In this amazing, honest photo essay by Mexican photographer Sofia Mendoza she details what love means to her. Are you in love?

4 mins to read the article

For me, the experiences of being in love with my partner bring together the things that most inspire me and stimulate my desire to photograph: the bodies, nature/naturalness, and sensations.

What loves means to me “I like your mammalian body” was one of the first things I told my partner. Thankfully, he didn’t laugh! David and I have known each other since kindergarten, but it wasn’t until we were in our twenties that we became best friends and, eventually, partners. I already knew him my whole life—his most important traits, we shared secrets, and he was one of the people who understood me the best.

With David, I have learned to be aware of these languages of love, which, although very instinctive and natural, carry a deep significance

When we started dating, I got to know him deeply, as a partner, and of course, I also connected with his physicality, and he with mine. One day, I felt compelled to say, “I like your mammalian body.” Strangely enough, he understood exactly what I meant. It wasn’t just an appreciation of human sexual characteristics but also a way of being aware of the full range of sensations and actions we can experience as human beings. When comparing ourselves to the vast catalog of how other living creatures reproduce and interact, I told him how lucky I felt to be able to rub our feet together, pull his hair, breathe rhythmically, tickle him like a little monkey, give him small bites like a mouse, and lick his belly like a dog.

told him how lucky I felt to be able to rub our feet together, pull his hair, breathe rhythmically,

I told him, “I like being a mammal with you—with a nervous system, two hands to touch you, a mouth to kiss you, and legs to entwine with yours. I’m grateful for the bodies we have and all the ways we can share them.”

I started documenting these moments of our mammalian bodies interacting, exploring how they adjust, communicate, and do so naturally and instinctively. How our bodies position themselves, and how our fingers and feet play without us thinking about it. This all speaks to the languages of love, instinctive and primal, which I feel we can experience together, adding our personal touch while using these moments to kiss our physical and emotional wounds through touch and words.

The phase of falling in love has radically transformed my photographic practice and the way I do nude portraits. Sharing my body with this person completely influences my self-perception and, of course, the number of nude portraits I can take in a day. I went from doing nude portraits to nude self-portraits, and then to nude portraits with my partner. Having David available as a model and being emotionally connected to him has allowed me to reflect on how being in a relationship is a constant cycle of discovery, awareness, obsession, acceptance, and companionship. It has allowed me to expand emotionally, mentally, and physically with another person. It has also taught me to open up and let the other person expand their ideas through this connection. I believe that being in a relationship is like solving personal puzzles together: tossing clues, sharing missing pieces, inventing them, and sometimes exchanging them.

For me, these photos are like watching two animals who, though they seem rational, don’t always realize all the things they share and say to each other through their bodies, far beyond just sex.

With David, I have learned to be aware of these languages of love, which, although very instinctive and natural, carry a deep significance that I like to reinterpret continuously, to find different emotions and discover new ways to love him and express it. For me, these photos are like watching two animals who, though they seem rational, don’t always realize all the things they share and say to each other through their bodies, far beyond just sex.

This kind of photographic practice has made me more aware of what I’m seeing and experiencing. Beyond documenting what I see to remember later, I like capturing images for the process and the level of awareness involved in being present in the scene. It’s like seeking those unique, specific details, reflecting on them, and then putting all the pieces together to create the image. For me, the experiences I have being in love with my partner bring together the things that most inspire me and stimulate my desire to photograph: the bodies, nature/naturalness, and sensations.

SOFIA MENDOZA