Chelsea Guerra knows how to get exposure.

She's the 21-year-old who gained national attention for posing nude while being photographed at a Monroeville strip mall. Not all of the attention, however, has been good. The police noticed her and filed pending charges of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.

Guerra says she's surprised at the level of attention the story has received.

“I didn't see how sensational my actions were ... until the actual press started to cover my story,” she said Tuesday.

The Tribune-Review reported the story first on April 13. The story went viral, being picked up by national media like the Associated Press, The New York Times and thesmokinggun.com.

“At first I was a little hurt, but then I started to laugh about it, because there was a lot of stretching and insinuation,” Guerra said, in an interview reported on the upgruv website, referring to social media posts she was a prostitute or getting drugs in exchange for posing nude for photographer Michael Keith Warnock.

Those negative assumptions “are just flat-out wrong,” Guerra said.

“My nude modeling is honest work, and I use it mostly to fund my college career,” said the 21-year-old junior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Guerra said she was unaware that walking around naked – except for thigh-high black stockings and high heels – in public was illegal.

“I didn't know that at the time,” she said. “In hindsight, all I can say is that my intent, or what I was trying to do, was not (to) be obscene and shocking ... and offend people. I was only there to do an art project for a photographer.”

Guerra, who lives in Indiana borough, is proud of her work; her Flickr page stands as her portfolio.

She said her portfolio art is not meant to be erotic.

“I think my pictures depict something other than explicit content. Nudity is not always to arouse,” she said. “I really just hope people try to understand that or learn that.”

For Guerra, it's always been about the art.

“An artistic measure to my photos is always number one,” she said. “But it is a business, so I understand that some of my photos are more erotic or risque. I'm just a nude model ... for photography purposes only. It's not deviant, it's not scandalous, it's not illegal.”

Except when you do it out in public.

“I'm just tired of the media equating it to prostitution or something,” she said.

The rumors likely were fueled by the fact that she responded to an ad on Craigslist.

“Craigslist gets a bad rep,” she says. “Let's be honest. Shady stuff goes on in Craigslist.”

But Guerra says she has utilized Craigslist and Model Mayhem to get plenty of gigs.

“It's really just about using your best judgement, doing your homework, getting references from past models and just being smart. It takes work just like any other industry,” she said.

Guerra's been modeling since she turned 18 as a freshman in college. Her endgame is to earn a degree in public relations and land a job in the media — either on TV or working for a network.

Since the media storm, Guerra has been spreading the word — mainly through her Twitter account — that nude modeling isn't pornography.

“I've just had so much different reactions to it, so much support that I've decided to go public with it and share the idea that nudity is not always explicit or immoral,” she said. “It can be art. It can be beautiful.”

upgruv is a trending news site that is property of 535Media.

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