Brenton Parry Photography

Naturist photography has turned into a budding second career for the Sydney-based designer.

INTERVIEW: BRENTON PARRY

Nature or nurture? What, I asked Australian graphic designer and nude photographer Brenton Parry, have been the key influences on your life?

“I suppose I was born artistic,” he explains. “My interest in design and creating things started back in my school art class. Everyone else was throwing paint around and being reckless with their materials, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. My natural artistic style was always more graphic and precise. And once I took it up as a career, twenty years ago, I guess my serious side developed even further. Talk to my clients, and hopefully they will tell you that my attention to detail will ensure they get well thought-out design, and a professional end-product.

“Photography on the other hand is a passion instilled by my father, who gave me a camera identical to his own as a birthday gift when I was in high school. But whereas he loves taking landscape photos, I have always been drawn to photographing people. My forays into photography began with the male figure, and this has resulted in two solo gallery exhibitions, a third series launched on Twitter, and two group exhibitions. But that’s just the start!” he adds excitedly.

Sideline

Based in Sydney, Brenton’s ‘day job’ is still his graphic design business, including corporate identity, logos, stationery, brochures, flyers, posters, invitations and catalogues, taking clients from initial request, through the briefing process to trial concepts, and on to final choices and implementation of all print or production requirements. He also works as a commercial photographer in the product, wedding and fashion sectors.

What is turning into a budding lucrative sideline however is his hobby: photographing the nude, either in the studio or, increasingly, on location.

“After doing my first nude shoot in 2004,” he relates, “there were limited outlets to display my work. Then along came Instagram, and despite its rules, there are still ways to show carefully selected images on there, and I built a decent following. Instead of doing commissioned work however, I decided to make some extra money from photography by selling pdf downloads and limited edition signed prints of the shoots. The downloads have become particularly popular in the past three years or so since I started in earnest, and 18 months ago I launched a Patreon page in an attempt to broaden the reach. Because I rarely get commissioned as such for the shoots, I have the luxury of photographing who I want and how I want, so by choice, 99% of my work is male nudes.

“I’m definitely open to photographing women,” he adds, “but as a gay man it feels like I know how to pose men to get the best out of them. I’ve had criticism that I’m part of the body image problem because I only photograph hot men! Very few of my models have ever done any professional modelling work however, and whilst I choose attractive and athletic men, they come in a range of shapes, and I just think I photograph them well!”

Brenton doesn’t say what his father thinks of the train of events he helped set in motion all those years ago, but he does seem to have family approval from elsewhere in the family. “The feedback I get from people is generally positive,” says Brenton. “After all, I’m photographing beautiful nude men. Even my otherwise demure mother can see the appeal in that…”

Modest

Finding willing participants seems to be no problem for Brenton. Nor does sourcing locations. “Technology and society have surprisingly led to more guys being okay with going full frontal in images,” he maintains. “Back when I started, everyone wanted to stay fairly modest, but I think due to smart phones, exchanging pics on dating sites, and the introduction of sites like OnlyFans, people seem to be more relaxed these days. It’s surprising, since on the whole, people in locker rooms at gyms seem to be getting increasingly shyer. Thankfully Sydney has a melting pot of nationalities and diverse men, so I do get to capture a range of guys.”

Just as with the female nude, where the distinction between ‘naturist’ and ‘glamour’ photography can sometimes become blurred, so too with the male nude. Brenton is keen however to stress that his work does not stray into the area of gay porn, and he is very particular not just about the composition and context of his photos, but also the ‘angle of dangle.’ Enough said.

Brenton’s studio work generally veers more towards the ‘arty’ or experimental end of the spectrum, whilst his outdoor photography is more in line with the basic tenets of naturism. “In Sydney and the surrounding areas, there are some great naturist beaches, or ones where nudity is possible. Some of my favourites include La Perouse, Birdie, Washaway, Obelisk and Little Jibbon. If I’m not working in a studio, then my locations are chosen by their ease of access and how likely we are to get away with someone being nude there. You’d be surprised at where you can photograph a nude figure if you do it discreetly or early enough.”

There are pros and cons of course of both studio and location work. “Obviously with locations you are at the mercy of the weather and lighting, but that also gives you a freedom to make the most of what is happening and get creative. In a studio you get to control the light and the elements, but studios with space and great equipment are expensive and hard to find.”

Bold

In a relatively tight-knit city like Sydney, word of mouth helps in getting his work better known. Otherwise, Brenton promotes himself on social media, mainly through Instagram and Twitter. “You can be a bit more bold in the promotion on Twitter,” he explains, “but then a tease is often better for sales. You don’t want to give away too much.”

In his personal gallery on his website, there are travel photos from his trips to Iceland, New York, Barcelona, Croatia and the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, but so far, he admits that: “I have only been lucky enough to do one naturist shoot internationally. But I do love to travel, and as the world opens up more and more, I’ll be doing my best to get back to some beautiful parts of the world and hopefully photograph some gorgeous men in those locations.”

There is now however a third string to his bow, as Brenton has recently trained as a wedding celebrant. “When I was studying to become a celebrant, the topic of unique selling points came up. Since I’m a fan of nude camping, nude beaches and nudity in general, I did some research, only to find that whilst some celebrants are happy to officiate at a nude wedding, they didn’t want to be naked themselves. As a nudist, that isn’t a concern for me. I’ve just booked a series of adverts in the Australian naturist magazine TAN and am looking forward to seeing how much demand there is here in Australia for a nude wedding celebrant.”

 Paul Rouse