Naked Talent Brian Bowen Smith

Celebrity photographer Brian Bowen Smith returns to his fine-art roots.

- Richard Bence

“When you put on a mask, you can be anyone you want,” says photographer and former Herb Ritts protégé Brian Bowen Smith. He’s talking about Wildlife, his study in black–and-white of the nude female form, which first made its debut in 2014.

The concept came about because the women Smith knew wanted to be in a fine-art picture but didn’t necessarily want to show their faces. Each photo features a nude woman, or group of nude women, wearing children’s animal masks. The identity of each subject is kept secret, a concept that freed Smith’s subjects to drop their inhibitions. “The mystery of that is part of the image,” says Smith. “You can be dirty, more open and [not embarrassed],” he says.