Exclusive shots from Igor Smith's Road Strip.
Photographer Nate "Igor" Smith likes taking pictures of naked women in public. His website Driven by Boredom, a pre-Flickr photoblog before there were photoblogs, has served as a personal documentation of naked ladies, nightlife, and Smith's myriad web projects (like his new app) for the last 13 years. Teaming up with Lee Roy Meyers' viral porn site Wood Rocket, Smith has just released a documentary series about his summer road trip from Detroit to LA where, as he drove, he shot a ton of nude models along Route 66 in front of classic landmarks and roadside attractions, from Cadillac Ranch to the Gateway Arch.
Smith's Road Strip series was inspired by the iconic road photography of John Margolis, William Eggelston, and Robert Frank — glimpses of the hidden country and pedestrian life. Long known for his mastery of the nude, Smith was looking to shoot a series that captured both the fascinating female form and the grit, gaud, and myth of the massively documented Main Street of America.
"I find the idea of the great American road trip a very romantic one and I have been very inspired by the motor history of the United States," Smith told Hooksexup. "Driving used to be about the drive and not just the destination and I am sort of obsessed with weird roadside attractions." Driving with nine models over 18 days, Smith shot different women with each change in the landscape. He explained, "my talents as a photographer lie in getting a good shot very quickly…Running out into public, shooting nude photos, and then escaping into a car makes for a very exciting road trip." The result is a series of nude portraits that are filled with the bustle, decay, naturalism, and expanse of the American highway. But if you were to ask the meaning behind his fascination with public nudes, he'd admit, "I think it's just fun."
Photographs courtesy of Nate "Igor" Smith.