Bare in the Woods

As a sort of companion to last year's photoseries titled Dendrophilia, in which I spent the better part of the year seeking out and posing nude with interesting trees, this year I decided to recycle the bear mask I'd bought for my Goldilocks-themed shoot last fall, and, in service of my dual passions for naturism and photography, pose naked out in the woods as if I were a bear.

Focusing around rocky mountain hillsides and flowing river valleys, I sought out multiple locations in which to shoot over the summer, where I thought the presence of a bear would be appropriate. And now that fall has arrived, and winter is around the corner - when my love of outdoor nude recreation will be forced into hibernation until the spring - I can close the book on this project and show you the fruits of my labors!

As a nudist, what separates me from the rest of the population is that I'm actually more comfortable when I'm NOT wearing clothes (climate-considering). When I get dressed, it's not for my own sake, it's to make OTHER people more comfortable. And while I can enjoy being naked anywhere (truly, just about anywhere), the truth is, I really like being naked outdoors.

It's not a sexual thing. And it doesn't require an audience (although it's often hard to find privacy on this overcrowded planet). Obviously, weather is a factor, but I love the feeling of the wind and the sun, and the rocks and the grass, without the sensory-dampening buffer of clothing between the elements and my skin. The feeling of primal freedom that comes from being clad only in the sky - especially surrounded by nature - is honestly a spiritual experience for me.

I lament that opportunities to enjoy this sort of thing are so limited, and that even when I can, there is often the fear that, if discovered, my activities would be misunderstood. Because of this, getting naked in the woods can be a conflicting experience. On the one hand, it feels perfectly natural. But on the other, your social conditioning is telling you that you're doing something wrong. So you're sneaking around, hiding from any people you might come across. But then, that's how most of the wildlife behaves anyway.

I enjoy the artistic challenge of creating nude self-portraits for a number of reasons. Among them is the fact that it gives me an excuse to be naked in beautiful locations, and it gives me something to do while I'm there, involving a lot of physical exertion which is good exercise that keeps me in shape.

The truth is, I would pursue opportunities to be naked in nature even were I not an artist. But when I'm able to capture pictures that showcase the artistry of the human body amidst the beauty of our planet, I feel gratified in that it justifies my activities and inclinations, and gives me a chance to share my perspective with the world. So that, hopefully, in the end, people won't think I was never anything more than an inscrutable eccentric or a weirdo pervert.

Although I might be that, too. :-p