Striking images of women practicing yoga

Jonathon Harrington, a photographer and the owner of Icon Imaging in Ottawa, captured dozens of beautiful black-and-white images of women of all ages and backgrounds, each performing a unique yoga pose while in the nude.

The striking photographs have also been published in a book, titled 'I', which is aimed at celebrating the power and strengthe of the female form. 

'The project was born out of my interest in the human figure combined with my first yoga class experience,' Mr Harrington explained on a Kickstarter page for the project. 

'During the class as I participated, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful shapes and lines as we went through the different poses.

'The central concept of the project is ‘everyday women, nude, showcasing their abilities of strength and flexibility.'

When it came to choosing the participants for the book, which retails for 44.99 Canadian dollars, Mr Harrington added that he had no specific criteria each woman had to meet; instead he was eager to find people who felt comfortable and confident enough in their own bodies to pose naked, even if that confidence only emerged during the shoot.

'The subjects of the book are a cross section of society – there were no conditions or requirements to participate other than being over 18 and interested in the concept,' he explained. 

'Subjects ranged from women totally comfortable with their bodies to the camera-shy who had never posed for a photo shoot – let alone nude.'

Each woman will also have required a fair amount of stamina; according to Mr Harrington, the models were required to go through up to 40 poses while being photographed over two to three hours. 

'All shoots took place at my studio, and consisted of 20-40 poses (many inspired from yoga and dance), and took anywhere from 2-3 hours,' he explained, before adding that, despite the hard work each woman had to put in, the shoot actually turned into something of a therapy session for all involved.

'During the shoots, there was a lot chatting, laughter and fun; many opened up about things like jobs, relationships, travel, etc,' he said. 'It almost seemed like a therapy session sometimes.'

Mr Harrington was particularly inspired by the personal story of one model, who revealed during the shoot that her mother had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.

'Originally this project was about me wanting to share with others something I have been passionate about for many years,' he recalled. 'However, after that session, the project started to evolve. 

'Instead of creating something on a smaller scale that I would benefit from, why not create something larger that would benefit many people. This is when the concept of this book began to form.'

Mr Harrington noted that 25 per cent of the profits from the sale of the book will go towards the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, adding that $500 has been donated thus far.

(dailymail.co.uk)