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 8 x 10 inches camera to create extremely detailed, fine grained 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.

The works shown on this website are photographs from the portfolio
Standing on Water
The portfolio contains 10 + 1 silver gelatin photographs signed and numbered by Sturges. The paper measuring 20 x 24 inches. Published in 1992 in an edition limited to forty numbered copies of which the first 10 portfolio’s hold an extra print.

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