Although Leonard Nimoy is known primarily as an actor and director and, of course, as the Vulcan, Spock, in the original Star Trek series and subsequent movies, he has also been a professional photographer for many years. His latest photography collection, Full Body Project: Photographs by Leonard Nimoy, will be released next month.

The photographs are provocative in a world obsessed with the pursuit of thinness. As Nimoy writes,”The average American woman weighs 25 percent more than the models selling the clothes. 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. . . . The message is “You don’t look right. If you buy our product, you can get there.’”

The Boston Globe interviewed him recently:

You were born and raised in Boston. Did the city have a big influence on your interest in the arts?

A tremendous amount. I was surrounded by museums, exhibitions, theater, and all kinds of art opportunities.

When did you begin to view photography as an art form?

Around 1971. After I had finished three seasons of Star Trek and two seasons of Mission: Impossible, I actually considered changing careers. I went to school at UCLA to study photography.

Where did the idea for your current exhibit and book, The Full Body Project, come from?

I was showing some of my earlier work at a seminar, and a lady approached me. She was around 300 pounds. She said: “I’m a different body type, and I’m a model. Would you be interested in working with me?” She came to our home in Northern California where I have a studio, and my wife and I photographed her there, nude. Her body took on shapes like marble sculpture. I was put in touch with a group of women in San Francisco who were part of a burlesque group known as the Fat-Bottom Revue. These were all very large ladies. My original idea was to replicate some rather famous images shot by other photographers who had used fashion models.

The interview continues.