On Form, Voyeurism and the Nude

Thoughtfully photographing a person creates a connection, but photographing a person who has chosen to shed their clothes, to reveal the entirety of their body is an altogether different kind of exchange.

Some of the images in this collection are of people I’ve known for decades. Others are people I knew only briefly or by chance, as models in a classroom or studio setting.

I recall their voices, their stories and circumstances, their comfort – or lack of comfort – in the moments I spent observing their naked bodies. I am tremendously thankful for their willingness to share themselves, to allow me the chance to transform their most precious possession into line and texture, light and shadow.

To photograph, sketch, or sculpt a nude body converts a living, breathing human into an aesthetic object. By its nature, this kind of creative act separates the body from the model’s inner thoughts, feelings, and vision of self. What remains for the viewer is the pleasure of looking without the weight of knowing.

These images show more than surfaces, more than skin. They are commemorations of the connection between artist and model.

Joel Bluming