Jock Sturges

The photographer Jock Sturges (born 1947, New York City) shoots much of his work around nudist beaches in France and California, using a large-format camera to create extremely detailed, finegrained images. He photographs nude figures because of his fascination by the human body and all its evolutions. Sturges always works with families he knows well, which make his models , as in his own words, ´very collaborative´.
His preference for nude adolescent girls as a model makes his work controversial: it has been condemned by Christian conservatives as well as by the FBI, who charged him with child pornography in 1990. Sturges himself defended his work in a series of talks and interviews. "In fact, I don´t believe I´m guilty of any crimes, but I´ve always been drawn to and fascinated by physical, sexual and psychological change, and there´s an erotic aspect to that. It would be disingenuous of me to say there wasn´t. There it is; so what? That fascination pervades the species from the beginning of time, people just admit to it to varying degrees." Sturges worked in San Francisco for many years, but currently resides in Seattle. Sturges made the majority of the portofolio belonging to the steltman collection between 1987 and 1990 at a naturist beach in Montalivet France, with the exeption of C.; Paris, which was taken in 1984. The portofolio Standing On Water contains ten silver gelatin photographs, signed and numbered by the photographer, on oversized paper measuring 20 x 24 inches. The latest exhibition of works from Life Time by Jock Sturges is on display at the Photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe from the 19th of September until the first of November 2008.

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