In July of 2019 I was able to attend the World Bodypainting Festival in Klagenfurt, Austria. I had photographed one other bodypainting event in Denver several years before, but nothing on the scale of the WBF. It was an amazing collection of artists, models, and photographers and I would rate it as one of the premiere events I have ever photographed.
I was able to participate in workshops put on by the WB Academy and photographed at all 3 days of the Festival. What you see here are photographs from the Festival itself.
The Festival was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid. This year they have been able to resume, but for a couple reasons I was unable to attend. So I took this opportunity to go back and remaster images from the 2019 Fest. Most of these were shot with a black backdrop. Inspired by looking at submissions by other photographers, I decided to find backgrounds for some of the images that compliment the prosthetics and the body and face paint. So in a way, they are new images. Other images were just fine with a black backdrop. These are from Thursday’s shoot.
By Friday, I felt pretty comfortable and familiar with how things had been set up. I also started making friends, and at dinner that night I became a temporary member of Team Holland. I was warmly embraced by the people in this community. That made it all an even more amazing experience. These are images from Friday’s shoot.
Saturday came all too quickly. Knowing it was the last day, I tried to take everything in. Along with the photoshoots, I camped by the main stage for several performances, where models would come out onto stage and dance to great music. It was incredibly,colorful, spirited, and entertaining. I came away just marveling at the creativity of the designers. It capped off the festival in a wonderful way. Below are images from Saturday’s shoot.
Finally, as a bonus here, I recently pulled together video clips and images from the Festival and posted it on Vimeo. I can’t wait to do more of this work going forward. It is very fulfilling.
