I have always been inspired by the human body - mostly in the way it moves. I love to dance. I took social ballroom in college and had the most fun earning my P.E. credits than I had in any of my other general ed courses.
And I felt the spirit more when watching the ballroom dance teams and other dance concerts than in any of the weekly devotionals we were encouraged to attend.
There is something about the human body and it's ability to create new shapes with each movement that I find beautiful and unique.
I've been wanting to photograph a gymnast in varying poses, found a willing participant to let me photograph her, and settled on one pose that I thought embodied the essence of what the human body can do. It was only an upper body shot, as light painting requires long term stillness which is super difficult to do (but kudos to my model for doing an excellent job) and I didn't want to tire her out. I did have to stitch this shot together so that I could get the proper light exposure for each arm and her head, and at the end of the shoot I realized that if I were going to have to stitch an upper torso shot to get the effect I wanted I could have just done an entire body shot like I originally wanted and stitch it all together in the end. But that will be for next time.
In this age where we are bombarded by advertisements with gorgeous models and we wonder why we don't look like them, pine after their beauty, covet their pulchritude, I implore you to look at yourself, either in the mirror or not, and admire all the things that your body can do. It may not be the body of a cover model, it may not be the body of an exercise enthusiast, it may not be the perfect body, but it is your body. It bends, it moves. It makes you you.