Overview:
Oftentimes glamour modeling and photography gets overlooked in the ever-expanding world of pornography. With so many out to make a quick buck (or bust a quick nut), class, allure and suggestion gets passed by in lieu of double-anal, whips 'n' leather and gangbang cumshots. Now, I'm not knocking the more extreme end of the spectrum, in fact it serves millions well, but there should always be a place for tasteful erotica. Thankfully Met Art has been keeping the flame of erotic photography burning strong since 1999 and continues to find new ways to attract browsers to take the plunge and join their community.

Met Art's front page boasts some pretty high-falutin' claims: 2006 World's Best Photography Winner, listed on FHM's 50 best websites, video downloads of incredible quality and convenience, there seems to be no end to the confidence of the Met Art crew. Is it justified or are they simply full of baloney? Let's find out.

Tapping on the "Members" button and logging in, we're first greeted by a page of legal jargon that must be agreed to before entering. This is a tad irritating; but what's beyond this single-page diatribe should negate that irritation, right? On the main members' page there's a delectable fruit basket of options laid out. A banner menu at the top of the page indicates that there are movies, live cams, models, and DVDs to be devoured and after a few clicks here and there it's obvious that quality artistic photography is of the utmost importance here. With world-renowned photo artists such as Erro, Magoo (what's with all the one-word names?) and Giovanni Nova (that's better), you can be sure that you'll not only be looking at extremely attractive females in various states of undress but that you'll also find yourself thinking "Nice composition" or "Exquisite use of smoke and spotlight there" while browsing through their impressive archive of photo sets.

Each photo set delivers the goods, with anywhere from 80 to 200 images available in low, medium and high resolutions and downloadable as zip archives or as individual views. The high res options show incredible detail and clarity, often hitting the 1500x2200 pixel mark (very impressive indeed.) As previously mentioned, the photography is superb and shows the women hanging out at home, rolling in ocean waves, surrounding themselves with lush foliage and just generally keepin' it real in a number of picturesque locales. I was honestly expecting to get quite bored looking at women, however gorgeous, without any hardcore action taking place but the very impressive quality of the photography is such that this never happened.

The movie section of the site is equally well produced and allows members to enjoy a number of tastefully directed films featuring the same beautiful models as the image galleries (mostly in their late teens and early twenties). The vids themselves are available in an impressive number of formats: streaming Flash (low and high quality), QuickTime and DivX (1280x720), iPod-ready M4V (480x270) as well as MPEG, WMV and PSP-ready MP4. The DivX videos offer the best quality with a higher bitrate than any other option but all perform solidly where needed. There's truly something for every computer configuration and preference. Download speeds were good with most files coming in at around 500 kbps.

Movies and photos can be browsed by year and month added or found through either the model or photographer indexes or by using the search option. There is also an advanced search function for more specific results.

Monthly membership runs $19.99 and gives you access to everything Met Art has to offer, including more than 6000 photo galleries and over 500 movies with more being added every day (daily updates usually consist of 3 to 7 new galleries and videos, though videos are sometimes updated more infrequently).

What's that? Still not convinced? Allow me to break it down for you, champ:

Pros:
- Only the most beautiful women are featured at Met Art. You won't find any of your typically plasticized Valley Girl pornstars here. Most of the models appear to be from various parts of Europe and fit perfectly with the photographic styles.

- Video download options are wonderful. Streaming videos, desktop downloads and downloads for portable media devices are all available in multiple formats and resolutions. Met Art is really leading the pack when it comes to taking advantage or newer technology.

- Daily updates deliver the goods at a very pleasing rate.

- The super high-resolution photos are a joy to view, with incredible detail and definition.

Cons:
- Sometimes you may find yourself thinking, "God, that chick would look awesome taking a few loads on her face!!" Sadly, these thoughts can never become a reality.

- Navigation was at times frustrating due to cramped page layouts and a small menu bar. The black backgrounds, while tasteful and elegant, make text and menu images a little easy to miss.

Conclusion:
Met Art is the one site that sparked my interest in erotic photography. Met Art doesn't cater to everyone's taste but the intended audience will find it to be an outstanding website with a lot to offer. Excellent, artful photography portrays stunning European models in the best possible fashion, giving the scenes an atmosphere of class and eroticism. Met Art is well worth the membership charge for those of us into the softer side of internet-based porn. I could go on for hours on how awe inspiring the content is, how talented the photographers are, and how beautiful the models are, but I'll save you from a long winded speech and simply sum up Met Art in one word - Amazing!