Corwin Prescott has been an AltPorn Awards nominee for Best Alternative Erotica Photographer. Back when Zivity (RIP) was still around, his work was some of the most interesting on the site. Right now, he is running the final day of his Kickstarter for Temperance. This is to be a pair of elegant softcover books featuring his recent photography of nude models. In his artist statement, he explains that his goal with these images was to kind of let the models do whatever they wanted, rather than imposing what he wanted on the images. While, within the alt community, model empowerment of this sort may strike some as unoriginal or almost typical, this kind of approach is still sadly VERY rare in mainstream erotic photography, and it is nice to see a photographer like Corwin Prescott who has created such a substantial body of work. It is not like he shot one or two people with this approach and got bored. That would be easy, while what he has created is hard. He is perhaps best knows for his 50 Models in 50 States project, which was also funded through Kickstarter. I also think it is cool that the print versions of Temperance have a unique design feel and are being printed in such an offbeat creative and pretty way. Last day to back Temperance on Kickstarter, so check it out now.
Temperance is a dual volume, softcover photography book by Corwin Prescott of fine art nude images shot over the course of four years.
“How much can you remove yourself from a photo you have taken? I put a mirror, sometimes two, sometimes three, between myself and the model. I want to tell the story the subject wants to tell. The photographer is the ghost of every image. I have always wanted to place attention elsewhere and not to stand under the lights, or in the gaze of others.
The further I can remove myself from a portrait the better. I used to want to see myself reflected in the eyes of every person I come across but even that feels too close now. Now I take the effort to look at people as indirectly as I can. Capture them as if I am not there, or am there, however they prefer. Temperance is my attempt to abstain from influence as best I can and to record what follows.
For three years I spent months at a time in a small room photographing portraits not knowing what I had to say. I think because it was my time to stop speaking…my time to accept a silence I often run from. Photography is the greatest meditation on a moment we have. This is a collection of moments I have witnessed and done my best not to tamper with. The hands of men have muddied far too much in this world; I hope that I can touch lightly enough not to stir the sediment of misery sitting just below life’s surface, but to calm or allow a hand for escape.
I search for peace rather than joy or abrasion. Even peace is often melancholy. Maybe the mood of Temperance is still a reflection of me. I can only walk so far away.”
-Corwin Prescott
