“Don’t think. Paint!” ~ Willem De Kooning
A Visual Tale of Pure Inspiration…
An intimate view into an unedited, chronological, hot off the press,
creative journey that has just begun between artist and model.
My work is about a feeling for which I have no words.
Learn more about Liz Arch and her unique style of Primal Yoga.
Read a beautiful article Liz wrote.
Stay connected with Sturman on Facebook.
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Editor: Kate Bartolotta
Incorrect source, offensive, or found a typo? Or do you want to write for Elephant?
A dedicated yoga practitioner himself, Sturman's work has increasingly focused on capturing the timeless grace and embodied mindfulness of asana. His portraits, whether set in the lively streets of Manhattan, the expansiveness of Malibu's beaches and canyons, the timeless elegance of Walden's New England, or the bleakness of San Quentin Prison, remind us that there is beauty everywhere. In Sturman's own words "I often think of Rumi: 'I can't stop pointing to the beauty.' That feels right to me." ...... Excerpt from Dearbhla Kelly's article:
Intoxicated With Beauty—Portrait of an Artist's Soul.
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Credentials:
Official Artist 47th Annual GRAMMY AWARDS,
2010 FIFA World Cup Artist Representing America,
Official Artist 2007 United States Olympics.
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To learn more about Robert Sturman:
www.RobertSturmanStudio.com.
Just posted to "Featured Today" on the Elephant Yoga homepage.
Tanya Lee Markul, Yoga Editor
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BEAUTIFUL.
its all just to make money isnt it.
actually, no. And if your comment wasn't a hit and run anonymous comment, I would be happy to respond in a manner that may offer something positive to your world.
there's no money to be made. just beautiful art. Thank you Robert and Liz.
It is to make money. To buy a new camera 'cause this one must be completely ruined from all the heat.
Thanks, maestro. Building you an altar in the name of sexy creativity and sacrificing dullness, envy, poor taste and other parasites on it.
#Inspired. (my usual Robert Sturman kind of hashtag)
Very beautiful! Thanks
ha andrea xx
[...] [...]
delicious. mud yoga. now we're talkin'!
They did that with wrestling. Proof that aesthetics and body types and competition have elevated yoga to the ranks of "sport" …
More proof of the decline … and even with bad feet I thank whatever "God" is left for dance … for that is the only practice and discipline still keeping me doing yoga … !
Technically, the photography is good – really good – but as with so many things involving yoga models, the "aesthetic" seems off.
The idea of reflecting or expressing or being of or with "nature" is belied by the amount of human effort that is suggested by these poses. The "human" and the "natural" are juxtaposed a bit too harshly, I think.
Ever read the part of Scripture (Luke) where it is said: "Look at the flowers; they do not toil or spin." True portraits of humans in nature are restful, and meditative — not striving and purposive.
They can also be work photos, tllling the fields, cooperating with nature?
You don't have to say: Look at me, I am an Icon of Nature, and I am also so humble that I will muddy myself up (like warriors wearing "camouflage" to try to blend in, because, in fact, otherwise they won't).
Ideally, you just ARE nature, unadorned, and unassuming.
Notice how your models fill the screen, they appear even larger than Nature, nature becomes the background, the Model the foreground.
Yoga really does struggle with essential grace and humility in all its affairs these days — human and natural.
Right on, samurai!!
Contrast, for example, a shot of a beach and the waves, and off to the side of the frame, a family, the father and mother strolling hand in hand, and one of their children, perhaps, in a handstand. It's the human timelessness represented within the timelessness of Nature's rhythms. Or a vast beach at dusk, the waves still, with a yogi in sivasana.
Call them yoga landscapes, as opposed to the yoga fashion photography currently so in vogue. Can people appreciate yoga without turning the practice – and asana itself – into an icon of worship? Therein lies the seeds of so many of its maladies.
For what it's worth, I think the top one, the one Waylon also chose to highlight, is far and away the most interesting? There's a foreboding sky and the figure is almost completely anonymous, without her curves or her facial features highlighted, and with her complete "back body" displayed.
It almost seems like a hilltop sacrifice to the Gods. Yoga as human sacrifice, not exaltation. Almost like a cross, in fact.
How is the celebration of all the body can do not "nature?"
Sometimes nature is, as you say, unassuming, a feather on the breeze, a solitary tree. Sometimes nature is massive, forceful effort like a hurricane or the result of years of wind and rain weathering the face of a mountain.
It's the same for humans. The sedentary human body seems quite un-natural when you think about it. Yoga, running, dancing, making love, working, any type of joyful movements—seem to be much more in line with accurately depicting the natural part of humanity.
You say" "Yoga, running, dancing, making love, working, any type of joyful movements—seem to be much more in line with accurately depicting the nature of humanness."
Being human is ALL joy, 24/7? Do you really think that? I suspect not. Being human runs the full gamut of emotion, the highs and the lows. And Nature herself is full of creativity – and harsh, predatory destruction.
We should resist this tendency to create Happy Yoga. It's like "Socialist Realist" art always depicting the workers united, smiling and triumphant. What a fraud, I think.
It would be wonderful to see the Face of Sorrow and Grief more consistently portrayed in yoga, actually.
For example, what's a pose that best represents the self-destruction of John Friend and Anusara Yoga? Or the grief and disappointment that so many of his followers have experienced?
Or should we just use yoga to try to extinguish these "negative" and uncomfortable feelings?
Even dance, which is far more expressive than yoga ever was, better captures the wide range of human emotion and experience.
Maybe yoga needs to pretend and "posture" less" – and start to dance with real life more.
No, absolutely, not all joy. I actually debated leaving that in…you're right! The dark side of our humanness is just as important to look at, but that doesn't mean that when we look at the happy parts they are somehow less real. The joyful movements are natural. The painful ones are too.
I love Pema Chodron's quote about this:
“Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.”
I don't think we need to wallow in the negative or pretend it isn't there. Just sit with all of it & be more middle way about it.
Not only must I be in intense dialogue with Luke from the Bible — but also a Samurai. Samurai, as you alluded to, life is a full spectrum experience. Sometimes it's all tears, sometimes it's a all smiles — and hopefully it can be both at the same time to really feel this experience. There is a lot of joy and sorry, that's for sure. And, Samurai, being that life is a full spectrum deal, sometimes it's just sexy! And that kind of feels nice to me. I appreciate your advice on the compositions regarding the figure in the landscape. I follow my heart, that's what I do. I love nature and I love people. I would like for you to follow this link to a very different world I spend my time in when I can. They are considered the dungeons of our society and there sure is a lot of pain occurring there:
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/12/why-i-love…
I will consider your advice to show more pain in the outside world. I am not ignoring it at all and by no means am I setting the tone that everything is pure joy. However, I happen to think one of the roles of the Artist is to continue to point towards humanities full potential and remind us of the beauty that is always present. I, and my work, are a work in progress.
Samurai. Please let me know if you post any of your images from El Salvador. I would be very interested in seeing them.
I think this is a real great blog.Thanks Again. Really Great.
[...] So Hot, The Camera’s Still Smokin’. ~ A Yogini & A Photographer Make Passionate Art. [...]
Oh well nothing new here…ho-hum. Guess you got a comment though…ho-hum.
[...] are just 2 of a larger collection that can be seen here: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/04/so-hot-the-cameras-still-smokin–a-yogini-and-a-photogra…. Well worth taking the time to [...]
Thanks for replying, Robert. The joy was more Kate's comment, perhaps? I didn't think you were just doing that, and all good art, including photography, is worth more than one look, and often, as you know, one's perspective evolves. Also, it's often often just a matter of personal taste.
I also especially liked the muddy figure in the handstand with the crooked legs, 6th from the top. Again, for me, and perhaps just for me, the more the human figure seems to disappear into the earth, or seems to emerge from the earth, as an expression of the earth, like an old gnarled tree, perhaps, the more interesting I think it is.
Not to say that your other photos aren't shot beautifully – they are indeed.
Years ago, in a different era, I shot photos for the major mags, as a war photographer in El Salvador but strictly as an amateur. I got lucky.
Or, maybe a whole lotta "Balasana" …