- P1nupgrls.com
Geek goddesses have started to infiltrate pop culture, from G4's Olivia Munn to reality stars like Adrianne Curry who go to ComicCon dressed like a sci-fi fan's fantasy come to life. Capitalizing on this trend, local Tampa nerd and photographer, Blair Strange, created P1nupgirls.com, which blends two of her obsessions: pin-up style photography and all things geeky. P1nupgirls.com's first project is a calendar featuring such classic characters as Princess from Mario Brothers, X-Men's Storm, and Wonder Woman striking pin-up poses.
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Shawn Alff: Who is P1nupgrls.com's main audience?
Blair Strange: Anywhere between 18- to 40-year-old geek guys. Geek girls might be into it too, just because of the whole “woman power” thing, which is one of the reasons we did it. I was tired of walking into Game Stop and having all the guys ask, ‘Are you buying this for your boyfriend?’
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SA: How did you pick which characters to use for the calendar?
BS: We started by thinking about the most popular geekdoms. If it was up to me it would all be video game-related, but we just made a list of 50 different ideas we could do and narrowed it down. For next year's calendar all of the models get to vote on what we do.
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SA: How did you turn your geeky models into sexy pin-up girls?
BS: Some of the models aren’t wearing anything, which is sexy by itself. I pulled out all of my 1940s and 50s pin-up books. We showed them the poses and tried to get the models to take their cues from those books to create the classic sexy, but playful look. It was all very carefully designed. In total we took about 12,000 shots. I had to get an external hard drive just to store all the images.
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SA: What were some of your rules when making this calendar?
BS: We only did minor photo manipulation. I was not going to do the hardcore liposuction thing through photoshop. One of my big rules was that the girls had to fit the character more than be hot. I was like, ‘I don’t care if she's a super model. If she's not black she can’t be Storm.’
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SA: Why do you think burlesque and pin-up have recently become so popular again, especially with women?
BS: It’s empowering in a weird way. It says it's okay to be naked, which needs to be encouraged.
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SA: What is the connection between the various fandoms you portray in the calendar? Are sci-fi stories and video games just a form of escapism?
BS: Science fiction can be anything as long as it has some sort of tech or futuristic element. It’s all escapism. It’s like reading a book, except the book moves and talks to you.
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SA: Have you premiered your calendar and your models at a comic convention?
BS: I actually got the idea for this at DragonCon. We are aiming to have a booth at Megacon, which is in February in Orlando.
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SA: Has anyone made money on this project yet?
BS: At the moment, it is just a burden of love. The models will get part of the take once we break even and start making a profit. But they mainly did it because I asked and they thought it was a fun idea.
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SA: Would female gamers buy a calendar of geeky men?
BS: Oh yes. In fact most of the girls I’ve shown this to are like, ‘This is awesome. I want to be in next year’s. Where is the one with the guys?’ I have had so many guys say, ‘I’ll pose.’ But I don’t know how we would do a guy’s calendar. The pin-up aesthetic isn't really macho. We had the idea of doing the Marilyn pose with a guy in a kilt, but we decided that wouldn’t really be sexy.
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SA: Pin-up and burlesque tend to embrace alternative body types, which usually translates to plus size models. If you posed men, would you use muscular men, or would you shoot heavier guys too?
BS: You could do guys who are bigger, especially in geekdom. Most of the girls who go to conventions single, usually go because the market is so good. You can walk in wearing a skimpy top and just have your pick. Most geek guys are a little more of the sit-down-and-play body type, or they are really scrawny, which many geek girls like.
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SA: What plans do you have for P1nupgrls?
BS: We’ve already starting searching for models and creating costumes for next year’s calendar. We have plans to do a photo book and we have a few other projects we're considering.
Follow P1nupgrls at Facebook.com/P1nupgrls and Twitter.com/P1nupgrls, and order the pin-up calendar at P1nupgrls.com.
Follow Alfie on Twitter , Facebook , or at shawnalff.com
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2011.