"Capturing Empowerment: A Conversation with Photographer and Sex Worker Ally, Ellen Stagg"

Get Schooled Podcast

Famed photographer Ellen Stagg describes her work as photographing women of all levels of dress undress, empowering women, and celebrating and collaborating with them through her photography.

Ellen's lifelong interest in photography began in high school in Connecticut with a senior-level photography course. She attended the prestigious School of Visual Arts, graduating with a BFA. At the end of her junior year at SVA, Stagg signed with her first agent and immediately began shooting commercial content for magazines, advertising, fashion, and exclusive clientele. Ellen's fashion and commercial work has appeared in Life, Vibe, Interview, Maxim, Flaunt, I-D, Inked, Penthouse, Time Out, Teen Vogue, and film and TV. Her subjects, drawn from acting, music, and sports, include Scarlett Johansson, Moby, Tony Hawk, Heidi Fleiss, Redman, Good Charlotte, and Geena Rocero. A complete list of her clients is at EllenStagg.com.

The turning point in her career came when Ellen met porn star/actress Justine Joli, who was searching for a photographer to create content for her site. Through Joli, she met other women from the industry and continued to explore more erotic subject matter but ran into difficulty while looking for places to showcase her work. Deemed too "porn" for her commercial work and too "artsy" for porn sites, Ellen started her own website, Staggstreet.com, which brought her more notoriety and opened doors for TV work and art exhibits.

Ellen was spotlighted in a ten-episode web series shot by The Independent Film Channel called "The Stagg Party". Filmed and directed by Joe Swanberg, the series received critical kudos. She then moved on to shoot/produce and star in 2 seasons of Playboy TV's "Badass," photographing models doing badass activities like cliff diving, riding horses, and driving a tracker, all in the nude while Ellen interviewed them. Ellen also starred in KarmaloopTV KarmaloopTV.com, "Behind the Lens," shooting and interviewing her models, including Stoya, Lily Labeau, Shay Laren, Kacie Marie and more.

Ellen has exhibited her fine art film images at art galleries worldwide. She has shown her work at Fuse Gallery, Parlor Gallery, Stephen Romano, Morbid Anatomy, Gallery, Brooklyn, Mighty Tanaka, and Scope Art Fair. Her work is regularly featured on the covers and pages of Hustler and Taboo magazines. Ellen received three wins and numerous nominations from the AltStar Awards. Follow her adventures on Twitter/X & IG at @EllenStagg.

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