Summer is fast drawing to a close here, or so it feels. My friends that I was planning on going camping nude in the bush with are heading off overseas in a few weeks for a month long amazing holiday and by the time they get back, the weather may not be conducive to running around in the bush nude.
I am thinking it may be time to take myself off to a place called River Island Naturist Retreat a couple of hours drive from Sydney. They have cabins and powered camp sites there but I am going to go and pitch a tent near the river somewhere. The other option is head off and find a quiet spot in the bush with a mate that is also keen to come along. I’d love to find somewhere out of the way where we can be nude for a weekend and possibly even coat ourselves in cool mud like these guys and girls have done. Why? Who knows, but I say why not? I think it could make for some amazing photographs too.
Each year in the lead up to the Mardi Gras parade, I’m reminded that there are very different forms of fitness and body awareness. Our float is full of relatively fit people, we are lifesavers, we can swim out into the surf or paddle out through a big surf to rescue people.
The routines we have done over the last four parades have been fairly simple and a lot of fun, but I’m constantly amazed that a few people cannot even march in time to music. Each year there are one or two people that while they get the arm movements correct their feet are completely out of time. I cannot claim to be any kind of spectacular dancer but for me it makes it much easier if your feet and arms are both in time to the same beat, not one to the real beat and the other to some imaginary beat. Yet those same people can race a triathlon or get a drowning victim to shore easily.
None of this is in any way a criticism. I’m constantly fascinated by how different people are. Aerialists for example, are renowned for being clumsy on the ground, yet dangle them 8 metres off the ground and they’ll astound you with spectacular agility and grace. I’m not including myself in that statement either. I still run into things on the ground and trip over a shadow, but I’m not graceful up in the air.
I’ve posted about a few people offering services in the nude, like Rick the personal trainer or Sydney’s Naked Barber. These photos found their way into my email and once again the idea popped into my head. Would you pay for a naked service provider? Or would you offer your services in the nude?
I work in an office, and don’t really deal with clients, so it’s a bit redundant in my case. Granted there have been a couple of instances when I’ve been photographing a nude friend at a nude beach that I will take my shorts off rather than get them wet, but by and large photography isn’t something I’d do nude either.
Judging by the tan lines on this young guy I’m assuming that nude isn’t his usual state of dress. I would hazard a guess that the photos are completely staged and he’s not a handyman at all, nude or otherwise.
A New Zealand judge has dismissed a case against a man caught riding his bicycle down the road naked. The judge said that Mr Lowe’s nakedness didn’t meet the test of offensive behaviour. I agree, a naked man riding a bike down the street nude isn’t offensive. Do I think it’s appropriate? Not really, but it’s a bit of a laugh. It’s not like he was exposing himself in a sexual way to children or masturbating at anyone.
I came across something via Towleroad last week and I thought it was a brilliant idea. I don’t know how effective it would actually be, but it would certainly raise awareness. Recently a guy called Ben had an idea that gay couples should take out an engagement notice in their local papers announcing their engagement and plans to marry “as soon as it’s legal”. It appears that some have taken up the challenge. Wonder if it would take off here?
This morning at 4am I arrived at the Sydney Opera House, expecting Sydney to be all cynical (a bit like me perhaps) and to have not shown up for the Spencer Tunick photo shoot. I was very pleasantly surprised to find out, a couple of hours later as I walked up the steps of the iconic building, to realise that 5,200 people had turned out of all kinds of body shapes, sizes, ages, genders and sexualities.
The organisers expected 2,500 people so we more than doubled their expectations and it was an amazing and liberating experience. Some would say that my nude body doesn’t need any more liberating, but to have over 5,000 other naked bodies around me was fantastic. Some have said it felt tribal and completely non-judgemental and I would have to agree. They guys would probably argue that the cold weather was doing nothing to help a lot of us and that’s true too, but we were all in the same boat.
It was quite an emotional moment when I realised that, even though this was a Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras event, about 50% of participants were straight (my estimation) and that not a single one of them was concerned about being nude with gays and lesbians. Most people were nervous, some were not. I couldn’t help but think, how many friends were seeing each other nude for the first time? How many people were running into acquaintances unexpectedly at their most vulnerable and how many of them might be more confident in their bodies after the experience.
I’ll happily admit there were people I knew there that I’d been curious to see nude and now I’ve ticked that curiosity off. It’s human nature to have a look I think. I’m glad I took the plunge and joined in. It’s a once in a lifetime experience and I loved it.
Last night was the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras parade and we had so much fun! The parade had over 6,000 participants and zillions of sequins and dodgy fashion choices that are perfect for mardi gras. Our routine was a really high energy routine that left us all exhausted half way in.
I was just browsing a couple of the local news sites online and one of the galleries had this photo of me and local blogger boy Shannon next to me! Our routine was a disco inspired number that the crowd seemed to love. Apparently the judges thought we were pretty good too. In our first year, 2007, we won sexiest float, last year we won best choreography, and last night we took out the grand prize of best float! That is despite, with a third of the parade to go, our generator blowing up so we had no music or lights. We did prove that we can all count to 8 over and over again after that to try and keep the routine going, some of us just didn’t do it at the same time! So much fun!
I was chatting to this guy on a nudist site and I really liked the quality of his photography and the lighting. His name is Darin and he runs a company called Draw Group. He and a friend are challenging each other to take self portraits. They were arguing about the meaning or various meanings and tones of the word “there”. So they are exploring the various meanings in their self portraits. At this stage I only have Darin’s shots.
Above, from left to right, we have “Sit right there”, “Hanging there” and “Waiting there”. As you can see, Darin his no problem with getting his gear off for a photograph, or in general it seems. His photographs are very thoughtful and quite moody in my opinion. I’m looking forward to seeing more!
I’m toying with taking up a similar challenge. Any suggestions for words? Any suggestion of “Cock” or anything else to try and get me to post full frontal will be giggled at and ignored.
I haven’t been to the gym at all this week which is almost a crime in the lead up to mardi gras, but I think I’ve popped a rib slightly at class on monday and I also have no way of getting there until I replace my car.
Scott Herman is a model and fitness instructor and I’m going out on a limb and guessing he’s in L.A. Watch him do the 300 workout I never got around to doing last week. The fact that he even does it in the little leather undies from the movie is cute. Can I get in shape for Mardi Gras in 30 hours or so by watching someone else workout?
Hudson Taylor is a champion for gay rights despite being a 23 year old straight college wrestler. The young man, who has political aspirations, proposed to his fiance after seeing Milk and has even worn an equality sticker during competition.
Taylor is very vocal about gay rights and also feminism and takes every opportunity to drop his cause into conversation and interviews. Enlightened athletes and straight men in general are an amazing addition to our movement towards equality. If Hudson is considering a political career or even a professional sporting career, being so vocal about such a controversial subject could definitely hamper his efforts yet he continues supporting us. Thank you Hudson.
When people dispute European countries like Germany being more open minded to nudity they clearly haven’t seen magazine shoots like this one. Geil Magazine has just released these photos of the beautiful Jeff Tomsik in all his glory. Now I haven’t seen the context of these photos and how they are presented but not many non adult magazines show full frontal male nudity and even more rarely in a beautiful shoot like this.
Jeff is an Ohio boy and is only 23 years old and according to his Model Mayhem profile, a bit religious so we’ll see how he goes with all the attention from us gay boys. These shots are the work of Joe Lally and I think I’ll be keeping an eye out for more of his work!
Yesterday saw the media gathering for Spencer Tunick’s photoshoot which is part of the Mardi Gras. Next monday morning, 3000 people will cover the opera house steps and inside the main auditorium for one of his famous installations.
I was invited to the media launch yesterday but couldn’t make it because of work. They had two nude models lying on tables with sushi for the masses to eat. The local news reports of course made jokes about wasabi. I can’t wait to do this on monday morning. That is, if the shoot goes ahead. At the time of the launch yesterday, Tunick who had just flown in, was without luggage, or cameras thanks to the services of Qantas that has lost it all.
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