Faceless
I have created this series of images as an exploration of the enigma and fascination of the female body, based on the tendencies that the fashion industry has taught me but, without any clothing or garments that hide it’s true beauty.
For me the feminine figure is the most refined anatomic expression of the human being.
It is about the fluidity, the curvaceous lines and the texture on the skin, that inspires me to dress a woman body in light and shadow.
My photography is far from any sexual connotations, in fact is the other way around, my goal is the admiration of the feminine figure in its natural form, and to achieve this, I keep a common aspect which is not personalizing my models, that is why I keep their identity hidden. This aspect on one side is a respectful way to maintain their anonymity, and on the other, it arouses the enigma and attraction of the model photographed.
I work mainly in my studio because I love to have absolute control over lightning, in fact some shots are planned first hand on my lightning scheme.
I usually think that light is for the photographer as the chisel for the sculptor.
I also create these sets in which my models would be posing and performing. These areas are irrelevant to any real situation, somehow they are surrealistic because I just want to create an environment to frame the natural beauty of my models.
Also, extremely important is to establish a rapport of absolute confidence, I work alone and sometimes with the help of only one assistant in a closed environment.
I want to ease the expression of my subject completely uninhibited, thus she is able to show her splendor, taking away any shame of physic nakedness.
My camera becomes invisible and once these atmosphere is achieved, the confidence begins to pay off. I show the progress of the session to my models so the enthusiasm keeps growing, and in return, I get a great input from them, proposing new ideas and poses, and this evolves on both sides.
About my creativity process, I consider myself more of a image creator than a image capturer.
My ideas come to mind seeing, comparing and combining images from painting, architecture, sculpture, other colleagues work and even popular culture (TV, movies, etc.).
Everything and everyday life is a possible inspiration to visualize a new idea.
And most of the times the idea comes along with a challenge (technical or production), which is also part of the creativity puzzle to solve.
I have a tendency to feel close to surrealism, the concept of “absurd”is one of my favorites. At first sight logic doesn’t play a role in my images, but at the end, the emotion fills the gap questioning the where,what, and how.
I keep visualizing and taking notes on new ideas, but due to the health condition worldwide, I have slow down a little.
I am eager as everyone to resume my activities with my artistic work. I have a long list of new concepts to be shot.
Finally, for the future, I am also considering exploring a new phase, going out of my studio, and getting the most manipulating natural light (in a possible range) with new ideas on different locations natural or manmade.
Yuri Benitez
