British photographer Kate Bellm splits her time between London and the remote village of Deia in the mountains of Mallorca, where she founded the infamous Hotel Corazon. Her images are psychedelic and deeply physical, nudes that feel completely natural, bodies moving as one with the water, soft dappled sunlight.
What sets Bellm apart is the joy in her work. There's no tension or performance, just women utterly at home in their bodies and in the wild. Her Underwaterworld series was born from life near the sea, each shoot beginning with a swim, finding little sea caves, letting the girls dive down and explore. The freedom depicted isn't manufactured for the camera.
Bellm shoots on vivid 35mm and medium format film. There's a warmth and imperfection to her images, as well as film colour that no digital filter can replicate. Film forces presence with its scarcity. What you get is the moment as it actually was. It gives her work a texture that feels closer to memory than photography.
You can see more of her work here.
