Last weekend I photographed at the 14th Annual Philly Naked Bike Ride. Well, actually not the bike ride part of it. I got to Lemon Hill, the staging and body painting area and hung out for a while, then back home and on to Jersey for my grandson’s birthday party by dinner.
The exact staging location and route is kept Top Secret until 24 hours prior to the event, and because I certainly didn’t “have a need to know” I had to wait like everyone else until the day before to learn where I would be going. Very mysterious if you ask me!
It was an interesting experience to say the least! The two goals of the event are to promote body positivity and cycling as a major form of fuel alternative transportation. Great … I’m all for both! Milling around and schmoozing I learned about all sorts of things, like a nudist organization in Maryland and where to go for nudist dances in Delaware. And because my Plaubel Makina stuck out like a sore thumb I was asked by several participants to take their pictures, au naturale of course. While most of the naked cyclists had their cell phones, one actually had an a Nikkormat loaded with some type of 100 ASA film. I know this because he told me the meter didn’t work. No problem, I used my Pentax spot meter and proceeded to make his portrait. I saw one other person using a Rollei TLR, but all of the other non-participants photographing seemed to be standing afar with their DSLRs and LONG lenes. Lily-ivered voyeurs for sure!!
I have never been at an event like this before, but thankfully I wasn’t nervous at all. And unlike those with their bazooka lenses I wanted to get up close and make some interesting and non-gratuitous pictures. The Plaubel’s 80mm lens … which is equivalent to a 40mm on a 35mm camera … is perfect for this.
Good for Philadelphia for hosting this and thanks for to the weather that cooperated. I had a great time and a fascinating experience. A keeper will be the icing on the cake!
Stay well,
Michael