David Finell reviews Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy is best known as that iconic, nearly emotionless, supremely logical, and very honorable Vulcan alien known as Spock.  He has graced us with his talents on screen, in front of, and behind the camera.  But he is far more than a science and science fiction actor, director, and aficionado.  He is also a very accomplished photographic artist.  He uses the tools he has mastered throughout his life to explore and display the humanity in all of us.  Many of his images may be challenging to view and could be considered visually offensive by contemporary societal norms of what beauty should look like.  Fine art photography is saturated with stereotypical images of half starved anorexic Russian models.  Leonard Nimoy explores and embraces the full gamut of the formal elements of art and design as they apply to people.  He treats the morbidly obese with as much care and respect as those with more slender forms and he uses the full gamut of skin tones in his imagery to explore the human body and sexuality in his Full Body Project.  

He also uses the lens to delve into people’s alter egos thru his project Secret Selves. All of us at one time or another wish we could take on another persona to help us deal with various situations that occur  on a day to day basis.  Here he explores how these might manifest themselves. 


Ira — Advertising firm CEO

My secret self is a wizard who takes illusions and makes people think

Secret Selves
Photograph

Leonard Nimoy delves into the feminine essence of god in his Shekhina photographic essay and has also created more traditional, but equally artistic and unique images in some of his other series.

The humanity behind Leonard Nimoy’s imagery is absolutely resplendent as he applies his master’s touch to the camera and his subjects.  He is a consummate professional whose work warrants careful study and consideration.