October 11, 2012

Those long, elegant legs

Long legs

“I’ll pose for you,” said Dancing Woman. “But I’m not going outside naked.” Her concern, it turned out, wasn’t the neighboring camps or the cars that sometimes drove slowly past, but the cold breeze blowing off the lake. The obligations of friendship apparently do not include setting your bare butt on wet ground on a cold fall day.

“How about the red chair by the fireplace?” she asked. It was probably the warmest spot in the house.

I nodded. “Sure. We can turn it toward the window to get some natural light.”

Dancing Woman stripped off her clothes, tossed them aside, and sat down in the chair. None of my other friends even looked up. Signing Woman went on reading her book, and Long Beautiful Hair wandered back into the kitchen for another cup of tea. Denim Woman, coming down the stairs, didn’t even look surprised to find a naked woman sitting by the fire.

In deference to Signing Woman’s family, who own the house we were staying in, I moved the photos behind the red chair. I wasn’t sure if any of her ancestors, with their stern black-and-white faces, would like to be included in the naked photo. She comes from an amazing family of missionaries and Sunday school teachers, physicians and academics and ministers. I suspect many of them would be most happy to participate in my project. I mean, really, who in the world wouldn’t want to be in a naked photo and get that fifteen minutes of internet fame? But my own rules include asking folks permission before I include them, and that was impossible since the people in the photos are dead. I certainly didn't want to take advantage of dead people.

“Put your legs up,” I said as I looked through the camera, “I want them in the picture.”

Pretty much every woman in the room looked up then to chime and say how much they loved Dancing Woman’s legs. That’s the fun part of taking a naked photo in a room full of women friends: they all start saying things about how beautiful you are. That part of this project never gets old.

For the history of the naked blog photo project, go to this page and click on each photo, beginning with the first. Each photo has a link that will bring you back to a post on this blog that tells the story of how the photo was taken.

10 comments:

fairbetty said...

These posts always make me smile... and want to pose naked for you...

jo(e) said...

Elisabeth: Hey, I think I might be coming out your way next June -- we could make that happen!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! And I love that you now have a link to the whole set of photos.

HT

fairbetty said...

I'm totally down with that!

fairbetty said...

BTW, you do know I'm in CT now... not CA, yes?

jo(e) said...

Oh, wait. It turns out I'm completely wrong about where you are.

Cindy said...

Lovely!

Barefoot Doctoral said...

You make me long for the days when I shared houses with friends in clothing optional situations. I love the fact that you do this.

Mary Beth said...

Your friends all sound wonderful. And clearly, they are beautiful as well.

YourFireAnt said...

Haven't read you in awhile. It was nice to come upon this lovely scene first time back.

T.