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06. Landscape Figures (Nudes)

88 images Created 31 Mar 2015

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  • "I stood waist deep in dark water in a mountain gorge. Drizzle permeated the air & everything was dank. The thundering noise of the waterfall at the far end was relentless & disturbing in this remote, surreal landscape but soon the sound intensified, almost deafening in the darkness, as the figure of a tormented man appeared, raising himself within the pummelling, punishing torrent"
    The Apparition
  • Overcoming Barriers
  • "She had been a long time in the cool, dark forest and she needed light. Her skin was pale and chilled, feeling taught across her muscles. Every delicate hair on her body was raised to retain her own heat..........."<br />
<br />
For the full story, buy the book here: http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/7799527-landscape-figures
    Light Touches
  • In this ancient Welsh cave, eroded by eons of nature’s attack, it feels hard, solid and eternal nevertheless. The headless organic figure shows our irrelevance to the bigger world. This microscopic virus will do what it will do, it will kill and decimate communities in the same way as so many viruses before. Whether it’s the climate, forces of nature, bacteria or viruses, our place on this earth is fragile and finite - we are never really in control of our future. <br />
<br />
We can be so beautiful, wonderful, creative and innovative, but without love, human touch, close relationships and socialising, human life seems little more than billions of organisms struggling to survive. Our whole life is over in a fraction of a microsecond in geological time, so I hope for all of us, that we find a vaccine soon so that we can once again become the full human beings that we all need to be.
    Rock Bottom
  • In stark contrast to the dark limbs of the tree behind, a mother lays in warm sunshine between shadows of death either side of her. As the earth turns, the shadows slowly move and touch her nakedness but she isn’t perturbed. She is basking in life and she sensuously stretches her body, twisting and turning her torso to match the patterns of light and dark, to savour the sensation of heat against cold, but also to feel the grass and leaves rubbing against her as she does so. This is a mother who conceived her child in the woodland and gave birth in this very clearing, opening her legs, enabling her child to breathe the pure air of this intense new environment, where life and death are natural partners, a wonderful and calm microcosm of the bigger world beyond.
    Life in Dark Shadows
  • Figurehead
  • Looming out of the fog-shrouded barren landscape thrusts a granite tor.<br />
Once molten earth, but now ancient stone carved by eons of wind, rain and acid erosion.<br />
<br />
A woman delicately ascends the slippery, lichen covered blocks, her soft skin vulnerable to the gritty surface, grazing her as she climbs. She stands on the summit, the highest point around, the wind whipping her hair across her face, and horizontal drizzle soaking her exposed body. She scans her surroundings looking for any signs of others, but there was no one. She was totally alone amongst the stones.
    Alone in the Stone
  • There was a torrent of water in the narrow river powering down the dark valley. The sound was just audible from a distance, but up close it was noisy and relentless, yet at the same time captivating, mesmerising even.<br />
<br />
I had seen the woman from the mountain ridge, swimming upriver from the valley below, like a salmon to its breeding ground. Every so often she was forced to stand, in order to navigate her way through the waterfalls that interspersed her ascent to the river’s source.<br />
<br />
By the time I reached the valley floor she had temporarily left the water to stretch her lean muscles after such a magnificent effort. The air was warm and her wet skin started to dry in the gentle breeze. When the midges began to surround her, she re-entered the river, squeezed her naked body through large black boulders and in a moment, had slipped into a deep pool. The last I saw of her was no more than an undulating flash of pale skin under the dark water and then she was gone.
    Drying Out in the Dark Valley
  • As the days draw shorter, and a coolness inhabits the shadows, the woman relishes moments when she can step into increasingly-rare pulses of late Autumn sunshine. She feels the cold, rough sharpness of her rocky perch and the sapping of heat from her back, but on her front she welcomes the contrasting warmth of the weak sunshine. It’s going to be a long winter, but she has revelled in a rich summer and knows she will survive the darkness.
    A Curvaceous View
  • "The contrast between the sharpness of the huge rocky cliff and the delicate fragility of the female form in this image creates a tension - not just from the fear of cuts and slices from the knife-like edges, but also due to the apparent melancholy of the woman with such colourful sunlit surroundings. You'd think she was a modern day cavewoman but really, as Summer draws close she represents a wide held feeling or sadness about returning home after the universal joy of travel, sunshine and warmth, We all dream about our next naked adventure in the great outdoors before we have even finished the present"
    GD001831.jpg
  • Sensuous Appreciation
  • Nominee in 10th Annual Black & White Spider Awards<br />
<br />
Bitter low cloud shrouded the mountain summit. She lay on the coffin shaped boulder, the cold rock surface pressing into the delicate skin of her back, warmth radiating upwards into the winter air. She said she felt a sense of calm in the blanketed silence of her situation, more aware than ever of her living connection to the earth and the elements.
    Waiting for Spirits
  • International MONO Awards 2014 - Honourable Mention<br />
<br />
This is a self portrait and it’s just so apt for how I feel during the height of Covid lockdown here in Wales. <br />
<br />
I’m struggling to cope with the lockdown to be honest, as all the things that I need in my life for my mental sanity, I can’t hug, touch, visit, immerse myself in, or love. I’d tried to be positive at the start hoping it would be just a few weeks before a vaccine was discovered and we’d get back to some sort of normality, but it’s now clear that my life could be changed for months or years and I don’t think I’ll cope well with that duration.<br />
<br />
With my partner being a front line intensive care nurse working with Covid patients, and with some friends and family members who are quite vulnerable, I’m not prepared to raise two fingers to the authorities and do my own thing, unlike like some others I’ve heard about, but my God I AM so bored after 9 weeks of doing none of the things I need to be doing to make me ME. I feel I’m losing my identity as well as my mental balance.
    Up Against the Wall
  • SUN (Shot Up North) Awards 2015<br />
1 of my 4 winning entries <br />
<br />
Selected Print for the IN:SIGHT (Washington Green) New Artists Competition 2015<br />
<br />
International MONO Awards 2014 - Honourable Mention <br />
<br />
"Alone on a mountain top, surrounded by swirling cloud and the threat of heavy rain, a healthy young woman, soft and curvaceous, cowers from the elements in a rough, sharp, rocky outcrop. She is vulnerable, tiny and organic, but she also looks strong, inquisitive, almost daring - what if she were to face the weather, to leave her scant shelter? To stand naked on a wind blown summit, wrapped in vapour and then rain, is liberating in the extreme - a time to feel utterly exposed yet totally connected at the same moment, never feeling more at one with the great outdoors" 
    The Fear
  • International MONO Awards 2014 - Honourable Mention
    The Wader
  • This is one of my rare naughty nudes, because the woman was a boundary pusher. She had a wicked glint in her eyes and even though I had planned my own narrative for this image, she decided to adopt this pose. I love the way she took my idea and extended it with her own sexuality.<br />
<br />
This image is about the irony of her situation, coming to a halt at the top of a sheer cliff face, fearful and uncertain about how to proceed.  Immediately behind her is dark woodland, full of spirits and shadowy characters. Her pose, however, is brazen, exposed and even inviting danger from the darkness.
    The Drop
  • Nominated image in the 13th Black & White Spider Awards 2018<br />
<br />
An old tree appears contorted and tired. It sags under the weight of years of observation of time and events. Its smooth silver bark still reflects light even on a dull day and it continues to hold an attraction.<br />
<br />
A lithe woman connected with its old arms, which supported her as she suspended herself. Her young figure curved to echo the old, as one, though she had witnessed so little in comparison. Her body stretched, her spine felt good and her shoulders strong.<br />
<br />
As the wind blew, the tree creaked and the leaves rustled. Almost imperceptibly she started to move with the wind, gently swinging back and forth in the breeze. She was a brief beauty that would soon fall to the earth but in the meantime she was as magical as the tree itself, two very different lives as one.
    The Copse
  • Faults within faults, shadows form in darkness. The nude woman gently tests her footing on the slippery rock at the base of the cave, gripping hard edges to steady herself as she moves further into the vast wet chamber. Over millennia the force of the sea has exposed, pummelled and forced open the soft veins of this ancient stone but amazingly, in what seems almost perpetual night, life clings to the ribbed surfaces far inside. Sounds of the day are muffled, save for the relentless roar of the waves at low tide. It’s cool in here and the woman shivers in the damp air, her skin and muscles taut, her senses heightened to the strange environment. <br />
<br />
In a moment she finds herself wading through a deep, smooth-bottomed pool and she inhales sharply as the water pushes between her open thighs. The water shallows and she feels painful hard pebbles and small boulders beneath her delicate feet. She is almost invisible now and only the crunching sound of the shingle reveals her location.  Then there is silence for a short while. As my eyes adjust, a gentle prick of light pierces the darkness beyond and gradually becomes more distinct. I now realise this is not just a cave it’s a tunnel. Across the small circle of light moves the slender silhouette of the woman and in a blink of the eye she was gone.
    The Dark Cave
  • Winning Entry in the 2014 Unlimited Grain 'Contest Award' - (Nudes category)<br />
<br />
Biblical iconography for sure, but a true epiphany for the young woman volunteer, posing nude for the first time ever and feeling alive and connected to the high mountain environment that she had walked up into.
    The Commandment
  • There was a torrent of water in the narrow river powering down the dark valley. The sound was just audible from a distance, but up close it was noisy and relentless, yet at the same time captivating, mesmerising even.<br />
<br />
I had seen the woman from the mountain ridge, swimming upriver from the valley below, like a salmon to its breeding ground. Every so often she was forced to stand, in order to navigate her way through the waterfalls that interspersed her ascent to the river’s source.<br />
<br />
By the time I reached the valley floor she had temporarily left the water to stretch her lean muscles after such a magnificent effort. The air was warm and her wet skin started to dry in the gentle breeze. When the midges began to surround her, she re-entered the river, squeezed her naked body through large black boulders and in a moment, had slipped into a deep pool. The last I saw of her was no more than an undulating flash of pale skin under the dark water and then she was gone.
    The Caress of Air & Water
  • I was intrigued that no matter how ‘modern’ the human race has become, how supposedly civilised, advanced and intellectual, some basic human essentials remain, breathing, eating, making love and giving birth, indeed perhaps really, the main reason any of us exist. <br />
<br />
It therefore seemed apt that this heavily pregnant woman lay as naked as the day she was born, giving birth, her breasts and belly echoing the shapes of the hills surrounding her, and water, the natural element so essential to all of life, calm and tranquil in front of her. <br />
<br />
“The Birthing Pool” is the ideal, a visual depiction of how we truly start life, but stripped of the trappings of modern culture. A genuinely natural beginning, at one with nature, a nature that so many try to isolate themselves from, the moment they become self aware, more’s the pity.
    The Birthing Pool
  • In this variation of 'the beginning', a unique and isolated woman is powerful, assured in her sense of place and happy with her life.<br />
<br />
The man is alone too, existing rather than living. The realisation that he is suddenly not alone intrigues him. He is captivated by the idea of someone to share his world. He struggles up the constantly shifting sand, one step up, two steps back, focussed upon reaching, touching, understanding this strange, beautiful being above him who embraced the elements. <br />
<br />
She absorbs the natural energy and revels in the spirit of her environment, but he finds purpose in his life and will tenaciously overcome anything to make connection with her. Together, although they don’t know it yet, they will be as one, a perfect balance of wisdom, spirituality, tenacity, compassion, affection and emotional need for each other. They will feel love and will have found a new purpose for living. What they instil in their new creation, will determine a parallel world to that in which we now exist, a better world. <br />
<br />
"Landscape Figures" explores the relationship between organic human figures and a notional 'wild landscape'.
    The Approach
  • Nominated for 11th International B&W Spider Awards<br />
<br />
<br />
After a two hour slog up from sea-level valley to mountain top, loaded with photo gear & warm clothing, we were made to feel humble by a young woman climbing nude to the summit itself. Her pale soft skin contrasted with the sharp, rough rock but with such purpose, grace and balance, as if a slow motion dance, we could see her muscles working as she pulled, stepped into and lay-backed the arete before standing tall at the highest point to feel the cool mountain-top breeze caressing her hot skin. Below her, we huddled up and drank coffee and ate sandwiches.
    The Arete
  • Selected Print for the IN:SIGHT (Washington Green) New Artists Competition 2015<br />
<br />
Nominee in 10th Annual Black & White Spider Awards<br />
<br />
"The woman stood motionless, or so it seemed, her feet slowly sinking into the sticky black leaf litter below the surface. There was hardly a breeze, no movement, just the occasional chirp from the Summer’s last Swallow, breaking the silence at this mountain lake. But when you look closely, you see ripples oscillating away from the woman’s body, continuing almost imperceptibly across the lake. Her energy, her life force was affecting the landscape in a clearly visible, tangible way, utter connection between our living organic form and the earth we come from.”
    Swallowed by the Lake
  • SUN (Shot Up North) Awards 2015<br />
1 of my 4 winning entries <br />
<br />
International MONO Awards 2014 - Honourable Mention <br />
<br />
"I was lost in a forest and I felt alone and hemmed in. As I stood there feeling isolated, I heard the sound of snapping twigs and from out of the foggy fortress appeared a beautiful, powerful young woman but she struggled, ducking, twisting & contorting to avoid the sharp daggers all about her. As I watched her muscles work and flex to overcome obstacles, I realised just how tenacious we can be"
    Suffering Needles
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Glyn Davies, Professional Photographer and Gallery

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