|
|
 |
| |
Charlie, Holly
& Alice - The Parafotos Story
 |
I've been a
committed naturist for over 45 years and in that time have been fortunate
enough to have visited over 45 different naturist resorts around the World in
ten different countries. Allow me, therefore, to relate how it all came about.
Nudity during family holidays in my youth on remote beaches always seemed to me
to be perfectly natural, but it wasn't until my late teens in the early '60s
that I encountered formal social naturism for the first time during a visit to
France. Montalivet is an Atlantic seaside resort town in the Medoc region of
France, North West of Bordeaux. I wandered along the beach away from the town
and its crowded beach sporting a tight pair of swimming trunks. |
|
About half a mile later a simple sign in the sand
declaring NUDITE OBLIGATOIRE changed my life completely, but not before I had
experienced for the one and only time - albeit only for a couple of minutes -
that embarrassment of being the only person wearing something when all around
are naked! The exhilaration and freedom of swimming that day without any form
of restrictive clothing remains as vivid now as it aid all those years ago.
|
| Isn't it ridiculous that people don
miniscule bits of fabric to go swimming, particularly when they go through the
most extraordinary contortions to get in or out of their swimming costumes so
they don't reveal the 'naughty bits'? Photography has always been a passion. I
love both its spontaneous creative potential and its fascinating technical
evolution. It was therefore inevitable that my commitment to photography and
naturism would ultimately be fulfilled together. |
Kerry, Angie, Charlie & Alison;
at Arnaoutchot, in
"Naked Photo-Shoot" |
| It was only when I regularly started to
visit naturist resorts overseas that I subsequently submitted photos and
articles to naturist journals. This was probably because it was at around this
time that I discovered the beautiful, yet very different resorts of Arnaoutchot
on the Atlantic Coast of France, South Africa's Beau Valley and Florida's
Cypress Cove. Each of these three places has its own special appeal so it was
natural that I should want to record them on camera: the spectacular surf and
limitless sand dunes at Arna, the magnificent grandeur and wild life of Beau
Valley and the magic encounter with alligators whist canoeing on the lake at
Cypress Cove! |
Alison, April & Sammy at Spielplatz in
"Let's
Get Naked, G.B." |
Discovering one's own photographic style is a
frustratingly slow and gradual process of severe self-criticism, respect for
the work of other photographers and an evolving awareness of the visual
messages you wish to portray. The latter is, I believe, the key. I've always
believed that naturism is both natural and fun, but that there are additional
factors that I try to capture.
Firstly is that sense of exhilaration -
the like of which is that overwhelming sense of freedom as you throw yourself
naked into the surf for the first time. Secondly is the sensuality of naturism
- that intense feeling of the sun and breeze on your skin. And thirdly there is
the tranquil side of naturism - being in harmony with nature in peace and
occasional solitude. |
|
Alison |
It wasn't until the mid eighties that
I started travelling abroad specifically to take naturist photographs.
Arnaoutchot became a favourite location. I've lost count of the number of times
I've been there. It's a naturist photographer's dream with the crashing
Atlantic surf, the picturesque rolling sand dunes and the sweet smelling pines
providing a haven for deer, squirrel and all manner of birds. And, of course,
the sun sets over the sea to the West producing wonderful crimson backclothes
at the end of the day. 1989 saw me looking at ways of extending my creative
horizons.
There isn't a still photographer anywhere who hasn't been
intrigued with the idea of moving images and I was no exception. |
Many of the still photography lessons remain valid in
film making, particularly those of composition, light and exposure, but even
for an experienced still photographer there is considerable uncharted
territory, as I quickly found out. Through Lisa, who had come with me on a
still shoot to Lanzarote in 1989 and who subsequently starred in our first
film, Hitch-Hike, I met her Dad. Gerald is a talented wildlife
videographer and he gave me no end of valuable advice and assistance. So it
came to pass that the following year I took a team of Lisa and four other
lovely ladies to Arnaoutchot to make our first two films. Hitch-
Hike & Perfect Exposure weren't the greatest films
ever made, but they were a start and they contained some wonderful footage of
Arna. I learned much, as I did at a formal Video Production Course at Leeds
Metropolitan University, which I attended later that same year.
Producers of naturist films have come and gone,
either because they haven't been committed naturists themselves, or perhaps
because they have come to realise that there isn't a fortune to be made. But
we're proud that we've now produced 60 films about naturists and naturism
around the World. But we've also learnt that we can't please everyone in the
way that we present naturism and we find this a constant challenge. The
International Naturist Federation states that:'Naturism is a way of life in
harmony with nature... encouraging self respect, respect for others and for the
environment'. Yet naturists can be unbelievably intolerant of those who do not
share their own, sometimes very parochial views of what naturism is all about.
|
We've learnt that we can please some
of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but never
all of the people all of the time! So we continue to visually present naturism
in a way that we sincerely believe is both honest and
entertaining.
I've been wonderfully
fortunate in having had some very special people working with me over the last
nine years. Jill appeared in our first four films - she adores naturism and is
a photographic delight, having a gorgeously supple athletic figure. Adele
entered the scene in late 199I to work both in front of the camera and to
assist me behind it - she became a good friend, but stood down the following
year to raise a family. |
Alison, Sammy, April, Jocelyne, Regis & Charlie; Crete 1995 "Cretan
Kalypso" |
| In 199I Alison starred in our third film
Allison over the Moon, filmed in Lanzarote, and was able to step
into Adele's shoes in 1992. Her natural beauty, love of naturism and her
presentational skills ensured that she played an important part of our next
eleven films and she became a key personality in the business. It was a sad
time in 1995 when she reluctantly had to cut down her involvement to pursue a
career in TV presenting - she remains a good friend and I owe her much.
|
Wendy & Charlie |
I first met Wendy in 1994 and she had a
huge influence on the business.She was already a naturist, is absolutely lovely
and proved to be a natural presenter. Apart from that she had originally
trained as a fashion designer with the result that she has a wonderfully
imaginative creative flair. The first of the dozen or so we worked on together
was in Ibiza and was entitled Barely Balearic. |
|
Whilst Barely Balearic featured the immaculate resort of
Club Vista Bahia Nature, it was also important in that, not only did it feature
our dear French friends, Jocelyne and Regis, who we had first met at Cap D'Agde
the previous year, but also another sparkling ambassador for naturism,
Holly. |
We had introduced Holly to the naturist scene the year before. Jocelyne and
Regis have appeared in four of our films, Holly in fourteen; the latter
starring in our best underwater sequences because of her amazing fish-like
swimming ability. Angle, a vivacious, dark skinned lady, whose family are from
Fiji, also with five films with us to her credit, has become another trusted
friend as has a lovely young Dutch lady. Marieke was an art student in her
native Holland when we first met her two years ago.
Angie, Marieke, Chloe, Charlie & Holly - 1998
"Candidly Koversada" |
|
|
She's been a naturist since her early teens and her
youthful, natural beauty is a vibrant advertisement for naturism. In 1999 Holly
and I were featured filming in France for a Channel 5 production about naturism
called Stark Naked; we were very pleased with the result. The
following year we celebrated the tenth birthday of Parafotos Film Productions
and many of our friends joined us for a thoroughly enjoyable day at Rivendell.
By this time Wendy was expecting her first born, Lotte, who arrived in August,
with Holly immediately being appointed a Godmother. This happy arrival meant
that Wendy had to permanently hand over the reigns of co-producer to Holly who
had already co-produced Candidly Koversada and Crete
Naturally - Vritomartis. Since then Holly and I have together produced
another 7 films set in the UK, France, Spain and the USA. |
| Meanwhile in 2002 Alice Gilding joined Parafotos as our
secretary before becoming a committed naturist the following year. Since then
Alice, with her warm personality and captivating smile, has become an
enthusiastic co-producer and has already starred in seven of our 60 films we've
produced about naturists and naturism since we started twenty years ago. In
2004 we discovered two new sparkling ambassadors for naturism, Sam and
Joceline. Since then they have both appeared in twelve of our films. They are
both enthusiastic naturists and this has been exemplified by their appearance
on eighteen covers of different naturist magazines. |
Alice & Charlie |
Sam & Joceline |
It was therefore appropriate
that Sam should feature on my one hundredth H&E cover - the December
2007 edition. |
 |
Charlie's Angels ~
Naturally |
At the end of 2006 we published our long awaited book to
considerable acclaim with Joanna Lumley writing about it: "The wonderful book,
Charlie's Angels ~ Naturally, is utterly charming - full of
happiness and beauty; made me long for summertime!" It features twenty of
Charlie's Angels who are also the most beautiful naturist ambassadors
imaginable.
In 2007 we also discovered Faye and
Grace, two more lovely ladies whose smiling faces have already appeared on the
cover of H&E and who together with Sam star in the second of our 2008
films, Kefalonia Revisited ~ Naturally. |
We hope to be able to
continue to produce quality films about this wonderful, fulfilling lifestyle
and bring to you reports of the very best places where you can throw off your
clothes ... and live!
Charlie Simonds |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Charlie &
Alice |
|
Home
