July 21, 2012

You don't need clothes for taekwondo

Black belt

As you can see from this photo, Tie-dye Brother-in-law is a Taekwondo Black Belt. Well, I guess he’s not actually wearing his black belt in the photo. For that matter, he’s not wearing his usual tie-dye either. It’s funny how much of a person’s identity can be tied into their clothing.

I needed a man to pose for Naked Photo Week, and my brother-in-law volunteered. Well, maybe he didn’t exactly volunteer. We’d all gone out to the island for a swim, and he was practicing some taekwondo moves. I liked how his silhouette looked against the summer sky, and it struck me instantly that it would make a good photo. When I said, “Hey, take off your clothes so I  can take a naked shot,” he obliged. He's awfully obliging when it comes to things like that.

Usually, I try to take naked photos discreetly, in private spots where no one will see us. This was not one of those spots. The river was filled with tourists zooming by in rented boats.

But it’s rare for men to pose for me so I had to take advantage of my brother-in-law’s willingness. My blog is the number three google hit for “photos of naked middle-aged women” but if you google “photos of naked middle-aged men,” I’m not even in the top ten. The Onion is higher than me! And if you’ve read the Onion, you know that they do not take naked photos seriously.

I’m not sure what “middle-aged” even means, but all my photographic subjects this week have been over the age of 50. I guess that means we’re planning to live to be at least 100. I’ve heard that posing naked extends your life. Or at least the quality of it. That’s what I tell my friends. And relatives.

(Readers who want the history of the naked photo tradition can check it out here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and  here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great shot! And your middle-aged volunteers all look pretty damn good to me.

H.

Heidi said...

Yay! The tradition continues! Is this the same brother-in-law that you took jumping off a cliff a few summers ago?

Lawncare Man said...

i think this is an okay picture. :-) i think i deserve a 2nd chance.... keep them coming.

jo(e) said...

Heidi: Yep, same brother-in-law.

jo(e) said...

Lawncare Man: Hey, you should pose for me Labor Day .... That could put me in the number one google slot for photos of naked middle-aged men.

Jeff said...

Brother-in-law has an impressive tan line going on there. Cool photo of him natural yet removed from his identifying clothing.

Lawncare Man said...

That's a good idea.. I'm game. Except I'm not a middle aged man. Lol

Zhoen said...

Endearing.

I always thought of middle age as between being early adulthood - the peak of life with reproduction and growing career sorts of things - and old age. Between them is the time of middle age, when we have some time to think and savor.

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

LOL! What a riot! :-D How fun! And a nice photo, to boot.