In this modern world of Miley Cyrus and Snapchat, posing for a nude photo is about the least surprising thing you can do.
So a Utah based photographer, Trevor Christiansen, has decided to put a fresh spin on the concept. Instead of the people he’s photographing being starkers – it’s him standing there in the buff. What’s the point in that? Well, Christiansen says that he wants to make his subjects feel more at ease by making himself the vulnerable one.
‘The project first started as a way to get a laugh,’ he told Mashable. ‘I figured the joke was maybe that I was a little bit of a hapless photographer.’
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So far six people have posed for photos – all of them good friends of Christiansen (although maybe not quite good enough to have seen him naked before, judging by some of the reactions). The resulting pictures veer between hilarity, bemusement and not all that bothered, really.
Luckily for Christiansen, none of them appear to look too horrified.
Explaining more about what led him to do the project on his website, he says: ‘When I guide subjects through the process of making their photo, I seek to create a calm, comfortable environment where they can be at ease in front of the camera. Despite my best efforts, subjects often feel a sense of vulnerability during the process. No matter the scenario, this power imbalance seems like an almost inescapable part of the experience.
‘Nude Portraits is about levelling the playing field in an unorthodox way. Instead of focusing on bringing the subject to a place of ease, where I am, this project brings me to a place of their vulnerability.’
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He’s now on the hunt for more people to take part in the project and is planning to arrange sessions in other cities including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Judging by these pictures, you might actually have quite a lot of fun.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.