Bare Scouts

In a recent post, I expressed some measure of wonder at the direction life has taken me - that I've become so enamored with wilderness recreation (provided there are opportunities for naked communion), despite quitting Boy Scouts when I was a kid. Consumed by fears and anxieties, I don't think I was capable of appreciating those activities - e.g., rock climbing, white water rafting - back then. But I feel like if I had a chance to redo it with the mindset I have now, I would enjoy it.

It's the same thing with sports. Although I'm not competitive by nature, visiting nudist camps has instilled in me a great love of playing volleyball, to the point that I find myself practicing alone, lamenting not having access to a league, or even a group of friends with similar interests. As someone who dreaded gym class in school, and always got picked last for teams, I was convinced I had no athletic talent - something that I no longer believe to be true. If only we weren't expected to figure things out so early. We throw all these activities at children, to help them find what they like, before they are even fully formed. But once you've grown up, you're expected to be set on your path. It's difficult to find opportunities without the momentum of having done it since you were young.

I had an idea while out hiking nude up a partially dry riverbed, and I can't decide if it's brilliant or bonkers. As you know, my enjoyment of wilderness recreation is largely incumbent on being able to mix in the feeling of being naked in the great outdoors. (Maybe I'm weird, but I think doing something naked makes it a lot more fun). What if there were an organization designed around just this sort of thing? You could call it... Bare Scouts! Of course, my first thought is that people would freak out, thinking it has something to do with mixing children and nudity. As a nudist, I want to state for the record that I see nothing wrong with kids engaging in nude recreation outdoors - provided they're supervised by responsible adults. But there's no reason this organization would necessarily have to involve children. I just think it would be fun to base it loosely on the scouting model. You could even design merit badges to be awarded to members for completing various activities naked in nature!

Let's brainstorm. First of all, in order to meet the requirements for a given merit badge, a supervising scout leader must sign off on it (photographic evidence is encouraged). All requirements must be performed completely naked - without shoes or any kind of cover up, unless otherwise indicated. Ideas for merit badges could include:

*hugging X number of trees of distinctive character;
*skinny dipping (with different badges for river, lake, and ocean);
*hiking and biking X number of miles (shoes and packs permitted);
*paddling a canoe or kayak (safety gear permitted);
*standing under a waterfall;
*performing a rock scramble;
*dancing in the rain;
*hiking by moonlight;
*setting up and striking camp;
*collecting firewood and tending a fire;
*campfire social (sitting around a campfire in a group, roasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories, etc.);
*animal sightings (with a checklist for different animals encountered);
*spelunking/cave exploring (safety gear permitted);
*taking in a scenic vista;
*cleaning up the environment (picking up trash);
*tending a garden (plant a tree, trim a shrub, water flowers, etc.);
*leaf peeping (collect a red, gold, and orange leaf on a single hike);
*cross-country skiing (boots, hats, and gloves permitted);
*answering the call of the wild...

Any more ideas? I know nudists are a minority, and there isn't nearly enough interest to support an organization like this (and that's to say nothing of the potential for bad actors to slip in and exploit the opportunity to turn it into something different - alas, we cannot have nice things), but doesn't it sound like fun?

Hunting Bare

[description: nude series pitting a man in a bear mask against a hunter with rifle and coonskin cap]

I've spent a lot of time outdoors over the past four summers, in the wake of the pandemic-induced lockdowns of 2020. Two years ago, I published a series of nude-in-nature self-portraits titled Dendrophilia, which was the culmination of eight months (from March to November) I spent exploring the woods, posing naked with distinctive trees. Last year, I published a series titled Bare in the Woods, which saw me posing naked in a bear mask, alongside rivers, in caves, and climbing on rocks.

I don't want to condition you to expect a prominent nature series to be published every year come fall - especially because I could stand to take a hiatus and focus on my backlog, instead of generating more new content - but I do like having projects to work on beyond simply getting out into the wilderness and posing aimlessly in front of the camera. Not that that doesn't have its draw, but I do so much of it already.

This year's project was fairly spontaneous - I had had the idea in my head, but it was only on the spur of the moment that I decided to follow through with it - and represents a much smaller scale effort that I accomplished within just three excursions stretched across only a 10 day period. That said, I had fun shooting it, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I'll be glad to finally retire that bear mask - it's warm, and when I wear it, I can't see, or hear properly; which makes posing difficult, and also limits my ability to monitor the surroundings for approaching hikers.

I value any excuse to spend time naked in nature, especially when there's some purpose beyond that activity, like working on an art project. Although nude recreation should be its own justification (and it is), the rest of society often doesn't see it that way, and so it's a mental comfort to feel even a little bit legitimized by the work that I do. Plus, having a good concept raises my photography one small step above the "fine art nude", which itself suffers from frequent misinterpretation. To wit, it creates a framework through which to share my appreciation of the artistry of the human form, matter-of-factly, and yet with plausible distinction from the tasteless vulgarity that characterizes so much pornography.

Anyway, this is something of a sequel to Bare in the Woods. It pushes my cloning technique to the forefront - which is something that was under-represented in the previous series, and only sporadically featured in Dendrophilia before it - by adding a hunter. With a coonskin cap and a wooden replica rifle, he's something of a nude Davy Crockett. I tell you, I'm glad my "costumes" are so skimpy, because not only is it a chore to lug props through the wilderness, but it gets hot fast wearing anything when I'm running around shooting in the heat. But, they do add some welcome character to my clone shots.

I had no big plans for the narrative, but I was very excited that I was able to shoot a proper climax and conclusion - in the "bear cave", and then with a bear on the mantel above the fireplace in a cabin/pavilion (what a perfect spot!). It's only with luck and a little derring-do that I can shoot in the places I sometimes want to shoot. Opinions vary, but it's a risk I think is worth taking, all in the name of art. -_^