'Ryan Edward Scott is a San Francisco based photographer whose work explores private moments made public and the sensual nature of male vulnerability.'
Since first discovering the work of artist Ryan Edward Scott in 2010, I have been continually impressed at his skill and creativity with obtaining his visual objectives. Whether hanging over a flight of stairs, hanging high atop an old barn, or perched high up on a roof, Ryan always manages to capture the vulnerability within his subjects both literally and emotionally.
What I find most interesting about this series of Elijah is that the vulnerability seems most intensely present, not when he is outside, in full public view as he straddles the roof to in just jock strap. Elijah seems at his most vulnerable when in the attic looking out of that window before he climbs through and out.
This may be in part because the attic acts as Elijah's entry to the outside. It is the place he has to decided whether he is actually going to strip down and take the risk of climbing through the window and ascending up on to the roof. Sometimes we are at our most vulnerable just before taking risks, it is the time when our anxiety is at it's peek and our adrenaline is racing.
Once Elijah is actually on the roof you can almost feel a sense of freedom takes over. Initially you can see the nerves, but slowly, as he finds his footing and his body begins flow into movement and acclimatize itself to it's surroundings you can see some beautiful changes. I think the biggest change is Elijah turning from the one being watched, the 'almost naked' man on a roof top to the watcher, the man now at top, able to see all that surrounds him below.
