As a nudist I believe in body acceptance. Appearance is only one part of a person's value, and it doesn't matter what you look like for you to enjoy the freedom of social nude recreation.
As an artist, my nude photography isn't strictly informed by my beliefs in nudism, although my experience with nudism harmonizes well with my artistic approach toward exhibiting the human body.
It's just that, while every body belongs in nudism, I wouldn't necessarily be enthusiastic to photograph just anybody nude. Maybe that sounds exclusive. I'm sorry if it does. But that's the nature of the work.
If I still looked like I did around the time I started seriously taking pictures of myself, I would probably agree that I don't deserve to be in pictures. But I work hard to groom myself so I look better in pictures, and it has a real tangible effect when I look at pictures of myself and like what I see.
That's what I'm trying to capture in my photography. That beauty that makes people smile. Maybe a better artist could find that beauty in anyone. I myself would argue that more people out there are beautiful than know it. I support body acceptance and the normalization of nudity because those people need it, too.
Whether they're afraid of judgment, or have been taught to fear being the target of sexual desire, too many people are wasting their beauty, covering it up and hiding it away, saving it for precious few eyeballs, instead of bestowing it upon the world.
I would love to uncover that beauty in others, and immortalize it in my photography. Although I am endlessly grateful for the opportunity I've had to discover that beauty within myself, in my mind, self-portraiture has really only ever been a proof of concept.
