'I never knew I could look that hot in a picture!'
Last year at this time, to mark the site's 10th birthday, I reached out to some of my favorite artists to be a part of the celebration. Photographer Mark Leighton, whose magnificent imagery has been a part of FH since 2009, returned with an incredible set of images from his recent work with 26 year old model Henry Lim. (Ten)
Each time I feature Mark's work, I am always beautifully reminded how skillfully Mark blends man with nature. Mark so clearly loves the scenic beauty and optic grandeur of Portugal, both his home, as well as the location and back drop for much of his work. Mark's love of the location shines through in his images, and is also something he obviously shares with the models he works with.
Many photographers shoot men on the beach, but Mark's shoots men with the beach, or the rocks or anywhere he aims his lens. They become a part of the environment in a way that
has you feeling they're not just visiting a location, but are a part of it. Through his images, viewers feel similar sensations that the model must be feeling as they lay on the sand, play in the water and feel the heat of the sun beating down over their skin and bodies.
Henry Lim personifies this beautifully and Henry embraces the environment, the light and the experiences of working along the beaches in Lagos. Mark says that Henry needs little to no direction, 'Give him the location and the wardrobe and he will take it from there!' Henry creates such extraordinary and fluid lines and curves with his body which flow and contrast beautifully with the sites that surrounds him. The Rotterdam based model has joined Mark to shoot in Portugal over the last two years, and over and Mark has assembled over 100 images together for a new book entitled, Embracing he Light.
'The title "Embracing the Light" came to me because of the way that Henry completely envelops whatever theme we are shooting in. Also on one lucky occasion when we were shooting on the west coast in the morning, as he stood on the beach, the sunlight reached his head, with the rest of his body in shadow. It looked quite dramatic, like nature's spotlight on him.'
'We decided to take advantage of that and did several shots of him, mainly in the shadow but with the sunlight gradually inching down his body. That moment came to mind when I was editing for the book because from that time onward, we were both looking for different types of natural light that we could explore - and in Henry's case, embrace.'
Most of the images featured in the piece are not in the book, but extra images taken during the same shoots. You can preview and check out more of Embracing the Light on Blurb HERE:
