Photography’s best known smacker – Robert Doisneau’s 1950 Kiss By The Hotel De Ville – may have been a set-up, but it was still naturalistic, and oozing with passion. By contrast, this is kissing as art: meticulously stage-managed aerial shots of entwined couples, naked from the waist up. →

The idea behind the shots is to create a single organic shape from two figures. Each couple, with just their shoulders, heads and faces visible, forms an elegant yin and yang symbol against a black backdrop. →

It took photographer Andy Barter nearly two hours to create each shot. In the male/female pictures, the men’s shoulders were usually too overpowering at first, so he had to adjust their positions, inch by inch, until the balance was right. From a series of 10 shots, only one couple isn’t “real” (picture 5), but all were individuals hired from acting or modelling agencies who brought their other halves along. →

The art-directed, clinical beauty of each photograph makes the fact the subjects are kissing appear almost incidental – as if their heads are required to be in that position to achieve the desired effect and locking lips makes it easier. They are exquisite, but not erotic. →

Photographs of kisses – hard to avoid at this time of year – will always have about them the whiff of an Athena poster. With these abstract, graphic shots, Barter has avoided that particular pitfall.

From the series Kiss, by Andy Barter.

From the series Kiss, by Andy Barter.

From the series Kiss, by Andy Barter.

From the series Kiss, by Andy Barter.

From the series Kiss, by Andy Barter.