Back in 2004 I was working as IT and creative support at an advertising agency in London. Like most of the others there I was freelance, and we largely set our own schedules as to what days we worked for the agency and what days we worked on other projects or took time off. Because of this slightly weird arrangement it was not unusual for half the office to disappear for part of the week, and we would often talk about what random things we got up to when we were not there.

One Wednesday afternoon I was sitting at Miriam’s desk trying to get something working properly on her computer (probably a printer – they never worked) and we got talking about what we were doing for the next couple of days. I had no particular plans, but Miriam – an Italian girl on the sales team – said that she would be spending the time life-modelling for an art group. Apparently she had modelled for them several times before, but this time would be a little different as it was a workshop over two days, and although each session would be short there would be a lot of them back-to-back.

At the time I had no idea what this sort of modelling involved, so I asked if she got bored just sitting there or if there was much interaction. She told me that the group were usually quite talkative, but that it was better for the longer sessions if there was someone around that she knew and could talk to about things other than just the art. Then half jokingly (I assumed) she added “You should join me. Then I’ll have someone to talk to.”

Thinking she meant for me to be there to join in with the drawing group for support I replied with something like “That sounds fun. Although if you’re expecting me to draw I should warn you now that I’m not very good.” But she shook her head.

“I meant as a model,” she said, adding that the group has asked her a few times if she had anyone she could bring along, and as I had mentioned before about going to nude beaches she assumed that the getting naked aspect would not be a problem. Miriam assured me that the group would be more than happy to have both of us for the extended workshop, and so I said yes. No hesitation, no questions. Because honestly that sounded like a lot of fun.

The next morning we met at a coffee shop shop near Golden Square, and we walked a few streets down the road to an old house in the middle of one of those Victorian terraces. Don’t ask me where it was as I really cannot remember, but it was a very deceptive building as inside it was a lot larger than it appeared to be from the road.

We went up the stairs and into a spacious room where the artists were gathering ready for the start of the day. Their chairs were in a circle around the edge and most of them had set up easels or small tables to work at. In the middle were a couple of chairs, some cushions, and that was about it, although we found out later that there were a lot more props tucked away in a back room.

Miriam introduced me to the workshop leader, we waved at the artists, then we were shown to a room at the side where we stripped off and put on lightweight dressing gowns provided by the host. It is worth mentioning that we had not seen each other naked before that point, and we took a light hearted moment to check each other out before putting on the gowns. I remember Miriam getting me to turn around slowly so she could see all sides of me and I got her to do the same, and then we had the slightly more serious chat about what our contact limits were and what holds, positions, or actions would be outside our respective comfort zones. Fortunately we felt the same way, and we agreed that physical contact anywhere (and we were very clear that ‘anywhere’ really did mean ‘anywhere’ so there would be no confusion later) between us would not be a problem, and as the group already had a “nothing sexual” policy for both their artists and their models we were happy with anything the team were likely to want us to do. So loosely tying the robes around us we went back out into the art room.

Once there the host told everyone how the day was going to work and that we would start off with a couple of 5 minute poses just to warm up, then the gowns came off and we got to it. The group were lovely, talking to us throughout and telling us what they were doing and what they were emphasising or concentrating on, and we would try to help by giving them specifics to work with if they asked.

At first the host would bring over the gowns between each session so we could cover up, but as the day progressed we were putting them on less and less. By the evening we were no longer bothering, and on the second day I don’t think we wore them even once. We stripped off at the start, and only got dressed when it was time to go home. It just felt more natural like that.

Over the two days there we modelled together, did individual poses, worked with some large wooden cubes that we sat on or leaned against, sprawled all over each other on fluffy rugs, and generally did whatever came to mind or whatever the artists wanted. It was a bit crazy, lots of fun, and something I will never forget. The longer poses were the most challenging and we had to be careful that we didn’t start something that we would be unable to hold for the full 20+ minutes, but even the shorter ones sometimes needed a bit of thought, as when you are intertwined with another person your balance becomes linked to theirs, and the slightest wobble by either of you can end in chaos. Had I been dancing back then I may have had a better idea of how that worked and been able to come up with poses that we could have held together for longer, but it was only many years later that I started tango and so we just worked it out as best we could.

I remember the host taking a few photos of us modelling and talking to the artists, but I have no idea what happened to them. I also remember snapping a few shots of some of the artists’ sketches, but they were lost when my phone eventually died (no cloud backup back then of course!) so I have no physical record of those two days. This is slightly annoying, but honestly no photo could really do justice to the fun and feeling of pure creativity we had, so maybe it’s no bad thing the images are lost.

We said that we would do it again the next time they had a session, but with ironically annoying timing Miriam got a better job offer the following week from an agency in France, and only about a month later she moved away. We stayed in touch for a while, but after that I only saw her when we met up at Cannes, and we never modelled together again.

Since then I have ended up naked for artists, photographers, and other creatives on a number of occasions. I have been asked to stand in for missing models, been sketched by informal groups at nude beaches, and done a few more life sessions with small art groups. I have even ended up naked on shoots where I was the photographer, as a couple of times the model has said “Get your clothes off and join me. If I’m going to be naked out here then so are you!” and then she has ended up photographing me as much as I was photographing her. Some have been silly, some serious, but all were very fulfilling experiences.

If you get a chance to try it, give it a go. I definitely want to do it again, so if you run a group in the NW Kent area and are looking for a model then get in touch.