Rodney Braun is a Canadian photographer who is incredibly talented and is the creator of a new project titled simply, “Just as I am.”
He explains, “Over the past few years I have been amazed at the number of people who have come into my studio with “body issues”, I’m always amazed at this and am saddened by how many people don’t see the beauty that is inside of them. Just As I Am is a project that has come out of this desire for people of all ages and cultural backgrounds to come together in a project to see that we are more similar than we are different.”
“Who we are is so much more than simply our bodies or what we look like, the reality however is that when people look at us the first thing that they see is our appearance. I have found in the past that when I’m with clients photographing nudes that it is much easier to see into the soul of my clients. It seems that when there is nothing to hide behind the real person emerges.”
So that’s what his models did for this project – they posed naked. No photo re-touching, no careful covering of wrinkles or bumps. But beautiful pictures all.
“Through this project I hope that more people will also have a greater appreciation for the beauty and complexity that is the human body and come to a place of feeling that we are all beautifully made. Thousands of years ago Job wrote “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.” Most of us seem to be able to accept this, it’s the in between time that many of us struggle with,” says Braun.
If you’re in Winnipeg, you’ll want to catch the next gallery exhibit. But if you’re not, you can order the beautiful book by going to:
http://www.justasiam.ca/index2.php
Thank you, Angie, for helping increase awareness about our project. In doing so, I hope we can help more and more people journey down the road to wholeness. I'm curious how you heard about us way down in Indiana...