[Advisory, there will be nudity in the pictures contained in this post, +18 only, NSFW]
I woke late, much later than I should have for a day I've dreamed about for years; I was asked to be a photographer for Paul Butler's Wendover Project. I first learned of Paul's Wendover Project about 4 or 5 years ago, when I was beginning to get more interested in photography. The Wendover Project would be seeing it's 20th Anniversary, a pretty significant occasion. In essence, the project takes women, +18 of course, of all shapes, sizes, ethnicity, and has them strip down to nothing and stand together in unity, showing that beauty comes in all variety, and empowers women to be more comfortable with themselves and their body. Each year is different, sometimes they are painted head to toe in one color, other times they'll all be several colors, and other times there will be groups of colors, but the message always remains the same. With it being the 20th Anniversary that Paul was hosting the WenPro, a special theme was discussed for this one; Roman Statues, or simply Statues. It was earlier this year I started working with Paul shortly after returning from my backpacking trip, as mentioned in [I'm Ready], helping prep work with photo shoots and brain storming ideas for the Wendover Project, as well as taking pictures while his camera was broken, when he asked me to be a part of it, my only hope was that I would a decent job and wouldn't waste such an opportunity.
Shit.
To be fair, I woke up on time, when my alarm first went off about 7am, but immediately after snoozing it, I crawled back into bed and knocked out a while. The plan was originally to get ready and head out, passing Salt Lake International Airport at about 9:45am... however I wasn't leaving till about then. As luck would have it, Paul and Emily, the Project Manager, had to creep slowly to the salt flats due to the trailer being pulled containing all the paint, as well as props for the shoot. I ended up getting there maybe 10-20 minutes after Paul, during the presentation. As it would turn out, I was called up to the stage with the rest of the photographers, introducing the only other males allowed on this shoot. This would be the point in time when I received a nickname from the models, Jon Snow. Apparently with waking up late and my curls and beard a mess, I somewhat resembled The Lord Commander himself haha, a character from the HBO series Game of Thrones. After directions were given and models met with their painters, as well as a few painters changing to be models to bolster our final count. After the presentation and Q&A, we dispersed for lunch and final prep. With our caravan all lined up and ready to go, we proceeded towards the salt flats, a line of cars filled with models, painters, and photographers.
Needless to say, once we got on the salt flats, it was like herding cats, but honestly, it was a damn good time. We did various shots through the day, and even when it began to cool down, the models and painters toughed it out and did an amazing job. In fact, I'll just post some pictures and you can be the judge of it. The shoot went through a few phases; Phase 1 was stripping down and getting into a line, Phase 2 was getting painted white, and Phase 3 was being a statue. Secretly there was a Phase 4, where Paul played murder victim, just a little tie in to a joke between himself and someone else.
[Click on the photo to proceed through the slideshow.]
I'll include a section for behind the scenes pictures, including ones with me with spots of paint from the models and painters having a little fun. Many of the painters and models started out as strangers, but all became close friends with each other, as well as us three camera men that were brought in.
“I’m only here for myself
I’ve got a big fuck you for everybody else
Not only empty but empty and loud
I wonder if my father is proud”