Dave Myles photography - February 2019

Last week on my trip to DC I got to shoot with Dave Myles again. We have collaborated many times over the years. I really enjoy working with the same people again and again. It makes the artistic process effortless as we start to read each others' minds and anticipate what the other person will do. We were able to find a small chapel in the National Cathedral (shhhh... don't tell!) where we could sneak away and shoot some surreptitious images without interruption. 

This was an interesting concept for me, as I was raised in a very religious household where nudity was not acceptable at all. I think one of the reasons I have been drawn to nude modeling is as an act of rebellion against the puritanical attitudes of the church in which I grew up, especially with regards to sexuality (in particular female sexuality). While posing, I was channeling this energy, pulling on feelings of penance, guilt, and punishment in addition to the paradoxical sensuality present in the history of religious art. I'm glad that attitudes towards nudity and sexuality seem to be changing in this country. I think it's about time.