Mona Kuhn

© Mona Kuhn

Via Onebyfourbynine I came across this post on Mona Kuhn. She is a photographer from Sao Paulo living in LA. She is known for her natural nude portraits - such as these shot mainly at a beach house she rented in the South of France at a naturist community on the beach.

© Mona Kuhn

They are wicked shots. They flow, have great shallow DoF and selective focus. Some images have an appealing soft desaturation too - or is that the light in the South of France captured via an H1 body? :). They capture easy going moments - as well as being just images. Her environmental portraiture style really speaks to me.

On her site there is also a QT video of her talking about work and shooting. One of the things she said in the video was that people who are younger - up to the age of 25, the subjects were enthusiastic about being in her work and collaborating willingly, but as they get older- say in their mid 30s and up - thats when it really interests her to shoot people. It's when people become conscious of their bodies changing and evolving. And at a nudist resort, they are not potentially embarrassed by this as would perhaps be the case here in North America. I think it was a segment on FT (where did FT go?) at one point as it was a CHUM TV production in 06.

Mona Kuhn's main site is here.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography