CONSTRUCTION NUDES 1981-1985

Construction Nudes is my first post-academic body of work, and it has been a revelation for me to rediscover these photos from my archives. I see the beginnings of what would become my approach to photography, especially in terms of composition and my interest in photographing the male nude that I continue to pursue to this day. In college, I had a strong focus on architectural photography but moving to Los Angeles coincided with a desire to incorporate living, breathing human subjects into my work. My focus switched to portraiture, but architecture continued to be integral. The endless, wide, urban landscape of my new Southern California home seemed like a metaphor for creative possibilities. I was exploring 35mm, 120mm and 4×5 analog camera formats in these locations with over half the photos made with the physical restrictions and filming limitations of the cumbersome 4×5 camera. The models were friends and men I met through social connections. They trusted me and were just as adventurous as I was. I see the creative freedom of my youth in these photos, and I am reminded how, by this point, photography was already becoming my passion, my calling, my life.

Blake Little

Construction Nudes 1981-1985 is Blake’s 8th monograph, designed by Sean Adams and edited by Frank Rodriguez, with a foreword by Ryan Linkof, Ph D., curator of Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts.