Lens 1: Christine's First Nudes

Gordon had never planned to get into photography at all. He was a civil engineer, working for eight years for the city of Portland, when he lost his father unexpectedly. A heart attack at 55. Gordon spent a week back in Toronto with the family after the funeral. Before he went home, his mother gave Gordon his father's camera. It was a heavy, serious-looking thing that came with a whole briefcase of lenses, flashes and other equipment he couldn't even identify.

Taking the camera was a way for him to remember and honour his father, though he wasn't sure what to do with it. The only photography he had ever done was simple amateur shots with his phone. Even his father had only taken up the hobby after Gordon and his siblings had moved out. So it wasn't a passion they had shared together.

When he mentioned the camera to friends, they suggested he find a local club or class where he could learn how to use it. He found a group that met on Sunday mornings, and soon learned that his father's camera and accessories were good, professional-grade equipment that must have cost a small fortune. Through the group and through the internet, Gordon took a deep dive into nature photography, and he enjoyed it. He posted some photos and they seemed to be well received by friends and strangers alike.

One day, when he was trying out different lenses, he found a memory card buried underneath other things, deep in one of the pockets of his father's briefcase. Curious, he popped it into the camera and browsed the photos. First there were some innocuous cityscape shots around Toronto. Then some studio portraits of people he didn't recognize. Old people, young people, women, men, families. There were thousands of photos and it was too tedious to look through them on the camera, so he copied them to his computer.

That's when Gordon found that his father had also taken some sexy shots and some artistic nude shots of dozens, maybe hundreds of women, as well as a handful of men and some couples too. These weren't just single shots, but entire photo shoots, with themes, locations and costume changes. Most of the models didn't look like typical models at all. They ranged from young adults to seniors, and had all sorts of body types. Some of them were very good photos. As he was scrolling through them, he wondered if his mother knew about these. Wondered if he could ever get the courage to ask her about them.

Then he saw a photo that made him stop wondering and stop scrolling. It was from just a few years ago, and it featured his mother and another woman around her age. Thankfully they were not nude, but they were both wearing what were obviously meant to be sexy dresses and were leaning on each other in a suggestive, provocative pose. His mother was even wearing heels! Gordon had never seen her wear heels in his entire life. Fearing what else he might find, he closed the folder and deleted the copy from his computer. He took the memory card out of the camera and hid it back where it had been in that deep pocket, putting the "clean" one he had been using back in the camera.

Gordon put everything away, but those images stayed with him. There was a side to his father that he had never known. And seemingly his mother as well. He didn't really want to think about it, and left the camera untouched for months.

Then one day a co-worker told him that a friend was looking for a photographer for a small quick job, and was willing to pay. Gordon wasn't too sure what to expect, but he agreed that the co-worker could share his contact details and they'd see what's what. That same evening, he received a message with very little info, asking if he'd be willing to meet for coffee the next day. He agreed.

And so he found himself sitting in a coffee shop on a Saturday morning, with his dad's camera on the table, waiting to meet some unknown person. A few minutes after the agreed time, he was approached by a couple. "Are you Gordon?" asked the man. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, short and wiry, with a hipster's moustache, oversized glasses and an ironic t-shirt. Gordon knew the type well.

"I am. And you must be...?"

"I'm Peter, and this is Christine." They each shook his hand. Christine shuffled into the booth across from Gordon, and Peter offered to get coffee for everyone, on him. He confirmed what they wanted and walked towards the counter. "I'll be right back."

Christine smiled awkwardly, partially covering her face, and then started playing with her phone. She seemed younger, maybe twenty. She was wearing baggy ripped blue jeans, a baggy black t-shirt, blocky black boots, and a scarf. On a particularly warm early spring day. Her Kool-aid-blue hair was straight and cut in a bob that hung just below her chin. He couldn't see much of her figure, but her face was cute.

A couple minutes went by in silence. Gordon turned his head to see that Peter was still waiting in line. "Looks like there's a bit of a line," he said to Christine.

"Mmhmm," she said without looking up. She pulled some blue strands out of her face and tucked them behind her ear.

"Do you want to tell me about the job, meanwhile?" he asked, gently.

She still didn't look up. "Peter's such a dork. He wants me to do some boudoir shoot so he can feel manly or whatever. I guess seeing me naked isn't enough anymore."

"Christine," Gordon made a point of saying her name. "Do you want to do this? You really don't have to." She finally looked up. "Look," Gordon continued, "if you want to get out of it without having to refuse, I'll take the fall for you. I'll say I can't do it, and that's that. Peter doesn't have to know."

"Thanks, Jordan," she said.

"It's Gordon."

"But I'm willing to give it a try, you know? I mean, there are worse things a boyfriend could be into."

"Understood. Have you done any modeling before?"

"Never," she said.

Peter was back with the drinks and slid in beside Christine. He didn't even bother to ask if they had already discussed anything. He just immediately started describing his vision. He wanted Gordon to do a photoshoot of Christine, boudoir-style. Sexy and provocative, but not nude. He had already picked out the outfits and poses, and just wanted someone with a good camera and talent to "make her look good." When he said that last bit, Christine looked at Gordon and rolled her eyes.

"Well, that part won't be a problem," Gordon said, and he detected a slight smile on Christine's face. "But I should let you know that I really have no experience with this kind of photography. And no professional experience at all."

"That's OK," said Peter. "Mike told me you're a good photographer, and that's all that matters. I trust Mike."

"Christine," Gordon asked again. "Are you fully on board with this plan?"

"Mmhmm," she said, without looking up.

"She's into it," said Peter, placing his hand on hers.

They discussed pricing and other details, and Gordon remembered to check and photograph her ID to verify her age. She was 21. He brought out a standard contract that he had downloaded off the internet. Peter was the client and he would own the photos. Christine would have full rights to them as well. Gordon would have rights to use them to promote his business, but could not sell them or distribute them anywhere but his own professional site. (He made a note to remind himself to create a professional site.) Everybody signed, and they agreed to meet at 10am the next day at Peter's place for the shoot. Everyone seemed a little nervous, so they quickly finished their coffee and made awkward goodbyes.

The next day, Sunday, Gordon got up early. He was anxious. What was he getting into? Did he even know how to do this kind of photography? He looked over some sample photos of the style online, and read a few how-to guides and tips. Then he loaded his stuff into the car and drove over to Peter's place on time.

It was a small apartment on the outskirts of town, with very little natural light. But at least the place was clean, and Peter had smartly made sure there were extra electric light options, in various brightnesses and colours. Gordon said hello to each of them, and started setting up his equipment. Christine sat in the living room in a baggy grey tracksuit, playing with her phone. Peter bounced around excitedly. He took Gordon into the bedroom and showed him all the lights and sheets and backgrounds he had bought, and the three outfits which he had laid out on the bed.

"Christine!" Peter shouted to the other room. "Time to get dressed up."

As inexperienced as he was, Gordon had read enough to know that having the boyfriend not only there, but literally calling the shots was bad news. Gordon would have to take charge, if he could summon the courage.

Christine came in, grabbed one of the outfits and stepped out again to get changed. When she re-entered the room, she was transformed. She was wearing a negligee gown - blue to match her hair. The top section looked like a lacy, flowery bra that seemed slightly too loose for her small, round, b-cup breasts. Connected below that was a loose, dark sheer gown that showed off her figure and was cut just a few inches below her crotch. There was a small cut-out in the centre below the breasts, that ended halfway to her cute little navel. Through the fabric, Gordon could see that she was wearing high-cut frilly white panties and nothing else. If not for the strategically placed lace of the bra, her nipples would have been visible as well. Small raised mounds revealed their locations. Her arms and most of her legs were bare, as were her tiny feet. This was the first time he really got a look at her and she seemed a little short, petite, and super nervous. She squirmed a little as she walked back into the room, swinging her arms awkwardly, and sitting on the edge of the bed crossing her legs at the ankles and crossing her arms across her lap. Then she fidgeted and moved first one hand and then the other to straighten her hair and then immediately back to her lap. She made no eye contact.

"Ok, Christine. Are you ready?" Gordon asked, looking directly at her. He stood at the far end of the room, checking his camera settings.

"Let's do this," said Peter.

Gordon ignored him and again said, "Christine?" He waited for her to look up.

"I'm ready," she said, smiling nervously at him.

"Christine, I'm going to start with just some head shots to warm us up and check the lighting, OK? Just from the neck up."

She nodded. Now she was sitting up straighter and looked at the camera without prompting. He took a couple shots, moved to a different location, and then took a couple more. Then he checked the results and showed them to Christine. She smiled.

"OK?" he asked.

"OK," she said.

"Time for the good stuff," said Peter. "Oh, use this background." Without asking anyone he picked up a huge piece of blue cardboard and propped it up at the head of the bed, behind Christine.

"I'm going to do a few close shots from the chest up, ok?" asked Gordon, and she nodded. He adjusted the lighting, moved in close, and pulled the trigger a couple times. "Just act naturally. Pose however feels good to you," he said. Christine moved awkwardly, trying to figure out how to pose. First she tried to look sultry. Then she started laughing nervously, and smiled and played with her hair. Gordon kept shooting. "These are good, you're doing great." After a few more shots he showed them to Christine.

"Oh, I actually like that one," she said. It was a shot slightly from the side and above and the way she had positioned her arm had pushed her breasts together, revealing a good amount of cleavage between them. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open in a way that looked like she was mid-laugh. Peter jumped in to take a look. Everyone agreed it was a lovely, sexy photo.

"Are you ready for some full-body shots?" asked Gordon.

"Let's do it," Christine said.

"Ok, just do whatever poses come naturally," Gordon instructed her. "You can sit, you can lie down, roll around, turn, whatever you like. We'll get it all."

Peter directed a few of the positions, and Christine complied. First she posed lying across the bed on her back with her legs crossed at the ankles. She had one hand sitting lightly on the side of her flat stomach, and the other holding the hem of the skirt, pulling it up just a little. Then she sat up with her legs spread wide and straight, holding a small throw pillow over her crotch. Then she got on her hands and knees and arched her back first one way and then the other. From there she moved to elbows and knees and brought her face down close to the mattress. With each pose, Gordon took several shots from different angles: from above, from the side, from the foot of the bed.

They were going for sexy but not too revealing or explicit. Each time she switched poses, Gordon came to her to show her the shots. For one or two she frowned or grimaced, but most of the time she smiled or laughed. Peter asked to see too. Then Peter said, "OK, outfit number two?" For the first time it sounded like a question, not an order.

Christine jumped up. "Be right back," she said as she grabbed the second outfit and left the room. In a minute she rushed back in, straightening a classic white lingerie set. It was a small low-cut strappy white bra, with a white garter belt strapped to thigh-high stockings, and tiny matching white panties. All of the fabric was thin and mostly see-through except for small shiny patches over the nipples and the lower crotch. A hint of a dark landing-strip of hair was visible through the transparent upper section of the panties, and the edges of her areola showed dark through the transparent parts of the bra when she moved. She looked nervous again, probably from knowing this was more revealing.

Gordon and Peter switched the backdrop to fake white curtains as Christine sat on the bed again. "OK, just like before," Gordon said. "You're in charge here, Christine. Pose as you like. I'll follow your direction."

She hesitated for a moment, then lay across the bed on her back with her knees up, held close together, and raised her arms to play her hair, as Gordon again shot her from all sorts of angles. Then she lowered first one leg and then the other, still holding them close to each other, and he shot her some more. Then she turned over to lie flat on her stomach with her feet dangling off the edge of the bed, and her head turned towards the camera with a sleepy smile, her eyes closed. Gordon didn't know if she realised that the back of the panties was highly transparent. Her small round ass was on full display. "OK...," she said, sounding unsure about those shots when she saw them. But she let him take more, even moving to poses that highlighted her ass better.

She posed again in several different positions, which Gordon assumed mimicked sex positions: on all fours with her head down, with her head up, kneeling on the floor with her torso flat on the bed, finally lying on her back with her legs up and spread wide. Her facial expression alternated between sultry, sleepy, and silly. Now Gordon pre-empted Peter and asked Christine when she would like to switch to the final outfit. She asked to do one more pose first. She got up and walked over to the tiny window, threw the curtains open wide and pushed the glass aside. She pulled a stool over and stood on it so that she could lean her torso all the way out the window, standing on tiptoes to raise her butt in the air. The backlighting was terrible, but Gordon did the best he could, trying different angles and exposures. Eventually he found a shot that he could live with, and showed it to her. "I can try to equalize the lighting later," he offered.

"Neat!" said Christine. "Let's do round three," she said enthusiastically. She grabbed the third outfit, but this time instead of leaving the room she just stood in the corner with her back to the guys while she changed. Gordon tried to politely look away, but he found himself glancing back every few seconds and getting some great views from behind as she quickly undid the garter straps, rolled out of the stockings, dropped the panties and pulled on a tiny, shiny red thong, undid the bra and shook it off, and pulled on a red shirt. As she turned back towards them, Gordon nervously looked away, and went to close the window and curtains again. When he turned towards her, Christine was sitting on the edge of the bed again, smiling and nervously swinging her legs. The shirt was cut like a men's dress shirt, but in bright red shiny satin. She hadn't buttoned it up at all. It lay loosely over the sides of her chest, completely covering her breasts, but she was nude in between from her pantyline all the way up. Her creamy smooth white skin contrasted nicely with it, but the shirt clashed with her blue hair in a way that made her almost look like a cartoon character.

"Looking good," Gordon said. "Do you want to button it up some?"

Christine turned her head sideways and put a thumb in her mouth, biting it a little. She took a few moments to think. "No," she said simply. She immediately struck a pose, raising one knee high and pointing her toes down towards the floor. She leaned her head down a little and raised both arms to comb her hands through her hair on each side of her head. The movement of her arms pulled the shirt open more, so that its edges lay across her nipples. The edge of her left areola showed visibly from the front. Gordon shot a few angles as she turned her head slightly this way and that. He showed her one where you could see the entire inner curves of her two breasts, and most of the bottom of one, along with the areola. "Ooh, I really like that one," she said.

Peter sat on a chair in the corner of the room, watching with a blank look on his face. He had been uncharacteristically silent for a while. Next Christine did a couple poses kneeling on the bed, where she was holding the bottom corners of the shirt down with one hand, pressed against her stomach. She adjusted the upper parts of the shirt repeatedly with the other hand to show more and less skin in different parts. Then she stood up close to the wall, pulled the shirt loose so it was hanging limply off her shoulders, lower, then lower still, to where her entire upper back was revealed and the shirt hung limply from her elbows. She shrugged the shirt off completely and leaned flat against the wall, turning her head to look at the camera, with her arms straight up. Then she brought her right arm down to cover her breasts tightly with her hand and biceps, and pulled away from the wall slowly, leaning back slightly, then more and more still.

By this point Gordon wondered if his jeans were successfully hiding his raging hard-on. He felt tightness in the crotch and even a small wet spot in his underwear from pre-cum. "Good. Beautiful. You're doing great," he said.

Christine awkwardly lowered herself to lie down on her stomach, still covering her breasts with her arm until she was flat on the sheets, and then she put both arms loose at her sides, smiling peacefully with her eyes closed. As Gordon moved to get a good angle, he was surprised by a hand on his arm. It was Peter.

"OK, we're done," said Peter suddenly. "We're done here. Thank you very much, Gordon. I already sent you the deposit and I'll pay you the rest as soon as you send the photos. Go get dressed, Christine!" He picked up the shirt and threw it to her.

"Is everything OK?" Gordon asked as he started to put away his equipment. Christine grabbed the shirt and got up with her back to him, holding it to her chest as she left the room.

"Great. Great. A standup job," said Peter. "But it's enough. Leave a little to the imagination, you know. And all that."

He helped Gordon pack up and rushed him out the door. Christine must have been in the bathroom. He didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to her.