"Here's the short-but-simple online biography of The Naked Lens: "I figured the world already had enough wedding photographers," he writes. The Naked Lens is photographer Mark Kaplan, a former naval air crewman and lifeguard who now works as a freelance shooter. Kaplan can be found photographing parties and events far off the beaten path, definitely not the dressy society wingdings the shiny sheet
s cover. His pix celebrate the tattooed, pierced, pink-haired and sc****ly clad. Burlesque shows are a favorite. Kaplan likes his subjects to have some skin in the game."
- Best Party Photographer: The Naked Lens
Dallas Observer's "Best Of Dallas" - Arts & Entertainment - 2015
I founded Naked Lens Photography in 2006, after purchasing a Nikon D50, primarily to photograph science fiction conventions and nights out with friends. In 2007, while at a local convention, I had my first taste of burlesque, compliments of the Lollie Bombs, who were kind enough to allow me to photograph their show. Over the next few years, I had a ring-side seat to the explosion of burlesque in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex, photographing local and guest performers ever since. In 2011, Allen Falkner invited me to photograph the Dallas Suspension Convention, a gathering of practitioners of "hook suspension"; and I have continued to not only photograph suspension, but to become a practitioner as well. Also in 2011, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the local "burn" community, and to attend Myschievia, Flipside, and in 2013, Burning Man. A photograph I shot of the "Black Rock Bijou", was selected as a finalist in the 2013 Smithsonian Magazine photography contest. It is important to me to show these communities not in a sensationalized way, but as I see them: Artists, performers, geniuses and dreamers; I value them for the trust that they have placed in me to do this, and in many cases, am proud to call them friends.
