In the London lesbian world it has become folklore: can you remember the first time you saw it? I can.

It was 2001 and I was on my way to meet friends at Tottenham Court Road's First Out cafe one chilly evening. There - taking up what seemed like was the entire skyline - it was: a massive billboard of two young women, lying on a bed in cute underwear, kissing. The black and white poster stopped me in my tracks. Never had I seen such a blatant, and rather foxy, display of lesbianism and I remember rushing into the cafe and asking my friends if they had seen it too. They had, and they were equally happy.

The image, called "Kiss", was part of an advertising campaign for the launch of the now defunct gay website Queercompany.com. It was taken by photographer Tanya Chalkin.

Chalkin, now aged 35, has gone on to create many more glossy erotic images of women (and men), including her "Secrets 2010" calendar of equally scantily clad women. She tells LoveGirls what inspires her work... and fudges revealing whether she is gay or not.

Did you expect "Kiss" to become an iconic image?
I thought there was something special about it; it was a moment in time. A lot of people are inspired by "Kiss" and that is really flattering. When I look at it now it's really difficult because in a way I've had enough of it, in the sense of it's been there for a while and people still talk about it – and I love that – but I don't just want to be known for "Kiss".

You got a lot of attention when it came out, how did you deal it with?
The image got a lot of attention when it first came out on the Tottenham Court Road billboard, it was really exciting. There were positives and negatives because there always are when there are two girls together.

What do you think about the idea that some images of women together are just going to appeal to men?
I think that's boring. The reason why I find what I am doing interesting in the public domain is I am a girl doing it, and if you look of my images of girls together it is very different from how you see guys shooting girls together. I am not sexualising women in such a way to make it look tacky or nasty and that's really important for me. Although I am doing erotic stuff I am trying to do it in a very chic way and am working with top-end stylists, models, make up people and clothes.

How do men photograph differently?
It's greasier, it's cheesy. The models are glamour models and have massive fake boobs, they're not real. The way the women are together is pornographic and I just don't want any of my work to feel like that. I want it to be sensual.

What is your sexuality?
It's private. I don't want to talk about my personal life if that's ok.

I think it's interesting, as a lesbian, how you shoot. I don't get any passion from the images in "Secrets2010" so I wonder how you related to it? A lot of the models and the poses in it would definitely appeal to straight men, so who is "Secrets 2010" targeted at?
Everyone. I'm not targeting a particular audience, anyone who wants to enjoy my work, whatever it is, can. The only market I want to get is the young, cool, hip market, students who can buy quality artwork cheaply. I am definitely not going for girl girls, or for boys, I want to keep it as wide as possible.

What inspired you to do the calendar?
Fans' requests. They wanted more and I wanted to be different. I have got several posters out there that people have liked and wanted to see more of. What I didn't want to do with this calendar was make it the same basic underwear shoot on a bed; I wanted to make it interesting and colourful.

What is it that you like about shooting women?
It's fairly difficult actually; shooting guys is so much easier because they are less fussy. Girls, especially when they're together, are quite bitchy but when I did this shot there were only two girls and they weren't bitchy.

But what is positive about shooting women?
Their bodies are beautiful, their curves. They are a lot more feminine.

You've said you cast models purely on their looks, not their sexuality. Have you worked with lesbian models?
Not that I know of, although I am sure most of the models I've worked with are bi or tri or whatever, and that's cool with me.

The 2010 Secrets Calendar is available to buy now: Secrets by Tanya Chalkin 2010 Calendar. For more information on Tanya's work visit http://www.tanyachalkin.com

Leave a comment letting us know what you think of the new calendar.