My final for summer black and white 1. "An Ode to Mapplethorpe", two of the photos (the roses) are "master copies" of his work while the rest is inspired by his work. I love flesh and want to present it in an interesting way (the chest shot) and while I would have loved to have done some nudity i didn’t feel comfortable presenting that so I went with a rather "picturesque, yet intimidating monochrome zucchini" (as a friend put it) that my partner grew in a garden, with a ripe peach to give a sense of scale and cheekiness. While in what limited books of his body of work I've seen don’t really have candid shots, I added one self portrait in that style for my own self centered taste and expression. The orchids don’t have a direct analogue but there is another piece they're reminiscent of- if i had done a grey background it would have been a better homage.

Cheers.

• Pentax k1000

• Ilford hp5+ 400

• Ilford RC paper