In looking at all the end of year award nominations for AVN, I noticed there was one category conspicuously missing. Galleries. Photo galleries, as well as galleries that combine photo and video, play a very important part in generating both traffic and revenue to all online business and are an extenuation of the magazine photo spreads which have been around since 1953 when Marilyn Monroe appeared in the first issue of Playboy. Not only that, but a lot of thought goes into making quality photo sets and there are plenty of obstacles that come with making a quality gallery. What if the weather sucks on the day of the shoot? What if the model or the photographer just wakes up feeling like shit and can’t bring their “A” game no matter how hard they try? There are tons of annoying little things that can happen. On the flip side, when both the photographer and the model have good chemistry and are on the same level and when none of those little annoying things happen, the results can blow your mind. How can there not be an award for something which has been around for nearly 60 years and remains so vital to the business? Who knows. Thankfully I have world class taste and am more than willing to pick up the slack. With that, I give you the 2010 Top 10 Photo Galleries of the Year, one of which has been declared The 2010 Top Photo Gallery of the Year.
Tori Black on X-ART | October 2010
Even after considering the fact that different people have different taste, I think it’s pretty much agreed upon that Tori Black is one of the best looking porn stars of all time. The combination of her natural beauty and the simple elegance of Brigham Field’s photography on X-ART is a match made in heaven. There’s also something about the lighting, the way the sun shines in the room, that really sets this gallery apart. What makes it even hotter is when you look at it after watching one of her scenes in Tori Black is Pretty Filthy #2. Simply amazing. Starlet Sheet, which is the website that you are on right now, has been criticized for having a lack of direction – “Is it an erotic nude site or is it a porn star site? You need to make up your mind and pick a niche”. I have picked a niche. It’s called the ‘All That is Ridiculously Hot’ niche and the combination of that movie and this gallery is a perfect example of what I mean.
Emily Addison on Twistys | October 2010
The idea to do the Top 10 Galleries of the Year was actually inspired by this Twistys set of Emily Addison from when she was named November Treat of the Month. What makes it so great is really a combination of everything and it’s hard to explain. I mean, Twistys always has world class photography and Emily is really hot and has an awesome body. The fact that an Emily Addison set on Twistys turned out well should not come as a shock to anyone. Somehow, though, the combination of her wet hair, the silver bikini, the black and white tiling in the shower, her eyes, and the water spraying all come together so perfectly that I have decided to name it as the 2010 Photo Gallery of the Year. Congratulations to both Emily Addison and Twistys! **And also congratulations to photographer Tammy Sands, who not only shot this set, but also has another gallery in the Top 10.
Briana Blair on Penthouse | June 2010
The Starlet Sheet Débutant* section, which launched in August, consists of pages devoted to new porn stars. Not counting the 2011 Débutants, I think there were a total of around 36 or 37 of these pages for new porn stars and all of them were updated whenever a new gallery or clip was released. From mid-November through early-December, there was the Starlet Sheet Débutant of the Year Tournament. It was like a World Cup or March Madness style elimination tournament that started with 32 new porn stars and ended with one champion (Lily Carter). Given all of that, it’s not inconceivable to think that I’ve seen most of those pages at least a dozen times. So, after deciding to do the Top 10 Galleries of 2010, I thought to myself – “Of all of the galleries on all of the pages devoted to all of the new porn stars, which ones stand out the most?” This Penthouse gallery with Briana Blair was the first one that came to mind. Again, to make this list, there needs to be something more than just a hot series of photos with a hot girl. There needs to be something extra and this set definitely has something extra. I’m not even sure what’s going on in the set. At first glance, it looks like a winter style theme that you’d see in the snow, but Briana is wearing black boots in what appears to be a shower. Whatever the case may be, it’s hot, it’s memorable, and it deserves to be one of the Top 10 Galleries of 2010.
The Dangerous Girl on X-ART | June 2010
Speaking of memorable, this X-ART set was one of the reasons that the Hot Art Nudes section was created. I actually launched the website to support a porn star based concept but, after finding out about the existence of websites like X-ART, it was impossible to not create such a section as it would have been a disservice to those searching for all that is hot. A page devoted to X-ART was one of the first pages to be created and it includes a photo from this set. The name of the hot model with the big knife is Monika, the set is titled The Dangerous Girl, and it’s one of the Top 10 Galleries of 2010.
Lela Star on VIP Area | May 2010
The next gallery is from VIP Area, a website which I just found out about recently (Starlet Sheet Review of VIP Area). The website features of the work of a very talented photographer named Tammy Sands. I definitely felt like at least one set from the site had to make the list and this one with a dripping wet Lela Star in the shower and looking at a mirror is my favorite, which is reason enough for it to be named one of the Top 10 Galleries of 2010.
Jessica Jaymes on Jessica Jaymes XXX | September 2010
Some regular readers, maybe even all three of them, may recall the glowing review given to the network of websites which includes First Class POV and the official websites of porn stars Jessica Jaymes, Tanya James, Capri Cavalli, and Regan Reese. This gallery, titled Candy, which features Jessica Jaymes wearing a blonde wig, white heels, sunglasses, red and white panties, and red and white striped thigh high socks while holding a lollipop, was the gallery that caused me to check out the rest of the sites. It’s sexy, artistic, creative, and just ridiculously hot. Whoever it was that did the photography for this gallery, and many of the other galleries I’ve seen on their websites, has a unique style and some serious skills. Same goes for whoever picks out things for them to wear, what the sets will look like, and things like that. They kind of have a Warhol type vibe or something like that going for them.
Sarah on Photodromm | November 2010 — Little Caprice on W4B | December 2010
Here’s a new niche for someone to start. The wall niche. Stone walls. Brick walls. Any type but linoleum will work just fine. The brick wall set is from W4B and features a popular new model named Little Caprice. It also serves as a good example as to why apartments featuring exposed brick are held at such a premium in the NYC real estate market. The stone wall set is from Photodromm and is with a model named Sarah. Both of the sets are ridiculously hot and deserve to be included in the Top 10 Galleries of 2010 on their own, but it somehow made sense to combine them and call it a tie, so that’s what I did.
Bryci in Latex
Above are three photos of popular solo girl Bryci wearing black latex and red heels while in a desolate parking garage. The setting, angles, lighting, wardrobe, and Bryci herself go great together and combine to make it one of the Top 10 Galleries of the Year. The link beneath the photo leads to a tour of her website. The gallery itself is only available in her members area, but the above three photos do give a good glimpse of the rest of them and also serve as a good example as to why galleries which are well put together deserve their own award. Having such excellent and discriminating taste while simultaneously lacking in artistic ability makes it hard for me to be satisfied with the way I personally lay things out. Even though all three of the above photos are ridiculously hot on their own, I must have gone through about 20 different combinations before deciding to use those three in that order. Incidentally, the original intent for this page was to display 5 or 6 photos for each of the Top 10 Galleries. Most full galleries have 10-15 photos and it can be difficult to present 5 or 6 of them with a flow that lives up to my own high standards and is representative of the flow in the full gallery itself. Presenting 2 or 3 each meant there would be less chance for me to fuck up the flow.
Emma Mae on Digital Desire | November 2010
This Digital Desire gallery with new porn star Emma Mae is another one that made an impression as I was continually updating the Starlet Sheet Débutant section. As I may have alluded to in one of the other descriptions, sometimes the end result of a gallery just works and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes it work. Aside her hotness, the black stockings and corset likely play a part, but it’s hard to single anything out, so we’ll just leave it at that.
Alektra Blue on Juliland | September 2010
I’m not going to lie. I knew that a Juliland gallery absolutely, positively had to be on this list because Richard Avery’s work consistently kicks some serious ass, but my first thought was to actually include the one where Tori Black is oiled up and wearing purple heels (View Here). I didn’t want to do that because another one of the Top 10 galleries features Tori. Thankfully, I quickly thought of this one with Alektra Blue wearing black spiked heels. The entire process only took a second or two, so it’s not like it was forced or anything. Had that been the case, I would have just went with the Tori gallery.
So there you have it. The Top 10 Galleries of 2010. Lest I remind you that there are time and financial costs associated with the creation, production, and presentation of this high quality photography which features some of the hottest women in the world. Given that, I have no choice but to command you to buy a membership to one of these ten world class websites. If you work in the adult industry and somehow feel as if you are immune to the spending that which you expect of your customer base, you must still buy at least one membership. You can then leave a comment below and tell everyone how excited you are about your purchase. If you are not in the industry, and have somehow made it through these 10 galleries and over 2000 words of text without prematurely blowing your load, it’s safe to say that you appreciate the finer things in life and prefer to not waste your time trolling around the internet looking for crap alongside a bunch of worthless heathens, so I don’t even need to remind you to buy a membership at one of these ten world class websites because I know that you’re more than likely to do so anyway and are acutely aware of the fact that nobody, and I mean nobody, likes a cheap cunt!
