Fantastic work here from Bucharest-based photographer Constantin Stefan. Starting from shooting landscapes or his surroundings and ending up to portraits or nude photography, Stefan has the unique ability to be able to combine a very fashionable aesthetic with actual photographic skill. Stefan’s most important influences are Helmuth Newton, Alessio Albi and Adrian Nina. About these three he says: “Newton has, from my point of view, some of the most interesting raw photos I’ve seen, Alessio Albi is a genius and he is using every single bit of possible light that he has around him and Adrian’s photos are like moments.

For Stefan his introduction to photography was natural: “ I put my hand on a camera like 4 years ago and I felt that this is what I wanna do from now on. It wasn’t even my camera, (laughs) My first camera was a Canon dslr with the kit lens. I was milking everything on that until I learned how to use light. One year ago I jumped into the mirrorless world and never looked back since. I started with landscape photography, then I moved to architecture photography and then I was thinking about what I like the most. So I decided I need to combine the way I see stuff, with photography and women and how I see them in different scenarios. Next thing on the list is to tap into film photography ( late to the party I guess).”

I have a lot of moodboards in my laptop and i find inspiration in different places. Sometimes I m going into art galleries and I put the soundtrack of a movie and the creative juices start flowing in. I’m the natural light type of photographer so I’m trying to use that as my advantage. I’m not really shooting “staged” or tell the model to pose that much, I’m telling them to “show” different emotions and feelings and that’s how I get those two seconds of energy and I’m pressing the shutter button.

When asked about his style or if he would describe his photography nude, Stefan said: “I woudn’t consider it really nude photography but I wanna show other people how I see women, and how I wanna show different sides of them, sometimes the erotic ones, sometimes the poetry and sometimes the raw sides. I don’t really think I have a style but if I would describe my photos I would say that they are like moments. Sometimes I like something disturbing, sometimes I want something cute and “warm”, sometimes I want something cold and last but not least, sometimes I want something raw.

On our curiosity about models being nervous for getting naked, he added: “Not everybody that I photograph is a model in the begginning they are kinda shy or nervous. I don’t really think that there are tricks about making people comfortable, there is the vibe and the energy that you have. Most of the time I chat with them before the shoot, I’m asking them before what is the line that they don’t wanna cross, if they are ok with shooting implied, topless or nude and in the shooting day we grab a coffee and speak about different things so we can get to know each other a litttle bit before we start shooting.”

Everything that society sells us is edited or modified. That’s why some of the women today chase some perfect look.. and that’s sad. I think that not so long ago ASOS had a full campaign with unretouched photos and they took a hit in the begginning of it but after that the sales went up. It’s pretty hard not to see the society standards when they’re in your face everyday, especially with Instagram for example.

Find Constantin Stefan on: Instagram

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Still can't tell exactly my origins because of my suspiciously ‘Chinese eyes’.