Ellen von Unwerth quotes:

I love beautiful women. I love to show their personality, their sexuality. There's a fashion side to my erotic pictures: I love beautiful shoes and jewellery. But the erotic work I do is too daring and provocative for a fashion magazine. It's more fun, and if you have the right girl who likes it, more exciting, too. It's fashion photography, but with fewer clothes.

I love all the old pictures - of spanking and Bettie Page and corsets. But you can't do spanking in fashion, so I wanted to do a project where I could really let go and get girls who also love those things.

I love sexy, intelligent women. Sexiness is hard to define. Of course a woman can be beautiful, but I think it's something in the eyes. It's a woman saying something secretive, something in her eyes that's almost animalistic.

I don't stand behind the camera drooling. Knowing that, the models are more likely to open up and relax.

I think that the obsession with technique is a male thing. Boy's toys. They love playing... I would rather search for a new model or location.

I like to photograph anyone before they know what their best angles are.

It's good to shock. It's not good to always be careful. It's good to disturb a little.

I'm into capturing the moment. Sometimes, I'll rip the camera out of my assistant's hands and he'll be shouting, But there's no film in the camera! and I think, Never mind! Let's go.

Women are not just there to be admired, they are there to be enjoyed.

It's a woman saying something secretive, something in her eyes that's almost animalistic

A sexy picture can come from anyone who forms an intimacy with their subject. You can take a sexy picture of your cat if you want to.