Life is hard at times, this much is true. It's full of broken dreams, broken hearts, sickness, poverty, greed, and, worse, child abuse, racism, sexism, hatred, and war. We try to cope with all of life's ugliness in different ways. Everyone has a coping mechanism for the harsh realities of life. Mine is fine-art photography.
I grew interested in the craft of photography when I was only a teenager in high school. I came across the works of many brilliant photographers, showing me that good photography was an art on par with painting, drawing, and sculpture. Two of these photographers really inspired me.They were Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, contemporaries in the the first half of the 20th century. I was amazed at Adams' and Weston's prowess using the lens to capture such powerful images. Adams could shoot such amazing landscapes, from a moon shining over New Mexico, to trees in the fog, to towering Mount Yosemite, giving the viewer a sense of awe and respect for nature. Weston, on the other hand, could shoot close ups of things that others would deem drab and boring, such as peppers, shells, and cabbage leaves, but was able to bring out such detail that it was like looking at the world in a whole new way. His nudes were also incredible. It wasn't long before I picked up a camera and tried taking powerful pictures myself. My first photos were dull, to put it mildly. However, by the time I reached my late twenties, I was growing considerably more skilled. To this day I have a lot to learn, and I am nowhere near as skilled as Adams, Weston, or any of the other greats, but I hope to continually grow and learn.
As I have dabbled in the art of fine-art photography, I have always found it to be a spiritual experience, akin to going to church. I feel close to God when I create beautiful works of art though photography. It's as if I'm being given a small taste of the creation process. It's through this hobby that I feel sorrows melt away, in which my depression is alleviated to a great extant and all is made right with the world.
I primarily photograph these five subjects, and they are animals, landscapes, flowers, nudes, and religious structures. Why these five instead of cars, clothed portraiture, cars, fashion models, and city-scapes? Simpy put, I find a beauty to them. To see God's world without towering skyscrapers and urban sprawl is an ointment to soothe the weary soul, especially since we sadly seem to keep sprawling out, losing more and more precious nature. But just as panoramic landscape looks amazing, there is also something just as complex as a flower such as a lily or a daisy, or of any kind of animal. As for nudes, Michaelangelo said it best when he stated,
"What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and the skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed." An unadorned body, naked, is beautiful and not obscene. I see it similar to a landscape without buildings, both of them radiating in their natural splendor. The only buildings that really interest me are religious structures. I see them as the exception to the rule. Whether it's a cathedral, a Mormon temple, a hindu temple, or a Shinto or Buddhist shrine, a synagogue, a Mosque, or an old chapel, there is something beautiful and divine about these structures which people constructed out of praise and devotion to their god, that I can't help but feel inspired and moved with extreme admiration.
There is so much ugliness that I want my photography, for the most part, to express joy and beauty - though who knows, as maybe someday I'll photograph the darker elements of life. Regardless, I hope that my work, though not at a level of perfection, will still inspire all those who view it, providing them with a sense of awe and appreciation.
Why nudes? Why not clothed people? Simply because there is something about the human body unadorned that is absolutely beautiful being in it's natural state. Rather than accentuating beauty, I feel that more often than naught clothing hides beauty. Imagine if you will a pristine landscape of woods, rivers, mountains, and hills, only to be built over with concrete buildings and roads. The landscape loses it's natural beauty. I feel that the body is like a magnificent landscape in it's own nature, and when when covered in fabric is loses some of that beauty. Both male and female alike have their own beauty to them that is admirable. At the moment, I have to contact the last male model I used to get permission to post his images. In the future, I hope to get some more male nudes for my site. But until then, here are a couple of female models who worked with me on my craft. They were both wonderful.
