The concept of combining the human nude figure with the outdoors landscape is hardly an original idea, the concept dating back to the work of Julian Mandel, Edward Weston, and Alfred Stieglitz from the 1920s . However, the development of the genre is still - relatively speaking - in its infancy, with general mainstream acceptance of these works as legitimate art not really occurring until the 1970s and 1980s. Modern acceptance of nudity and nudism has made it easier for photographers to find models willing to pose in his manner, and, as a result, the quantity of published work has greatly increased in recent years.
Images of the human form presented nude in the outdoors can be powerful on many different levels. First, they can challenge the notion of clothing as a prerequisite to outdoor adventure. Second, they can convey upon the viewer a sense of freedom and connection that can often be missing from conventional landscapes. Third, the human form creates strong textual contrast to the trees, rocks, water and other aspects of nature. It is my hope that these concepts show through in the images I create.
I prefer to work with black & white film because it emphasizes textures and lines to a greater extent than color film. Most of the images are captured with a Hasselblad 6x6 camera using various brands of 100 and 400 speed films. All of the images were taken using natural sunlight.
I draw inspiration from a broad cross section of photographers, including the work of Jeanloup Sieff, Minor White, Edward Weston, Bill Brant, Dahmane, Robert Farber, Herb Ritts, Patrick Demarchelier, Helmut Newton, and Ken Marcus’s Yosimite series.
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