One evening, as I was having a drink at the Roto Bar, a small wine bar where many exhibitions take place, I chanced upon the preview of “Who’s that nude in your living room?”. Photographs of nude models are displayed on every wall. My friends who have arrived earlier tell me about the concept: anyone can ask to be a model and the photographer takes everyone!
The idea appeals to me: being shot nude has always been something that I wanted to do but not in any surroundings, and not by paying for the sitting. After a few drinks, off I go to speak to Idan the photographer, to ask him for further details: how does exactly a sitting go off? How long does it last? It’s one thing to feel like doing it, it’s another one to take action!
A friend of mine then suggests that we go together… After some talking, we end up mutually convinced… Impossible to draw back once the appointment has been made!
Having arrived early for the appointment, I can hardly bear the pressure and the stage fright! The need to leave is overwhelming! But, at last, Idan shows up. We chat. He does his best to make me feel at ease, which is not an easy task! And yet a few minutes later, naked on the black background, I already feel better! Since I am there stark naked, it’s just as well to let myself go! The photographer ‘s good mood also helps a lot!
On leaving, I feel anxious again: which photo will he choose? I like one particularly… But now, I am no longer in control of the situation! And the wait begins… with all the ensuing questions: why have I done it? How will the photo come out? What shall I look like? Aware that the artistic approach is not focused on my personal aesthetics, I have difficulty putting my mind at rest.
The photo arrives at last! I am glad! Relieved! I like it and the wait is over! What I am most proud of is that I dared doing it!
Since then, I have shown the photo to a few very close friends and to some members of my family… Somehow as if I was disclosing one of my dearest secrets… The reactions are positive and sometimes also inquiring: “You dared do it? I don’t think I will! I wish I could but I’ll never make it!…”
Then to all those who hesitate, it’s not that easy but in the end it proves to be just so good! Go for it!

That shooting was both a psychological challenge and a real adventure for me. When I got in touch with Idan for the first time, we agreed upon a date, which couldn’t be changed as I was living abroad. The thought of the sitting titillated me and made me laugh. I took it for a game and above all for an opportunity to keep a beautiful image of me in my younger years in view of my older ones. But the sitting proved to be more intensely emotional as it happened to take place at the same time as an unexpected break-up. I didn’t wish to put off the shooting and I went all the same. Every minute was a fight. After a few photos as we were talking of this and that, the photographer suddenly put down his camera and said: “There’s something wrong, I can feel it: you’re not embarrassed by your being naked but something holds you back.”Then I told him everything. My love affair, my life, and how turbulent and helpless I felt. On a mutual agreement, he kept taking pictures, while I was talking of my intimate life to a stranger. And that was magic. The photos were more beautiful and stronger. I felt they meant more. Their intensity appeared to be ten times as much. They showed more mildness, more reflection, and more power in the expression. Once the shooting was over we noted a real progress in the shots. I found myself really beautiful in some photos. Facing one’s own image, one’s “self” and making the right decisions to move forward. Despite being naked and vulnerable one can tackle one’s problems head-on with an iron hand in a velvet glove and move forward.
That’s what I’ll retain from the shooting and I’ll never thank Idan enough.

I’ve been wanting to pose for a long time, and as soon as I learned about the project, I jumped occasionally. In addition, the initial concept: “Bare the world to look differently” I liked from the start. Indeed, exposing the world allows one to see what it is, effectively, and not in a fantasized or distorted manner.  It also allows you to accept and respect others in all their diversity and ultimately to accept and respect yourself.

The pose session allowed me to discover what the work of photographer in the studio really is and I realized that it needs a great capacity to adapt to the model,especially to know what he would like to do and to make him comfortable, as well as the imagination to offer him suitable poses. During the session, I immediately felt confident and found that time passed very quickly. I was surprised when the session was over. Then, the selection was made very quickly, thanks mainly to the very trained eye of Idan who immediately perceives the photos that are better the ones that stand out. Very quickly we arrived at the five remaining photos. I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

Once Idan’s photo was uploaded to the site, I advised a few close friends and family to go see it and find out about the others. The reactions, when I talk about this, are quite mixed because as soon as we talk about nudity, most people physically “retract”, as if they were going into their shell. Some of them wanted to go pose but I don’t think they went through with the process and I don’t know if some of them wanted to buy it. For my part, I acquired several photographs, in addition to mine.

I discovered the project “Who’s That Nude in Your Living Room?” on Facebook. It immediately appealed to me. I felt like posing straightaway. Sitting nude was an idea I already had for a long time. As I discovered the project I found at last a step that met with my expectations: it is artistic, in no way vulgar and the pictures are beautiful, sober and simple; that was exactly what I was looking for. In spite of that craving, it took me over a year to make the appointment. It was a real personal challenge but I wanted to see a picture of me, as an anonymous individual, sublimated by the photographer’s eye. I wished I had sat on the red background but I should have had to wait longer and as far as I was concerned, it was “now or never”.
The most difficult thing I had to do during the shooting was to strip naked in front of another man, even if nakedness is generally not a problem for me when it is in front of a woman. Stripping off in front of a man is more embarrassing… indeed it was weird.
As minutes went by, I began to feel better, even at ease. The photographer is very clever at soothing people: I eventually came to feel like a star, which was very pleasant. When the photographer told me that only two or three shots remained to be made, I was disappointed and wouldn’t stop. It’s rather flattering to be made feel like a star: you wish the shooting to go on.
Then comes the time to view the shots: I can’t recognize myself. I would have liked to discard them all. Thank God the final choice is the photographer’s. I am quite reassured now. I like the photo he selected. There is something out of touch and a little pinup-like about it.
Nobody knows except my wife. I haven’t said a word about it to either my friends or my colleagues. I don’t dare. I fear somebody might come upon the photo and I don’t know if I could take up my nakedness and the sitting in front of them.
I got a lot from that experience: it has changed my relation to my body and my look at it. Now I want to look after it, to grow more attractive, to take care of it so that I could renew that experience and sit nude again.
If I were to retain two things from that shooting it would be first the photographer’s gift to put people at ease: it was so awkward for me that on my way to the studio I had thought of turning back. And the second thing would be that on a more personal level, I learnt to like myself and to look at me differently.

Image is one thing. Speech is another. Besides, I like that my photography speaks for itself, without words.

I have a feeling that telling my story breaks anonymity.

I don’t want anyone to know what state of mind I was in, nor why, nor what I learned from this experience, or even if I lived it as an experience.

I want people to look at the work for what it is, ask questions, see me the way they want to see me, lending me all kinds of feelings and thoughts.

When the session ended, I  took a step back: I did not pay as much attention to the model represented as to the photographic work itself and what emerged from it.

To be beautiful, works must be able to be beautiful outside of a context and a story, or only those that everyone is free to lend them, to imagine.  (??)

That’s why I won’t tell.

I was surfing on the net when I came across a link to the website of Nude In the Living Room, I clicked and I discovered the project. I found this approach, as unusual as honest, very interesting because it is unlike anything you can find when it comes to artistic nude. The people represented are, like you and me, everyday people. So I decided to take the plunge to try the experiment.

And what an experience! It was very special for me. Until then, I had never liked my image, I did not look beautiful … But after seeing the photographs, my look changed. I discovered myself from a new angle, and I never thought I could say it, or even think it … But I found myself beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised and satisfied with the result. The hardest part of this photo session was not modesty but the distance: I came from the south of France to pose!

During the shoot, I felt extremely comfortable. Everything went very well, I did not encounter any particular problem with nudity. I was very calm, the photographer doing his best to put his models confortable.

Before I started sitting I was excited for two reasons I felt both impatient and rather anxious. As a matter of fact, it was the first time I had posed nude. As Idan took some time to explain what would happen during the sitting I became less tense.
Some extra help came from the previous model who was still there to cheer me on and support me. During the shooting I gave myself over completely, without any scruples, only bearing in mind that it was all art… Nakedness no longer mattered, it was part of the game. Some female friends have seen my photo. They thought it was fine. One of them feels like posing with her husband. I try to convince them to sit alone as the project only concerns individuals and not couples.

I discovered Idan’s project on social media; and he immediately won me over. I have always had an interest in collaborative projects, those that take the art out of a seraglio reserved for an elite and offer it to everyone. (I am a youth librarian, and nothing is better for example for kids than meeting authors, illustrators, creators of exhibitions; it’s not a waste of time!); In addition to a meeting with an artist, this project fought against all the stereotypes of our time on the body (Each time has its own). I’m a tattooed woman in the 50’s, and like others in this case, I encountered some prejudices.

And then I love the bodies! I find people beautiful… say like that, it can be strange, but I find that there is a beauty in everyone, each…

This project therefore had everything it needed for me to join it … yet it took me a while to book an appointment. Despite everything I just said, I wasn’t sure if my body was “interesting”…

The day of the session, it was a terrible heat. Advantage: I was suddenly rather nonchalant and relaxed… And Idan also has the gift of making you feel comfortable with ease. The photos in the living room finished convincing me that I was in the right place!

To undress and get out from behind the fitting room was a formality. I had already experienced several nudity occasions, from naturism to others more intimate…

On the other hand, the session was a real novelty! I had never asked myself: I am not flexible, at all, I had absolute confirmation and fun…

My real shock was when the photos were sorted: I saw myself beautiful! Yes beautiful “. Idan’s photos had caught something I didn’t know: a unit that has become even more obvious to me since.

In addition to the photo to which participation in the project gives entitlement, I took 2 other papers… and above all, since then, I have added two others from two strangers. I am fully aware that I may regularly expand my small collection. Besides, this desire there particularly pleased me!

I do not know you, you do not know me… Who am I? You will not know! Yet you can see me, see my body better than to see how many people they know me by heart… Maybe even I will finish on the wall of your living room! This perspective is curious, but far from being unpleasant, it would be rather exhilarating… This prompted me to come and participate and pose nude for the art project.
What you should know about me? I am someone who has not booked a habit of showing off. Yet being naked in front of Idan and be naked in front of you causes me no gene… Is to be included in a project highlighting dozens of completely different models to profiles that prevents to feel intimidated, I am an anonymous and more importantly an anonymous among many others. Paradoxically this is extremely pleasing on the contrary to feel different from others thanks to the talent of the photographer who gives a soul to each photograph and make it unique!
The photo shoot itself is also an amazing moment: working with a professional photographer in a photo studio when you’re not a model is a very interesting experience! And in these circumstances I think the result is rewarding for each model can be a very nice picture of art which is not given to everyone.
Finally being very fond of photography I am particularly excited by this project in general. If I like some of course more than others, I enjoy every photo and my preferences do not necessarily go to the most attractive physical models demonstrating how the artistic dimension of a critical triumph of the silhouette of the models.

At the end of the afternoon, I went on Facebook. “Nude In The Living Room”, a bright red background that inevitably catches the eye, and this round and cheerful woman make an exhibition announcement impossible to miss!

The concept amuses me… I want to know more…. click click on the photographer’s website, he is online at the time I visit… we are chatting… the current is going well. I like the concept enormously, moreover as a photographer, the least of the things is that I am able to do for others what I ask my models … I do not hesitate a second more.

Appointment is made … I talk to my partner, who lets herself be tempted, even if her reluctance will grow as the appointment approaches (that’s another story) …

The contact with Idan is excellent. I usually don’t have any concerns with nudity, or for that first experience anyway…. The session takes place quickly, I let myself be guided and towards the end, I let go a little more…. Here. It’s over, it remains to choose the photo.

And after … well, I talked about it around me, even with my family, I advertise in Idan “because it’s worth it” J’ai… I fell for 3 photos, one unknown, that of my friend and mine…