Second Looks: Valorie Mazuma - Unscripted Artistic Nude Photography
I've been photographing women for a long time, and I've accumulated a ridiculous number of images along the way. Some have been published, some have been shared briefly and forgotten, and plenty are still sitting in folders waiting for another look.
That's the idea behind The Second Look. An excuse to revisit the archive, dust off some old favorites, and occasionally find something I appreciate a little differently today.
For this first installment, we're going back to May of 2020 and my first shoot with Valorie Mazuma.
A Little Fresh Air
It was late May, and the world was still figuring out how to navigate the early months of the pandemic. Like everyone else, I'd spent far too much time indoors, and I was itching to get back to creating.
Valorie Mazuma had reached out after seeing some artistic nude photography I'd done with a friend of hers. She had some experience in front of the camera, primarily promotional work as a dancer and a shibari session with another photographer, but hadn't really had an opportunity to explore modeling in an editorial setting.
We talked about shooting, and eventually came to the rather obvious conclusion that there was no reason we couldn't work outdoors, somewhere remote, while maintaining plenty of distance.
I knew just the place.
It was a wildlife management area I'd been photographing in for years, with open fields, plenty of natural textures, and some wonderfully weathered hunting blinds that made interesting backdrops.
A Little Lace, a Lot of Personality
I'd asked Valorie to bring a few matching lingerie sets, preferably in lighter colors or solid black. One particular set worked beautifully against the greens of the landscape and the aged wood of the hunting blinds, so we ran with it.
What I remember most about the shoot, though, wasn't the lingerie or the location. It was how naturally Valorie interacted with everything around her.
She was playful, but not in the usual sense of flirting with the camera or performing a series of sexy poses. She was playful with the environment, with her own movement, and with the experience of being photographed. There was a refreshing lack of pretense to it.
I've never been particularly interested in telling a woman who she's supposed to be in front of my camera. I'll choose a location, establish a loose scenario, and offer guidance on posture, balance, or movement. But I generally leave the personality and the story up to her.
Valorie took to that approach naturally.
Looking at these photographs again, I think they're a pretty good example of what I enjoy most about photographing women: creating an environment where someone can explore different sides of herself without feeling obligated to perform a character I've invented for her.
The color pictorial includes 24 photographs from our very first look together, including uncensored topless images not shown here.
Stripping Away the Distractions
As we moved away from the hunting blinds and into the open field, I wanted to take the photographs in a different direction.
For the nude portion of the shoot, I switched the camera to black-and-white preview. I was still shooting RAW, of course, but I wanted to see the scene without color while I was working rather than make that decision later.
Without the lingerie, the weathered wood, or the greens competing for attention, the photographs became more about form, movement, expression, and the relationship between Valorie and the landscape.
The black-and-white images have a different energy from the earlier set, but they share the same spontaneity.
And that's something I appreciate about the session even now. We didn't need an elaborate concept or a scripted narrative. We had an interesting place, good light, and someone comfortable enough to simply be herself.
The rest was a matter of paying attention.
The black-and-white pictorial features 11 uncensored artistic nude photographs from the same session.
Artistic Nude Photography with Valorie Mazuma - Worth Another Look back
Six years later, I still enjoy these photographs for much the same reasons I enjoyed making them.
Not because they represent some long-lost moment I wish I could recreate, but because they capture something genuine. Valorie brought her own personality to the scene, and I had the opportunity to photograph it.
That's what I hope to share through The Second Look series: photographs from across the years that still have something to offer, whether they've been overlooked, forgotten, or simply deserve another audience.
There's quite a bit more in the archive, and we're only getting started.
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