60 Photos of Classically Inspired Nude Men

Steven Menendez is a fine art, portrait, and fashion photographer based in New York. He has always had an attraction to the classics in black-and-white photography and wishes to create images that celebrate the glory of the human physique, showing both its strength and its delicacy. He is very drawn to shooting in nature, with the body becoming at one with the environment. Focusing primarily on nudes for his personal work, he feels clothing acts as a barrier to keep us tied to society and all that it represents. He feels that by being naked in nature we can connect to the beauty of our deepest selves and allow ourselves to become open and free.

Many of the images in this portfolio are from his ongoing series "Return to Nature," which toured in 2017 and was shown in Fire Island, in Provincetown, and at the Leslie-Lohman Project Space in New York City. He is currently working on a new series titled "Male Intimacy" set to tour in 2019. He has work in the permanent collection of the Leslie-Lohman Museum and won several placements in the 2018 Nude Photoshoot awards.

Favorite quotes:

"In such ugly times the only true protest is beauty." --Phil Ochs

"Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed." --William Blake

His work can be seen on his website, StevenMenendez.com, and Instagram.