Vinny Kim : The Beauty and the Least

With Lucy Magdalene

His Facebook

His Instagram

Born and raised in a small conservative and religious community of Pennsylvania, in the United States, Vinny grew up being taught human beings had to be ashamed of their bodies, to hide them, to not talk about them.

With Olivia Preston

With Alex Adair

With Cyndical

As he grew older, he began to understand that this inculcated mentality did not suit him at all. Why be ashamed when the body is so beautiful? Why impose such barriers when the body is a reflection of people's emotions and experiences?

With Millie Mie

With Erica Jay

This questioning led him to rethink things differently: the body is beautiful, it is not profane. Maybe sometimes our thoughts are, but not our bodies. Thus, this new mindset pushed him, a few years ago when he grabbed a camera for the first time, to depict nudes in fine art photography.

With Tiffany Nacke

With Olivia Preston

My work is an exploration of fine lines... between what is acceptable and what is deemed "unacceptable". It seeks to celebrate the beauty of the body, without adornment or distraction, hopefully to help the viewer to see past the nudity and to see the persons: their humanity, their emotions and their stories.

With Kaylee Taylor

With Ebibex

With Brooke Eva

With Evyenia Karapolous

With Brittney Lorraine

I am totally fascinated with the human body and its relationship with light and shadow. When juxtaposed and composed correctly, it can apply to nearly all the laws of the Universe like gravity, aerodynamics, geometry, mathematics, etc.

With Lucy Magdalene

With Kitty Carter

With Bunny Luna

Strength, humanity, vulnerability and connection. These are some of the most important qualities that I seek to capture and convey in my work.

With Caitlin Michele

With Melody Rose

Vinny Kim's fine art nude photography is known internationally and he has been published by some of the most prestigious print magazines. He also teaches natural light workshops all over the United States.

It allows me to have conversations with people about humanity, beauty and authenticity.

With Evyenia Karapolous and Svala Johannsdottir

With Evyenia Karapolous and Svala Johannsdottir 

With Evyenia Karapolous and Svala Johannsdottir

The photographer derives a lot of his inspiration, especially in terms of light schemes, from dark, dramatic cinematography.

With Eliza Romero

With Erica Jay

With Astrid Von Winter

A lot of my work is introspective; almost to the point of sadness or loneliness.

With Erica Jay

With Bunny Luna

With Caitlin Michele

People have often shared with the artist that they feel connected to the emotion they feel in the images, and that it was relevant to things they were dealing with.

I feel that often we are encouraged subtly (especially by social media) to portray emotions that we are not actually feeling. This constant pressure can often leave us feeling very alone in a "social" world.

With Nova Amour

With Nova Amour

Authenticity. Humanity. These two simple words perfectly summarize the essence of Vinny Kim: his way of living and thinking, his interactions with others, his life.

The journey of being human is best experienced when we are free to be honest, whether it's in public or in private.

With Christian Stout

With Amanda Crooks

Once, while watching Olympic ice dancing, Vinny heard the commentator talking about the artistry of the French pair that was performing at that moment and saying: "Watching them perform does not cause you to rise out of your seat in applause as much as it causes you instead to sit back in your seat and contemplate". For the photographer, this is what great art, in any medium, should do. And it is precisely what he attempts to do himself with his photography.

I hope that my work inspires reflection and contemplation.

With Kitty Carter

With Kyotocat

These beautiful bodies staged in dramatic, raw, stripped locations, transmit to the observers a calm yet powerful vibe. They speak for themselves, they vibrate, they emanate.

With Astrid Von Winter and Eryn PO

With Erica Jay

With Bunny Luna

Vinny, your work (just like the person you are) is pure, of an undeniable beauty, and it is an honor and a privilege to be able to share it a little more with the rest of the world.

With Shawna Lee

With Tiffany Nacke and Kyotocat

With Evyenia Karapolous

For my friend Robert

Robert Triboli

Art has little to distinguish itself from religion. Fundamentally they are both acts of faith and therefore subject to their own uncertainties.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart Rhett Neal for all the photos he sent me, and send a tender hug to Robert's family.

24 mars 2017 11:15
Hello Christian my name is Rhett Neal. I live in Sacramento California and was a good friend of Robert Triboli. I know he admired your site and friendship and I would like to send you some of his original photographs for you to have. After his death his family gave me all his printed works. I am giving them to his friends and admirers.
Sincerely,
Rhett Neal

My favorites. Robert was surprised of my enthusiasm before a huge smile.

In our Gold Rules, Robert added : "Seek and proclaim the light in others."

Indeed we were true friends during ten years. Even if I miss him, I'm not sad because he found and lived his vocation with passion, kindness, humility and love. I'm not sad because he loved and was loved in return. I'm not sad because I see him smiling from up above. I'm not sad because we have had the time to tell us these last beautiful words in 2016, full of smiles as usual :

- Robert, I love your Bus Graveyard series !! What about an exibition on uda ? If yes, pelierc@yahoo.fr - Be well my friend.
- Ha Ha! That would certainly be a new path for UDA. The junkyard cats were actually some additional images for a series on a bus boneyard. You always honor me so. Thanks my friend!
- I want this new path ! Thank you my dear dear Robert. I'm honored too and your so long friendship makes me so happy !

And UdA began to change. In a bus graveyard. Thank you Robert.

Anaïs, Art  Model
01-20-2017

"I cannot believe it. I was just about to message you, Robert, about my upcoming San Francisco trip because this trip is never complete without visiting you.

I wish I could have seen you before the end but at least I still have your kindness, your quirky smile, and your gentle voice remembered in my heart. You were so kind, caring, and generous.

I hope you knew how special you were to me and how much I cherished our friendship. May you be smiling from up above, next to the dear cat you loved the most. Until we meet again, Love Anaïs"

When I was a child I could feel light.

Not just the sensation of hot or cold, but light itself. I can't describe it to you, but I know I could feel it. When I was a child l would spend breezy summer afternoons lying under the vine-covered pergola in my grandfather’s vineyard. It was like being in a kaleidoscope and I could feel the millions of possible spectral permutations. It was rapture. With maturity I lost that facility to feel light. It was like learning the definition of awe and losing its meaning. It’s not that adults can’t feel awe ; they just don’t experience that knock the wind out of your guts awe that a child does.

Robert in the light

I was a serious young man. I was one of those people who thought that discovering the meaning of the universe was possible. 

I experimented with a lot of systems (Eastern, Western, Middle Earth) in search of the Eternal Answers. For a while I even thought the camera would allow me to differentiate between what Takahara calls “the dreams that are true from the truths that are only dreams”. The camera ended up being just another system. Art has little to distinguish itself from religion – fundamentally they are both acts of faith and therefore subject to their own uncertainties.

Robert and Lily

Older now, I concern myself less with answers. Instead, with a conviction that the universe is always presenting our senses with miraculous gifts, I have tried to foster receptivity and appreciation. I have tried to rediscover the awe and rapture I knew when I was a child.

Someday I would like to relive the feeling of light. I don’t know if it’s possible to find one’s way back, but photography has brought me closer than anything else.

The great majority of my images include people. While I don’t consciously seek out children I find them in many of my photographs. Perhaps, if I can’t get back there on my own, I can follow them as they instinctually find those paths that lead one up into the light.

Robert and Candace Nirvana

Thank you Robert. See you soon !