CLICK HERE to see my "night-lit Winter Woman" gallery, the latest in my series of Winter Nudes galleries. There are now ten galleries in that portfolio.

Yes, my friends, this new gallery features myself! I guess I could have cloned out my tattoo and colonies of moles so I'd be less recognizable, but why bother? At 65-going-on-66 I can't see that it makes any difference anymore. Maybe it never did. My body is my body is my body. It is what it is and that's just fine. No, I didn't always feel this way. As recently as five weeks ago I couldn't have imagined I'd be photographing nudes and posting the pix on the internet. Especially not pix of my own bare body! But now that I've been at this for the past month or so, I can't imagine NOT having followed this path. How else could I have rediscovered my sensuality? What else could have changed my negative attitudes about aging bodies? Especially my own.

I've heard publicly and privately from women and men the world over about how my "Winter Nudes" portfolio is touching them deeply. That means the world to me because I never intended for this to be simply an artistic project. From the start I have seen it as a tool for social transformation. I guess the surprise is how deeply I am being changed myself. Just being with these courageous older women--all of whom are my friends--fills me with awe and gratitude. I can think of no honor greater than the trust these wonderful women are placing in me to show them in a respectful way. And I am among their company because I also dare to reveal myself to myself. And then dare to show my bare body to the world at large.

I know other PBasers have photographed themselves nude and then posted those photos. The incomparable Lilith comes immediately to mind. But all the women I know who have done this have young, beautiful bodies. I may be the first elder to follow this path. But that fits. I've often been the first to try new ways of doing things. Hopefully my example will encourage others to reveal themselves with no Doris Day-type gauzy effects. Photoshop can clone out anything we judge to be a "flaw." It takes courage to leave them in. That's what I've done in my new gallery. I cropped some of the images, and did what I needed to do to get the strong contrast I was after, but otherwise, I left my body as it is. In all its glory...