#BAREwithMe No7 w/ Nico
The only limits that exist are the ones we allow others to create for us.
For those that have been following for some time, you’ve already read how my life as a sports kid led me to my journey as an artist but for those of you that are new, let’s just say the journey was a little bit rocky. Having zero conscious experience as an artist, I was in over-my-head, which internally caused conflict.
Artists are emotional beings, tapped into the empathy it takes to create art that moves an audience. By shifting an artist off of their course, conflicting their internal compass, artists usually go into spikes of intense inspiration or intense depression as a means of fighting through it. The fix, I found, is in building up the confidence to break through our own comfort zones.
Towards the end of 2018, I took a leap to push past where I had chosen to remain comfortable for some time. Leading up to that moment, I found myself burying myself within, in search of something that I later realized was a challenge. During this leap I got the opportunity to meet a great artist in the world of nude photography, Cameron Davis (@camsjournal). And to be honest, that meeting sparked my current plan of attack towards my work.
What I was reminded of during our conversation and getting a chance to stand by as a second shooter during one of his sessions, was that consistency is the ingredient that separates the good from the great; that changes potential into success. Thus sparking the inspiration behind The BARE Collection, a social media campaign to engage myself into a cycle of consistency but also to open the door to breaking through comfort zones for both myself and my subjects.
BARE has allowed me to break past my own comfort zone in a different way. Forcing me to stay consistent and on topic is of greater help than I expected. My goal at first was just to create the space for my muses to bare themselves, whether nude, free from exterior add-one, in a natural environment or a mixture of all three. Some shoots will touch on a single portion of that goal, others will focus on another. But all-in-all, creating a collection of images and vulnerabilities.
This session with Nicole (@nicoobabyy) touched on each one of those points in a unique way, which made it fun. The full process of creating these images is more likened to a journey than anything else. It started in Georgetown, finding the right piece of clothing to completely ruin in the falls out in Virginia. We already had an idea of what we wanted but this collaborative shopping trip made us narrow down both of our expectations and would simplify our approach once we actually arrived. The collaboration, in full, only aided to the fulfillment that came from the final product.
We both really embraced the randomness of this shoot and it only helped created a moment that resonates when you feel the images. As we entered the park, the place I was had in mind was blocked off due to park construction, we hopped the fence and had a little adventure on the way. Once we started, the energy from everything before it carried into a sense of trust between the two of us, to put trust in one another and allow the outcome to be decided but how much we committed to the moment.
I appreciate Nico for giving her all in the shoot and for breaking past where she thought she could thrive beautifully. No make-up, the most simplified version of an outfit and completely free in the very public but private corner of the park that we stumbled across on our adventure. I hope that this feeling resonates in the images as you see them. I hope that BARE, to my audience is as impactful of a feeling as it is to myself and the subjects that bare themselves with me.
