Jason and I have been friends for about 5 years now. We met when we were both RAs at the University of Oregon. We lived and worked together in Walton Complex. We would spend hours in the programming office creating posters and planning events. We lived together Junior and Senior year, basically sharing a bedroom in our second house. We're close. We're naked friends. Friends who have seen each other naked and furthermore...don't really think about it. We used to get dressed together, picking outfits and trying to figure out how many layers Jason needed to wear to the bar to ensure that at least one of them remained on his body at the end of the night. We're moving in together again in the coming months and I'm so excited.
Anyway, when Ricci asked me if I was okay with being topless in the photographs, I said yes. When she asked Jason to derobe, he didn't even think about it. We're so comfortable with each other that it just doesn't matter.
Besides being comfortable with Jason, it's a pretty great feeling to be confident enough to allow Ricci to photograph and post mostly naked photos of me for strangers to look at. Everyone has things about their body that they don't like but for the most part I love mine and it was refreshing to realize just how happy I am in my own skin. It was an empowering experience.
My family are all on facebook now. When Ricci posted a sample from our shoot, my father, uncles and grandmother saw it. Embarrassed isn't quite the word, but it's a little uncomfortable knowing that folks who have wiped your ass are seeing those photographs. And Ricci plans on displaying this series in a gallery. I don't know if Jason and I will make the cut but if we do, we'll be giant and mostly naked on a big white wall.
This is my favorite photograph that she took. It's actually an outtake.
More of our photos and the rest of the series are here.
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