One woman photographed said she googled ‘old women’ and ‘old men’ and found a thousand, mostly negative words, to describe older women, and only eight to describe men. Participants could opt to remain anonymous, using a range of props to cover their faces, from fans and books to fruit, footies and saucepans, animal masks and seaweed; one even brought a chandelier. Supermodel Stephanie Seymour posed alongside Claudia Schiffer for Vogue Italia in 2019, and one very risqué snapshot of Seymour shows her wearing only a low-slung belt and high heels.

But you have to be careful because Granny hears everything and if you drop something on the floor or walking on a creaking floor she will start running to the place she heard that sound. Older women often speak of feeling invisible, of hitting middle age and finding their presence diminished. Even in art, representations of women beyond a certain age are limited.You can protect yourself from Granny using one of the two different types of weapons you can find in the house. But it only stops her for a while. But it's worth it. Despite the restrictive laws, she claimed to have enjoyed her time on-set and later described Melbourne as one of the world’s “greatest cities”.

Hawkes hit on this surprising corner of the internet when she was commissioned to take 500 portraits of women over the age of 50 – an act she didn’t recognise as radical until she realised how few such images existed. For a society preoccupied with the female body, interest drops off precipitously after 50. “For every woman, it’s on your mind, the question of body image and body hatred, and there isn’t any material about that for older women.” While Hawkes says “most couldn’t give a hoot” about stripping off, others were slightly anxious, but all agreed it was an important thing to do. “It’s embracing the body whatever shape and size you are really.” Photographer Ponch Hawkes shot hundreds of women naked for her new show 500 Strong. Credit: Justin McManus Thomas W. Southall, ‘The Magazine Years, 1960–1971’, in Thomas W. Southall (ed.), Diane Arbus: Magazine Work, New York 2004, pp.156–60. Whether you're strongly for or against naturism, it's a great conversation starter. So yes, Nude to Me is a fun and light-hearted film, but if it can spark dialogue, that's a success in my eyes.Sign in to see reasons why you may or may not like this based on your games, friends, and curators you follow. Participants could remain anonymous by using a prop to cover their face - animal masks were popular. Credit: Ponch Hawkes Sharing my own personal connection to the naturism movement and reassuring them we were there to tell an authentic story was the first step toward building trust.