Adventure, Nude Photography and Art Modeling

What is beauty?

I think beauty is a word we use to describe the feeling of self-transcendence we have when we sense something profound; it stems from the realization of the intricate relationships of all things to one another, including ourselves, and at the same time the knowledge of how many mysteries there are in the world.  This is why we experience sunsets and waterfalls and the Andromeda galaxy as beautiful.  The nude human form has an astonishing purity and connection to nature that is inherently beautiful.  OK, allow me to get on my nudist soap box:  I don’t think it’s possible to attain the ideal of human beauty when clothing is involved.  Clothing is a construction designed to separate us from the world; sometimes it’s necessary but that is a sad thing.  Nudity is more beautiful and a lot less pretentious, and I wish people weren’t so uncomfortable with it.  Of course, some of my photographer friends will tell you that my views on this subject are a result of severe vestiphobia (fear of clothing).  : )

What do you want people to experience when they look at your work? Is there a particular moment you could share when you felt this the most?

I love it when my work leads people to experience wonder or delight; when it lifts them out of their usual state of awareness for just a moment and helps them see the world in a new light.  My favorite artistic arena is the great outdoors.  Whenever I’m shooting outside, with the wind in my hair, sunlight on my back, water washing over me, there is a quote by Kahlil Gibran that almost always occurs to me:

“Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.
And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harness and a chain.
Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment.
For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.
Some of you say ‘It is the north wind who has woven the clothes we wear.’
And I say, ‘Ay, it was the north wind, but shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread.’
And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.
Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean.
And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”

I hope that when people see my photographs, they feel what I feel when I read this poem.

 What is the most rewarding thing for you about modeling and when did you start?

I have to say that the most rewarding thing about modeling is adding my skills to the skills of a photographer and creating something that is greater than the sum of its parts.  A close second is watching people’s reactions when they first see the finished work, especially if they don’t know I’m the model.  So many people in our culture are used to thinking of the nude body as a purely sexual object that the sight of the nude photographs in an aesthetic, decidedly non-sexual context is unusual.  I think that’s a sad state of affairs – the nude body is about so much more than sex – and it’s one of the reasons I love fine art modeling so much.  I half-jokingly regard it as ‘re-claiming the female form from the atrocities of Playboy.’

I started modeling in 2006 when my then-boyfriend, now-husband, asked me, “Will you take off your clothes and stand in front of that waterfall so I can take a picture?”  I thought, well, why not?  I’m glad I did.

How is it that you want to be seen as a woman and as a model?

Strong and confident, yet humble before the vastness of the cosmos and the complexity of nature.

Your work is so creative. That feels like it is inspired from your own love of nature and creative expression.  How does that come across for you? How are you inspired?

Lots of things in nature inspire me – lines, textures, moving water, trees, rocks, everything.  Mostly rocks, though.  When I’m not modeling, I LOVE to take really close-up pictures of rocks (see attached image).  Honestly, almost all my modeling work is very undirected; concepts are simply the result of me ambling around for awhile and then going, “Hm.  I wonder if… ” or “Hm.  That might be intriguing… “ This process leads weird places, and sometimes good art is the result.  I think my wanderings and mutterings confuse photographers when I work with them for the first time!  Once I ended up twisted like a pretzel inside a giant metal sculpture of a pig; another time dangling from the tip of a crane 30 feet off the ground, a third time emerging head first from a drainage pipe.  Thom Peters loves to tell the story of that one, which was my first shoot with him – we are now lifelong friends.  “Commitment,” the cliff shot, was the result of a really hot morning shoot in August. Billy Monday and I were finishing up and I wanted to cool off in the lake first, so I said something like “I’m going to jump off this cliff, do you want to take a picture?”  He did, and Commitment was born.  He started telling people that the reason I jumped off was that someone threatened me with clothes, and the only escape was off the cliff.

What kind of practice do you maintain to keep so flexible?

Nothing in particular.  I like to stay active, and rock climbing probably helps.  I tried Yoga for awhile, but I’m way too ADD for that relationship to work out.

Wether she is jumping off of cliffs, posing for nude photography, perched in a tree or precariously balanced under a waterfall, Mila’s beauty and spirit shine in harmony with the world around her. My experience of Mila is like my experience of nature, she is free to grow and express herself. She is truly a class act, with a fire and passion for life… and art modeling.

See the rest of Mila’s beautiful Modeling Portfolio right here at Model Society. You can also find her images at Model Mayhem.