Suits & Skins

'The interesting thing about coaching is that you have to trouble the comfortable, and comfort the troubled.'

When I was looking for images for my recent post spotlighting wrestling coaches, (Careers to Consider) I stumbled upon a few cmnm (clothed male/nude male) images from the locker room. I love cmnm shots, but am not really a big fan of how cmnm is currently captured, and the films and adult sites that focus on the theme.

Most of these sites ignore the main reason the theme and images are popular with many.  They're more interested in using it simply to get to sex.  For me, the theme is compelling not because of sex, but because it really has nothing to do with sex.  It's about visual contrast and most of all vulnerability.  Sure, many of the nude men may have an exhibitionist streak, and enjoy being seen, but that doesn't diminish how exposed they are with their clothed counterpart.

My favorite cmnm shots were older, vintage shots.  This series, features athletes with their couches and with sports reporters.  They were taken in by the pool, by the court, in the locker room before or after a game.  They were taken during a time when coaches and reporters wore suits and ties to work, a time before digital photography and before everyone had a camera phone of their own.

Most of these images were taken with the athletes feeling completely comfortable being naked in front of others, with little fear the images taken would ever be seen by many.  Some are stills from sports interviews, other just candid photos meant to be seen only by a few.

I remember playing hockey and other sports in the late 80's and early 90's.  No one worries when they walked around nude in the locker room, someone was going to pull out a camera.  Today, in addition to their undies and wallets, every athlete also shoves their phone in their locker before heading out on to the ice, on to the field, or into the ring.

With everyone having a camera, we certainly see a lot more nakedness overall, but in many ways, the quantity has in so many ways had an impact on quality.   There are certainly tons of nude locker room shots out there, but few quite capture a specific time, place and a specific innocence about nudity that these images do.  

There are a few other variations on this theme I'm hoping to explore, but it's quite hard finding just the right images.  So many are from adult sites and porn, and although some are quite hot, they're not really hat I'm looking for.  As far as I could tell from my research, I believe these shots are all authentic and taken 'in the moment' and not staged for a site.