“We live in a world where it is too commonplace to hate what you don’t understand, to label that which is different as inferior, wrong or perverted,” Boyd Hambleton wrote in his artist’s statement for his display at the Collingwood Arts Center in Toledo. “So, as an artist I revel in shadow and light and that which rebels.”

Boyd Hambleton is a residential photography artist at the arts center. His most recent work is displayed in the Gerber House, another portion of the facility, in an exhibit titled “Visions from the Black Swamp.”

His photographs are mainly black and white, which Hambleton said is because he loves to work with only his camera, the model and whatever natural lighting he can get.

His photographs are also primarily nudes.

“I’m a little more edgy,” Hambleton said of himself. “I like what people consider different. Whatever corporate America will look at and say, ‘Whoa, you can’t look like that and get a job here,’ I want to photograph.”

“Art is art,” Hambleton continued. “I love tattoos and photographing piercing. I kind of support what’s not the norm and I’m not trying to be all that provocative but different is good.”

Some of the photographs hanging in the exhibit, which opened August 25th, consist of naked women showing off their tattoos and piercing in which the audiences can’t really help but be intrigued. Other photographs display naked women that are bound at the wrists.

Some people who viewed this exhibit might deem the content offensive or explicit.

But Hambleton and Brian Felster, program director of the CAC, see things differently.

“Boyd is a little more upfront and Toledo tends to be a little more conservative in stuff like this,” Felster said. “Some people look at this and find it offensive but it’s just the matter of the person.”

“A lot of my photography involves movement and motion. The slightest curve in the body, you can find artwork in that,” Hambleton said.

None of his work is considered pornographic, he said.

Felster agreed and added that most of his work “is exquisite,” as he held up one of his favorite photographs in Hambleton’s collection: a half naked female entwined in tree branches.

However, no matter how many people find Hambleton’s work exquisite, he has vowed to keep his art away from mainstream society.

“I will never go commercial, that’s not who I am,” Hambleton said, as he gazed at his collection.

He continued with the many definitions of the word professional.

“Most people who call themselves professional aren’t very nice people and if that’s what it means to be professional then thanks, but I’ll pass,” Hambleton said.

Hambleton said that’s what sets him apart from other artists. He believes he shows the model’s true character.

“It’s not only that I capture the beauty of the female form in these pictures, but also that I capture a lot of personality,” he said. “A lot of art nudes are just focused on parts, the symmetry of the body, but they don’t capture anything of the personality of the model. I think I do.”

The Visions from the Black Swamp exhibit is open until Sept. 15. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More information can be found at www.collingwoodartscenter.org.