|
Domai - Reviewed by The Pornoisseur at Mr. Pink's Porn Reviews
Site Rating -
Category - Erotic Photography Pricing - $29.95/1 Month - $19.95/Monthly Rebills
Domai is much more than a nude photography site; it's founder and members see it as a cultural movement, not just a collection of images. Domai's goals, as laid out by it's founder, Eolake Stobblehouse, are threefold: Looking is good, beauty is important, and nudity is natural. Domai is a shrine to the beauty and purity of the youthful female form, and a meeting space for it's admirers. Domai is nudity on a mission, and this means that the site is overflowing with philosophical musings, letters, articles, stories, memories, and all sorts of written material on the subject of female beauty. In fact, although the photos are generally what draw people to the site, Stobblehouse claims that they are not central to the site's mission.
Domai is responsible for the creation of the 'simple nudes' style of photography, in which sexuality and artistic vision are minimized in favor of a straightforward depiction of beauty. That being said, the photography of Domai is quite varied, and despite the apparent simplicity of the style, much of it is very different from the other nude photography you may have seen. The reason that simple nudes are so rare is that generally nude photography has fallen into two categories: that which is erotic in intent, and therefore shows the human form in a provocative and especially explicit way, and that which is artistic in intent, and into which is projected the photographer's creative personality. What is missing is photography that does nothing but show the natural beauty of the female body. This is where Domai fits in. The site has been around for nearly ten years -- a very long time by internet standards -- and it even existed as an organization prior to its online debut. Because of its popularity and longevity, Domai's style has been imitated widely, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, and therefore the photography you see on Domai may seem less unique than is sounds. However, it is important to keep in mind that Domai is the original collection of simple nudes.
Now that the philosophy and history is out of the way, lets turn to the technical aspects of the site itself. Because Domai was originally not a money making venture, the site differs markedly from the generic nude photography site. For example, the site contains a huge amount of writing, both by the founders and by members, and it is generally very interesting and eloquent, occasionally even beautiful. Another difference is that there is a lot of free content; the weekly newsletter with accompanying photos is free for all, and there are several pages on the site where non-paying visitors can enjoy Domai's great photography. Members do get a very worthwhile advantage, however: access to the frequent updates and massive archive of nude photography.
Domai was founded not by photographers but by appreciators of photography, and as such, contains the work of hundreds of different photographers, some of which are now famous, with sites of their own. These include such well known names as Petter Hegre, Grigori Galitsin, and Andrei Slastyonoff. The photography is all of the highest quality, and although Domai does not bother with impressive but uselessly enormous image resolutions as some other sites, every image is well past sufficient when it comes to quality.
Domai contains well over 15,000 images, each of which is itself worthy of inclusion in the site. By contrast, many other sites publish galleries with dozens of extraneous near-duplicate or otherwise unnecessary photos. Although the photo collection is outstanding, the written content is also very impressive, and always worth reading. Domai members write some of the most interesting and beautiful letters, many of which retell memories of particularly beautiful moments in their authors' lives.
In case you have not figured it out by now, Domai contains absolutely no sexual content, and although much of the photography is undeniably erotic, that is not its intent, and all of it can certainly be viewed as purely non-sexual. In this respect, reviewing Domai as a porn, or even erotica site, seems problematic. However, many erotic photography sites claim to be in the business of respectfully showcasing female beauty, and many do this not very well or not at all. Domai is unparalleled in it's presentation of the beauty of the female form, and since it beats so many erotic sites at their own game, it is important to mention and share it in the context of erotic photography.
|