Bay Area photographer Ed Mestre first became interested in photography in the mid 1980's. Though he did work for a time with B&W film and printing in the darkroom he mainly shot color slides. Mestre was frustrated that his creative control ended when he handed over the roll of film for processing and therefore embraced digital photography and Photoshop's digital. Mestre retired from teaching History in Oakland in June 2006 and was able to spend more time traveling and perfecting his photographic skills. In December of 2008 he was introduced to fine art nude photography by a fellow photographer and became passionate about this new genre. In his work he strives to find his own artistic vision and achieve results that go beyond the usual pin-up or fashion approach to figure photography. Mestre lives in San Leandro, CA.