Welcome to Erotic by Nature. This site, sponsored by Nearby Café, is my online home. It includes the most comprehensive online collection of my various works and projects, including my photography, Comes Naturally columns, other essays, short stories, poems, and books.
I was delighted when Allan Coleman invited me to be part of his growing Nearby Café website, offering me the opportunity to post my writing and a generous sampling of my photography at a single, attractively designed, and easily accessible online location. I'm pleased to have my work presented as part of Nearby Café -- Allen's gathering of talented and provocative writers, photographers, and artists. In addition to browsing my own work, I encourage you to take a few minutes to look at the rest of Nearby Café's varied offerings.
Erotic by Nature is divided into twelve principal sections, each of which appears in the Navigation Bar at the top of each page on the site. The various sections present different aspect of my work, as well as purchasing information for books and prints, instructions for joining my mailing list, background information about me, and a way to contact me directly. The Navigation Bar allows you to move directly from one section of the site to any other, easily and directly, at any time.
Here is a basic outline of what you'll find in each of the sections:
This About Erotic by Nature page serves as an introduction and home page for the site as a whole.
The Photography section has 18 galleries, each of which contains between 12 and 26 photos. The galleries are organized by subject matter into four sub-sections: This Thing We Call Sex, Sex and Disability, Other Erotic Photos, and Event Photos.
Within each gallery, clicking the arrows to the right of the enlarged images will take you through the images in that gallery sequentially. Clicking the arrows to the left of enlarged images will take you to the previous image in the sequence. You can also enlarge gallery images in any order by clicking on them in the thumbnail strip at the bottom of each page.
Information on purchasing custom archival prints of any of my photographs is available by clicking on the Print Information link that appears in the galleries, on the Photography section main page, or on any of the four sub-section main pages.
The sub-sections represent different aspects of my photographic work:
This Thing We Call Sex has eleven galleries of my photography of couples being sexual, the project that has been the core of my photographic work since 1999. Galleries of new work will be posted regularly. My primary goal in this project is to capture something meaningful and emotionally genuine about intimate sex on film. I work primarily with couples in long-standing relationships, and generally photograph people in the comfort of their own homes. I have photographed over 90 couples to date -- people encompassing a broad spectrum of ages, genders, sexual orientations, sexual preferences, body types, and ethnicities. A more complete description of this project, and of the forthcoming book of this work, is available by clicking the About This Work link at the top of this section's main page.
Sex and Disability presents five additional galleries of my couples work, galleries that focus on the culturally ignored and disregarded sexuality of people with disabilities. New galleries will be posted as this work progresses. A statement about my sexual photography of people with disabilities, the subject of another book in progress, is available by clicking the About This Work link at the top of the Sex and Disability section main page.
Other Erotic Photos presents one preliminary gallery of my non-sexual erotic photographs. Additional galleries of this work will be posted soon.
Events Photos shows a collection of photos taken on March 10, 2004, the last day that same-sex marriage licenses were being issued by the City of San Francisco. Galleries of photographs documenting other sex- and gender-related events -- including San Francisco's Folsom Street and Dore Alley Fairs, and the annual San Francisco Faux Drag Queen Pageant -- will be posted soon.
The Comes Naturally section is a complete archive of thirteen years of Comes Naturally columns, dating back to November 13, 1992. Comes Naturally, originally a column for San Francisco's Spectator magazine, and later distributed experimentally online to 150 close friends, is a testament to the information potential of the Internet. It is now distributed online to over 2600 people in at least 56 countries. It is available online, at no cost and with complete confidentiality, to anyone interested in receiving it. To subscribe to Comes Naturally, click on the link that appears at the end of each column, or on the Mailing List box in the Navigation Bar.
Other Essays is an archive of additional writing on sex and gender issues, separate from the Comes Naturally columns.
Clicking on the Mailing List box of the Navigation Bar connects you to a short email sign-up form for receiving Comes Naturally regularly online. If you choose to join the Comes Naturally mailing list, you will also receive my other writing, and information about upcoming speaking engagements, slide show presentations, photo exhibits, and travels. You will not receive advertisements, solicitations, or email of any kind from other people. Names and email addresses of people on the Comes Naturally list are kept completely confidential and never distributed, traded, or sold.
The Books section has information about all of my books, including those now out of print. Through links in this section you can purchase signed copies of books still in print directly from me.
The Stories section has a small collection of personal tales, impressions, and recountings of issues and events in my life. These vary from journal accounts to what one friend accurately calls "creative non-fiction." I hope to have time to add to this section before long.
The Poems section has a selection of my poetry addressing sex-related issues, from an intensely personal perspective. Additional poems will be posted over time.
About David Steinberg has a general biographical sketch, as well as a list of my books, anthologies that include my writing and photography, and shows of my photographs.
The News section has information about my upcoming speaking engagements, slide show presentations, photographic shows, and travels.
The Links section has an extensive list of links to other sites I consider especially worthwhile in relation to fine art sexual photography, general sex-positive advocacy, and progressive sex education. There are links to other websites hosting galleries of my photos, websites that frequently publish my writing or photography, websites of other fine art sexual photographers whose work I admire, organizations doing political advocacy around sex and gender issues, organizations promoting sexual art and culture, imaginative erotic periodicals, online newsletters of writers who focus on sex and gender issues, personal websites of leading sex advocates, publishers of quality erotica, producers of alternative sex videos and films, and sex-related professional associations.
The Contact link provides a blank email if you want to contact me directly. I encourage you to let me know what you think about any of my work, or how this work has affected you. Feedback from viewers and readers gives me valuable perspective as my writing and my photography evolve over time.
