I recently had the opportunity to visit a new clothing optional (not specifically nudist, but open-minded) campground that I'd never been to before. For the sake of privacy, I'm not going to name it (as this isn't intended to be a review), although perceptive and/or well-traveled readers may be able to deduce the location. It's a rustic campground, with an atmosphere of new age spirituality - which I don't mind, being someone who has dabbled in neopaganism in my younger years. It was sparsely populated on the Saturday I arrived (and most people were dressed), and almost empty the next few days. Which was alright, since I only needed a place to sleep while vacationing in the area. But it was still nice to have a base of operations where I could walk around naked.
[description: a nude figure stands before a mirror propped up outdoors in the woods]
Anyway, the story I want to tell you is about the showers. The campground has two shower facilities. One centrally located in the poolhouse, and another near the entrance gate. The poolhouse showers are just a row of shower heads hanging from the ceiling, with no privacy partitions and in full view of the pool. The upper bathhouse is more traditional, with separate facilities for men and women. Although even there you get a row of shower heads, walled off from the rest of the bathroom, but open to each other. I never encountered a single other person at the upper bathhouse during my stay, but I preferred to use the poolhouse showers for their more open and (particularly) coed quality.
I'm a nudist (and more than that, an exhibitionist - although one who knows how to behave), so I have a lot of experience and no reservations about showering in front of strangers (or even people I know). That said, since the pandemic, I haven't had a lot of opportunities to visit nudist resorts (I've been satisfying my hunger for nude recreation free range, by going nude alone in the wilderness the past few summers), so it was a little bit more stimulating than I expected showering in the poolhouse that first night, with other people.
Here's how it happened. When I entered the poolhouse Saturday night, there was a young couple getting ready to swim in the pool. As I entered the shower area, the woman (who remained dressed in a one piece swimsuit the entire time) was rinsing off. Given her attire and demeanor, I got the impression that she might have been unaccustomed to social nudity, so I picked the shower head in the back corner and kept to myself. She subsequently got into the pool, after which the man she was with removed his shorts before rinsing off in the shower and then joining the woman in the pool. I had considered taking a dip in the pool myself before continuing with my shower, but it was a small pool, and I didn't want to encroach on the couple, or spook them with my level of confidence being naked in front of strangers.
So I just continued with my shower. In the past, there have been times when I've modified my shower routine in front of strangers, to reduce the amount of time I spend scrubbing my nether regions. But I decided that if we've all agreed to shower in front of each other, we might as well stick to our regular routines. Besides, I've seen other people scrub themselves pretty diligently, and it has to be done, right? Problem is, rubbing my dick in front of strangers can sometimes get me a little excited. It's even been known to happen on occasion while alone in the shower at home.
Rest assured, I behaved myself. I wasn't even fully stiff. But there was noticeable enlargement. It's all natural, right? Although even the thought of presenting a somewhat more impressive profile to anyone who might glance over was enough to keep me mentally stimulated. I'm a human being! (Also, I'm a model, so I know I'm easy on the eyes, and that in itself boosts my confidence). I tried my best just to focus on finishing my shower. But while I was engrossed in the substantial task of shampooing my waist-length hair, two young women, both nude, entered the poolhouse and began to shower. One of them even grabbed the shower head directly next to mine! I know "prudists" abhor the impulse to show off, but I couldn't help feeling thrilled at the opportunity to exhibit my body - damp and coursing with vitality - in front of others.
[description: a woman in a towel enters a bathhouse where a man is showering nude]
In case it bears repeating, I behaved myself. I didn't do anything I wouldn't have done any other time I've been focused on the act of taking a shower. I just enjoyed the sensation of being part of a free body culture, until I had finished toweling off; then I left. What's the point of there being beauty in the world if we're not allowed to admire it? Which brings me to my next subject. The lighting in the poolhouse was sparse and largely natural, but it somehow looked incredible. There were some mirrors on one side of the shower area. Not as many as I would have put there, but enough that I could catch a glimpse of myself showering from the near corner (as I discovered on a later day).
Not to sound narcissistic (I'm getting tired of making that disclaimer), but I looked incredible in that lighting, scrubbing my damp body down (the open layout prevented any issues with fogging). I wanted so badly to record a video of me showering, but I refrained, on account of there being a sign explicitly forbidding the use of cameras in the poolhouse. The campground has pretty reasonable common sense rules about photography (which is a refreshing change of pace), that I took advantage of to shoot some self-portraits while the place was pretty much empty. I didn't want to push their hospitality to the breaking point - even though I found myself alone in the poolhouse that last day, rinsing off after striking camp under the hot morning sun.
[description: a nude man in a grassy field jumps up, catching the sun in his hands]
So I restricted my photographic endeavors to the more remote and less populated upper bathhouse, but it just wasn't the same. I wouldn't know where to begin in setting up the right conditions in a more private location. It kills me that there can be visual stimuli in this world that I, as an artist, consider to be sublime, yet because of our taboos and hangups (even in a relatively open-minded and body-baring community), they have to go undocumented. Like a perfectly cooked meal, arbitrarily left to rot uneaten. Somebody show me a world where this isn't the case!
