Naked on a sand dune
Of all the places I never thought I’d be photographed, sand dunes, were nowhere near on the top of my list. I am fair-skinned and I avoid the sun because of this. Nevertheless, there we were, Marina and I, hiking in full makeup to the Moreton Island dunes in the late afternoon for a boudoir shoot outdoors.
I was covered head to toe in SPF 50 and ready to try something I had never done before: open-air public nudity. Now, I have done a few shoots with Marina before, each a little more out of my comfort zone than the last, but this was going to be big! The dunes are a tourist attraction so we found a spot away from people to begin of our photographic journey. As the sun started to lower itself we began to hike up the dunes further as the tourist busses left for the evening. I was still nervous about being fully nude out in the open but the isolation helped and the vastness of the dunes proved privacy. I was simply a tiny spot in the distance.
The wind picked up and we played with fabric and shapes to create what can only be described as magic! I was elated at finally having enough bravery to just be present in the moment and enjoy the nature around me.
The next morning we arose at 4 am to get the first light of the day (without people around) on the dunes once more. The wind had carved its way across the dunes and dreaded all traces of the visitors from the day before. We hiked to the crest of the dune and Marina asked me to lay across the crest and enjoy the sand. It was cool and comforting, even when naked! I felt like I could’ve slept there and finally realised how important being connected to the earth really is.
Afterwards, Marina and I discussed our adventure and I expressed how I initially didn’t want to lay on the pristine sand, it was perfect as it was and I didn’t want to ruin it. It was then that I realised how disconnected we are from nature.
Humans ARE part of nature and we’ve forgotten this through our reliance on technology and material things. We then discussed in length how our bodies, just like the sand dunes, are not fixed. They don't stay in one form forever. So are we. We grow. We change with our environment. We get bigger and we get smaller. We age and crumble, but like the dunes, we are still magnificent in all of our phases. We are not static.
