In 2007, Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, who also happened to be a prolific photographer, published his collection The Full Body Project.
Nimoy challenged modern standards of beauty with the engaging photographs, presenting the subjects as staring the viewer in the face, unashamed of their figures.
Nimoy, who died Friday at the age of 83, had previously photographed slimmer nude figures, but this series starred the fuller-figured members of a burlesque group called The Fat-Bottom Revue.
He was inspired after a full-figured woman asked him to take her and her friends' pictures, CBS reported.
“The average American woman weighs 25% more than the models selling the clothes," Nimoy wrote. "There is a huge industry built up around selling women ways to get their bodies closer to the fantasy ideal."
"Pills, diets, surgery, workout programs," he added. "The message is, 'You don't look right. If you buy our product, you can get there.'"
Nimoy was bothered by the knowledge that many women felt at least some shame for their figures, author Natalie Angier, who wrote The Full Body Project's introduction, told Mashable.
"It really disturbed him that women who considered themselves overweight had this terrible feeling about themselves," she said. "He wanted to show the world that there's beauty to be found in different body types."