Would You Pose Naked for Me?

A photographic journey through my first experience taking nude photos of friends

“Would you pose naked for me?”

If you had told me three years ago that this question would be popping out of my mouth on a regular basis, I wouldn’t have believed you. But now, it’s a request I make to all of my friends who know I have started taking nude portraits of myself.

The typical answer, I’m sorry to say, is “Maybe someday. But that sounds too scary right now.”

Don’t get me wrong — I get it. Being nude in front of a friend is not necessarily on the menu of “normal behavior” in this culture. And not only that, but agreeing to have your photograph taken while nude? That is scary for so many reasons.

As a photographer, however, who has already worked my way through this part of the process — getting naked in front of the camera and sharing those photos on the internet — I am impatient to find models. I love taking photos of myself, but I want to expand my skill set, as well as the variety of tableaus I can create. In other words, I’m interested in far more landscapes than just the one provided by my own body.

I want to take photos of other women and showcase their unique beauty. I want to take photos of groups of women that celebrate womanhood, the female body, and the lineage of the Feminine. And yes, I also want to take photos of men and showcase their bodies and journeys on the road of manhood.

From behind the lens, I’m insatiable. I want it all.

So you can imagine my overwhelming joy when my friends, Edward and Veronica Riley, came to visit me over Labor Day Weekend, and their answer to this constantly echoing question was: yes.

A lot of people in my life think my interest in nude photography is weird — pervy, even. It seems a little “porn-y,” some have told me.

I’m not surprised to hear that — we’ve been taught that women’s bodies are scandalous. That yes, our naked bodies are pornographic, even if we’re just standing with our arms at our sides. You know…existing.

So of course a lot of women in my life are concerned about the moral implications of posing for — or taking — nude photographs. That’s perfectly reasonable in light of what we’ve been taught in this patriarchal society.

But I am on a mission. I refuse to let this culture treat me like a sexual object that needs to be controlled, censored, and manipulated. I have a body. I’m trying to believe that it is beautiful, like all bodies. There is nothing perverse or illicit about it (despite what Instagram has to say).

And I believe we can all exist in our bodies without having to define them or experience them as exclusively sexual.

Thankfully, my friends the Rileys agree with me.

We had already decided to practice seeing our bodies as beautiful and normal and not-necessarily-sexual by exchanging nude photographs between the three of us before their visit. That was a new level of growth for me because these photos weren’t about being artistic. They were supposed to be just ordinary photographs of us in everyday life. But you know…naked.

I stopped feeling pressure to make my body conform to certain artistic standards. I didn’t need to move my neck here or my leg there. I just turned on the timer on my iPhone camera and let it click away.

At the receiving end, I admired photos of Edward and Veronica that were stunning stories of their lives and personalities all wrapped into one image (which is why I love photography so much). Just like me, they were ordinary people. Just like me, they didn’t have bodies that looked like they came out of a magazine.

And I found them both to be incredibly beautiful. More beautiful than those magazine bodies. Which made me love my own imperfect body all the more.

Goddess in a hot spring. That’s the first thought that crossed my mind when I saw Veronica lean back on her hands in the water, her knees bent. The curves and lines of her body were accentuated by the light and the water.

There is little that I find as beautiful as the female body. A forest, perhaps, the mountains… But all those nature scenes that I so adore are all representations of the female body, now, aren’t they?

I couldn’t stop snapping photos of her.

I was also entranced by Edward’s joy and fulfillment. It was palpable. The camera ate it up.

If this was the start of our creative journey, I couldn’t wait for the rest.

The next day, we met at my house so we could get some shots in my studio. It’s a very small space and the lens I wanted to use is equally tight, so I wasn’t sure it would work out well.

However, the limits we faced with space gave me just what I wanted: an extremely intimate environment where I was able to capture super tight shots of the Rileys in beautiful embraces. My hope was to give them an anniversary present they would never forget as well as to teach myself to create beautiful lines and arrangements with not just one body, but two.

And I think (hope) I achieved both goals.

Before the trip had even begun, I was most excited about the outdoor photo shoot I had arranged at my mother’s property, where I take most of my own photos for my website and newsletter. It is very hard to create self-portraits that I truly love out in the woods because I cannot actively engage with the light or make small adjustments to the composition in real time. I have to take a set of photos with my automatic shutter then review them and try to reposition myself according to what I’m seeing in the previous photos.

I thought it would be a lot easier to capture better shots when I didn’t have to worry about being the model and the photographer — but I was wrong. I found this to be the most difficult photo shoot out of all of them. I struggled to get into good positions (and almost fell ass-over-teakettle down a steep hill) and to capture the full glory of my beautiful model in the shifting landscapes and lighting.

But it inspired me in other ways to see my friends so bravely forging across this high desert forest completely naked. Their willingness to be real, to be courageous, and to pursue this calling the three of us had together was overwhelmingly inspiring.

On the last day of our visit together, I met them at their hotel room for breakfast and our last photo shoot. The light coming through that window was holy. (If you’re a photographer, you’ll understand that.)

Once again, I was struck by how open and brave the Rileys were, ready to try just about anything. I think we captured some of the most stunning images of the entire weekend there — some I wouldn't even ask them to share because the way they are looking at each other is so intimate. Those images, tame as they are from the neck down, don’t belong in the public eye.

This photo shoot was also special to me because I had the chance to be on both sides of the lens. I was most excited to get some shots with Veronica. My only discomfort in posing for those photos was worrying that she might think I was too close, too “in her bubble.” We were naked, after all. I look back on those photos and realize I look quite stiff because I was distracted by those feelings. All I can say is: I look forward to future photo shoots because I think I’ll be less worried about that and more able to relax into whatever poses we decide upon.

The most fun, perhaps, were the photos we all took together. What an absolute joy. My all-time favorite is our “pile” shot, one Edward calls our “album cover,” which was Veronica’s brilliant idea. I absolutely adore how that shot came out. (You can see it in Edward’s story.)

What I remember most about those shots was the feeling of awe that I was sitting on a bed with my two friends, all of us naked, hugging, lying on each other, and laughing. I kept thinking to myself, “This is your life! How lucky are you?”

The hardest part of that morning, however, was modeling by myself. I hated it. I usually do hate being in front of the camera, even for my self-portraits. It’s not easy to feel comfortable on that end of the lens.

It didn’t bother me that not one, but two people were watching me — in fact, because it was Edward and Veronica, it actually helped to have them both there. Veronica helped me come up with some poses and is responsible for styling my most favorite portrait from that entire session (which I posted on Twitter if you want to scroll through and find it).

But still, I was surprised by how hard it was. I kept having to employ my “stress breathing techniques.” It’s apparent how uncomfortable I was based on the stiffness of my body in these photos.

Yet, I love them all the same because they recorded one of the most cherished moments of my life — a personal and creative peak shared with two dear friends.

And I can’t wait to exercise my courage muscles in future photo shoots and see how much more comfortable I can get.

It’s hard for me to express what this time meant to me. As a photographer, it made me feel like I’d hit a whole new level. It made me feel “real.” It made me believe that I really can grow and develop my photography career. I can’t even begin to put into words what that means to me.

And as a person…as someone who has felt ashamed of her body for most of her life…as someone who desperately wants to be seen by the world without being sexualized…yet also be appreciated for the sexual being that I am… Again. Words fail me.

This is one of the gifts of my friendship with the Rileys. They stepped into a space that I’ve been dreaming of, and showed me the way. Their bravery inspired my own.

What have I wanted all these years when I ask people to get naked for my camera? I want to be real with people. I want to see their realness. The vulnerability. The perfect imperfection.

That is, to me, the most beautiful thing about being human. And why I always have my camera ready to capture it.

© Yael Wolfe 2021

To read Edward’s version of this story and see more photos that are not featured here:

And for more on nudity and art: