Bodyscapes are the extreme edge of figurative photography. The body becomes a landscape: lines, shapes, shadows. It’s not about sexual objectification. But the body is treated as an objet d’art, valued for its aesthetic form, not its humanity. That’s why you can hang a bodyscape of yourself in your living room and no one blinks. It’s about the beauty of form, not the person.
I’ve done a fair bit of bodyscape work over the years, but I’d mostly moved on. Then last week I taught a bodyscape workshop where we just played, experimenting with the genre, trying different lighting setups, and it reminded me how much I love this style. I don’t usually shoot during workshops, but I couldn’t resist sneaking in a few frames. Magnolia was our model, and she’s one of those rare unicorns: no tattoos.
We started with a basic setup: one light to let the body fade into shadow, then two lights to sculpt both sides.
Fun fact: all of these were shot against a white wall. But by controlling the light and tweaking my camera settings, I made the white wall turn black.
Then we did some high-key lighting, bouncing light of the back wall and letting it reflect back and wrap around her.
But my favorite shots were the ones with Magnolia standing in front of a large octabox. It provided a really beautiful high-key look.
If you’ve made it this far, here are some bonus shots. I always do some test shots to get a sense for what my light will look like, so here’s Magnolia patiently standing around (modeling is not nearly as glamorous as people imagine) as I try different settings as well as try bouncing light back on her with a big silver reflector.
