Zach Hyman's Nude Photo Shoot With Jocelyn Saldana

by candice.tsuei | August 20, 2009 at 08:45 am

22437 views | 2 Recommendations | 0 comments

A photographer named Zach Hyman has been snapping pictures of nude New Yorkers on subways and on the streets, from Times Square to Chinatown.

Last month, passengers on the L train probably thought they were hallucinating from too much or too little coffee when 19-year-old actress Jocelyn Saldana started to strip for Hyman's photo shoot. Using a Hasselblad 500 C/M film camera, Hyman reportedly took 10 shots of Jocelyn Saldana in less than 30 seconds, all in natural light. In another photoshoot, Alex Reisner, a 20-year-old Columbia student went all nude in Chinatown.

"People see a naked woman and they smile," [Zach] said. "They see a penis and they freak out."

However, Hyman said that his photo shoots require more precautions than any other photo shoots. To stay out of arrest, he takes along a lookout for police, keeps his lawyer on speed dial in his phone, and keeps his bail money handy. Fortunately he has never had to use any of ths money.

"I chose this motif because I wanted to feel the excitement of a crowd witnessing a naked body and to dissemble the thought that nudity equates to sex," Hyman said. "But more because it excites me as an artist.

Inspired by Helmut Newton, David LaChapelle, and Guy Bourdin, and various nude paintings at the Met, Hyman insists that his images are not pornographic because he believes that people's privaate parts are "one of the unifying aspects of being human."

"We all have an inherent desire to oppose and comment on societal norms and trends, to break barriers, to seek excitement and joy, to create something new and original," Hyman said. "All of these feelings have been the catalysts for my photography and art."

The 22-year-old photographer's exhibit, "Decent Exposures," opens today at Chair and Maiden Gallery in Manhattan, presenting 14 of his images.

Click here to see the images on Hyman's website.