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Description
A bit of history..
How I got "in" to shooting nudes was actually as a method of quick- ish documentation.. creation of reference material for soapstone sculpting. Here, we see an old piece that was damaged beyond belief by a swapped- out roommate (I was the swap out.. my newspaper was on it's last legs and I had to find work FAST so I left Kelowna for Banff.. leaving my fiancee in our apartment but bringing in someone I thought would be a good fit... little did I know...). At any rate- the sculpture sat, damaged, for years. I never had the time nor space to work on it. Until the other day. I guess you could say I was fed up with looking at it all scratched and etched with damage so.. I took to it and now- it is as you see it.

This was the first piece I did that had "humanist" elements in it. I was, prior to this piece, sculpting what is called "freeform" pieces. One will be returned to my fold shortly.. once it's back I'll share it's story with you (and at least one image).

So- I was SUPER jazzed (back in the day) to see the humanist lines emerging and for some reason or other I decided to reach out to this guy who was producing a super cool adventure race in the US.. the race was called "Eco Challenge." I promoted, to him, the idea of ME sculpting a nice BIG piece that would be kinda like the Stanley Cup of his race- always on hand at the Race Headquarters and each year the winners names would be entered on an ever- growing base... and the winners would get miniature versions of that sculpture.

The guys name I was talking to? Mark Burnett.. yeah, *that* Mark Burnett- of "Survivor" fame.. the TV show he decided to produce when EcoChallenge wasn't growing fast enough (I'm guessing).

This was before I got a phone of mine own so I would go to the local Pay Phone at our ascribed meeting time(s) with STACKS of quarters and plug the machine for our conversations. He didn't seem to mind.. I was, afterall, calling from a "backwater" town in rural Canada

Anyhow.. he loved the overall concept but wasn't too thrilled with the nudity aspect of my sculpture concept- I wanted a female torso facing out and, when turned, you would see a male torso in relief (if you go to my instagram mscottault you'll see a sculpture of similar set up.. it was on exhibit here in Calgary last month and my jaw hit the floor at seeing it.. literally. well, no.. not literally but you get the idea). And I wasn't one to accept any sort of criticism.. so our discussions fell apart. And his race fell apart.

But I've never stopped wanting to create that sculpture.. and I'm thinking it might start it's life *finally* this summer.

Oh yeah.. forgot to mention.. as I was sitting in a local coffeeshop talking with friends over wine and sharing the "jiist" of the Burnett conversation(s).. one friend heard what I was saying and came up to me as we left.. pulled me aside and asked if she could model for the sculpture.. of course I said YES... and that was my FIRST ever nude shoot. I loved it.. and it jazzed me so much. I'll never exhibit the photos because they are sculpture reference material.. but that was the start of a nearly 30 year love affair with nudes, shooting nudes, and promoting the ART of Nude Photography.

Description
A bit of history..
How I got "in" to shooting nudes was actually as a method of quick- ish documentation.. creation of reference material for soapstone sculpting. Here, we see an old piece that was damaged beyond belief by a swapped- out roommate (I was the swap out.. my newspaper was on it's last legs and I had to find work FAST so I left Kelowna for Banff.. leaving my fiancee in our apartment but bringing in someone I thought would be a good fit... little did I know...). At any rate- the sculpture sat, damaged, for years. I never had the time nor space to work on it. Until the other day. I guess you could say I was fed up with looking at it all scratched and etched with damage so.. I took to it and now- it is as you see it.

This was the first piece I did that had "humanist" elements in it. I was, prior to this piece, sculpting what is called "freeform" pieces. One will be returned to my fold shortly.. once it's back I'll share it's story with you (and at least one image).

So- I was SUPER jazzed (back in the day) to see the humanist lines emerging and for some reason or other I decided to reach out to this guy who was producing a super cool adventure race in the US.. the race was called "Eco Challenge." I promoted, to him, the idea of ME sculpting a nice BIG piece that would be kinda like the Stanley Cup of his race- always on hand at the Race Headquarters and each year the winners names would be entered on an ever- growing base... and the winners would get miniature versions of that sculpture.

The guys name I was talking to? Mark Burnett.. yeah, *that* Mark Burnett- of "Survivor" fame.. the TV show he decided to produce when EcoChallenge wasn't growing fast enough (I'm guessing).

This was before I got a phone of mine own so I would go to the local Pay Phone at our ascribed meeting time(s) with STACKS of quarters and plug the machine for our conversations. He didn't seem to mind.. I was, afterall, calling from a "backwater" town in rural Canada

Anyhow.. he loved the overall concept but wasn't too thrilled with the nudity aspect of my sculpture concept- I wanted a female torso facing out and, when turned, you would see a male torso in relief (if you go to my instagram mscottault you'll see a sculpture of similar set up.. it was on exhibit here in Calgary last month and my jaw hit the floor at seeing it.. literally. well, no.. not literally but you get the idea). And I wasn't one to accept any sort of criticism.. so our discussions fell apart. And his race fell apart.

But I've never stopped wanting to create that sculpture.. and I'm thinking it might start it's life *finally* this summer.

Oh yeah.. forgot to mention.. as I was sitting in a local coffeeshop talking with friends over wine and sharing the "jiist" of the Burnett conversation(s).. one friend heard what I was saying and came up to me as we left.. pulled me aside and asked if she could model for the sculpture.. of course I said YES... and that was my FIRST ever nude shoot. I loved it.. and it jazzed me so much. I'll never exhibit the photos because they are sculpture reference material.. but that was the start of a nearly 30 year love affair with nudes, shooting nudes, and promoting the ART of Nude Photography.