—naturally—paired with dynamic perspectives and youthful beauty. Under no circumstances did I wish to indulge in the mindless banality of commercial erotic photography!"
12.3
LOK A MOTION
Steam locomotives—those matte-black dinosaurs of a long-vanished industrial age—with their rhythmically pounding power, strike one as masculine machines, unstoppable in their forward surge. "I never would have dreamed that I, as an eyewitness, would contribute such a unique story regarding the end of the steam locomotive era," reflects Ulrich Pracht. He owes this opportunity to the fact that the last steam locomotive depot in Germany—located in Neuss—was slated for closure; this inspired him to conceive a way to draw the attention of an "interested male audience" to the end of this great epoch, utilizing the semi-nude model Petra Richard. "This required difficult and tireless persuasion on my part with the Deutsche Bundesbahn [German Federal Railways], until I finally managed to win over a farsighted senior railway official with a keen eye for female beauty—albeit on the condition that he be allowed to be present during the shoot, just to ensure no 'mischief' took place." For his unsolicited submission to Playboy, he created a photographic documentary of enduring historical significance—a unique, staged record of the steam locomotive's demise, imbued with an erotic sensibility. I have always been keenly aware that a model captured in photographs is, in real life, something entirely different—a completely distinct person.
