Olympics - Part 19

 1924 Winter Olympics, Chamonix
George Mallory

The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France in January and February, 1924.  A gold medal in alpinism was awarded to the members of the team that had attempted to climb Mt. Everest in 1922, though the team was unsuccessful in reaching the summit.  One of the members of that team was George Mallory (1886-1924).

Above, one of a series of photos of Mallory by Vanessa Bell in 1912, long before his Everest attempt.

Mallory by Vanessa Bell, 1912.

Mallory by Vanessa Bell, 1912.

Mallory by Vanessa Bell, 1912.

Mallory by Vanessa Bell, 1912.

Above: a painting of George Mallory by Duncan Grant, 1913.

We end with a photo of three members of the 1922 Everest expedition.  From left: Howard Somervell, Arthur Wakefield, and George Mallory.  Are you starting to get the idea that Mallory liked to be naked?

In 1924, after the Winter Olympics, Mallory was on the British team that attempted Everest again.  George Mallory and Andrew Irvine died attempting to reach the summit.  They were last seen about 800 feet below the summit, and then they disappeared and never returned to camp.  To this day there is debate about whether they might have reached the summit before their demise.  In other words, could George Mallory have been the first man to reach the summit of Everest?  We will never know.  

Mallory's body was finally found on Everest in 1999.  Supposedly Mallory had been carrying a photo of his wife Ruth that he intended to leave on the summit of Everest, and the photo was not found on his body.  Does that mean that he left it on the summit?  Maybe, but it's not proof that he was there.

The first verified climber to reach the summit of Mt. Everest was Edmund Hillary in 1953.

Performers - Part 85

Jesse Rutherford

Jesse Rutherford, born in 1991, is an American singer, songwriter and former actor.  He is the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band The Neighborhood.  This photo was taken early in his career, before he was covered with tattoos.

A rear view with only one tattoo.

A later shot, with his chest and arms covered with tattoos.

A butt shot.

We end with a video clip of him pissing, which he obviously arranged and approved.

Photographers - Part 85

 Dylan Rosser

Dylan Rosser, above, is a physique photographer specializing in the nude male.  He currently lives in London but often shoots in New York and Los Angeles.

His website is careful to only show rear nudity, not frontal.  This is Matt, photographed for The Male Form in 2011.

Christopher, The Male Form, 2011.

But Rosser also photographs plenty of frontal views.  Liam, The Male Form, 2011.

Ray, The Male Form, 2011.

And other websites have no restrictions on showing his frontal views.  This is Bryan Slater, 2012.

Dmitry Strigun, 2023.

Unidentified model, 2023.

Unidentified model, 2023.

Rosser has published several books of nude photos.  One of his books is titled Full Frontal.  Above is a promotional clip for another book, Penis Portraits.

We close with a gif that I made from another promotional clip.

Calendars - Part 86

Warwick Rowers 2019 Bonus

Since 2009, the rowing team of the University of Warwick in Warwick, England has put out a nude calendar to fight homophobia and promote inclusivity in sport, regardless of sex, race or gender identity.

The calendar photos feature rear nudity but conceal frontal nudity.

But the 2019 calendar also included a set of bonus photos that were less restrictive, and today we look at some of them.

Many of these photos were taken on a train.  Above, the train had a passageway on one side.

Looking from the passageway into a sleeping compartment, where two students are reading.

Reading The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins and Capitalism by John Plender.  The latter sounds like it was assigned for a course.

Another reader on the train, reading Machiavelli's The Prince, probably also for a course.

Brushing his teeth without water or a basin?

"Hello, there.  Can I join you?"

"Yes.  Please share my bed."

The quartet of students we have seen so far.

Two other students were shown outdoors, waving Warwick banners ...

and later, they were also bedmates on the train.

Protests - Part 85

Tyagarah Nude Beach Closure

For decades, Tyagarah Beach on Byron Bay, a bit south of Brisbane, Australia, was a legal nude beach.  The Byron Shire Council approved the nude beach status in 1998.  Above, tanning at Tyagarah.

But in 2024, the Nation Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of New South Wales determined that the area was under their jurisdiction, and determined to revoke the clothing-optional status after receiving complaints from some residents about lewd behavior on the beach.

Above, a group of naturists meets on the beach to hold a rally to protest the closure of the nude beach status.

Here's a group of protesters with some signs, including "Nude not Lewd" and "Byron Bay, not Byron Beige", apparently equating the requirement for swimsuits with dullness (beige).  Note the guy on the right is not concealed by a sign.

The same signs, but a different group of protesters using them.  The previous group was 3 men and 6 women; this group is 7 men and one woman giving us a rear view.

"Nude not Lewd" and "Friend not Enemy" say the slogans painted on the backs of these protesters.

Another group of protesters, with a couple of guys not hidden behind signs.

Two more protesters with signs.

We end with these protesters not concealed behind their signs.

The protests were not effective.  The beach ceased to be clothing-optional in August, 2024.

Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 64

Ivy League Posture Photos

Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems.  The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes.  The Yale program predates Sheldon, and, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos were never connected to Sheldon's work.

Here are posture photos of five more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire. 

This is Yale freshman Richard O. Jones on Oct. 7, 1953.

In 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to photograph the front, rear, side and top view.

This is Yale freshman A. R. on Feb. 25, 1947.

Photos taken before the fall of 1952 show only a side view.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.  The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.

This is Yale freshman John Robert Davy on Jan. 12, 1951.

Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.  If posture problems were detected, the student had to attend remedial posture sessions, and a second posture photo was taken.

This is Yale freshman Jerome Wayne Dougan on Feb. 5, 1951.

The photography and analysis of the photos was conducted by the staff of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium.  Nobody outside the gymnasium staff saw the photos.  The photos were not published for other students to see.

This is Yale freshman W. D. on Feb. 15, 1951.

The posture photo program was discontinued in the 1960s, and later, most of the photos were burned.  However, some of the photos escaped burning, including the photos that I have been showing in this series.

*          *          *

Note: some of my followers consider these photos an invasion of privacy for the students.  To protect the privacy of the students, I redact the names of students who may still be alive.  I only publish the names of students who have died.  Legally, the right to privacy does not extend beyond death, i.e. it does not extend to spouses and relatives of the deceased person.

I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time.  Almost all of the Ivy League posture photos were burned when their existence became widely known.  In my opinion, that was akin to book-burning of books that someone claimed were obscene.  These photos are not obscene.  They should be celebrated, not hidden away.

Bodybuilders - Part 24

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