Vittorio Giardino
It makes me recall a client of mine. I had been hired to shoot nudes of her in my home studio. When they arrived, I watched from the window as her husband spend a full five minutes talking her into getting out of their car.
She was a woman in her mid-30′s and even inside i could tell she was thinking about leaving. However, I was able to put her at ease relatively rapidly. I honestly can’t recall if my wife or our daughter was my photo assistant that day.
I guess my background as a minister and social worker helps me put women who have never disrobed for anyone but their husband and doctor feel more comfortable. So, as I always did with clients like this I began with fully clothed portraits. Now this was before the days of digital, so it was money out of my pocket when I shot a full roll that I knew was not going to be used. But, as I expected it would, buy the time she was fully nude she was as comfortable as a lifelong nudist.
Like in this artwork, once I was done, she just sat and talked fully unclothed for a good while. I can’t imagine that she couldn’t tell I was done. She was not the only client who I finally had to tell to put on her clothes. I think my clients find the liberation of nudity and the excuse to practice it, at least in my studio.
Sadly I suspect that few (if any) of the women who went nude in my home studio, or out in the state park where I liked to do location shots really grasped the idea that they could indeed go nude in certain places without an “excuse.” If they did, they would at that moment, become nudist.
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