Drone photographer plans aerial photo shoot with 100 nude models

Drone photographer Tom Durden has a special aerial photo shoot in mind. He wants to photograph 100 nude models with his drone in the center of Utrecht, The Netherlands. Preferably in a special place, such as the Domplein or a historic wharf on one of the city's canals. Through crowdfunding, money is collected for the realization of the photo shoot.

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Drone photographer plans aerial photo shoot with 100 nude models

Photographing nude models from the air is not exactly new to co-initiator Tom Durden. Under the working title Dronude, he has made numerous special Drone Photos of people posing nude in recent years. Until now, however, this always concerned one, two, and sometimes 25 models, almost always in a beautiful place in nature.

For his new project, Durden is taking a completely different approach. Not only in terms of scale – the intended drone photo must show as many as 100 nude models – but also in terms of location, namely the historic city center of Utrecht. The special drone shoot must take place at the beginning of September 2021, if the Corona rules allow it.

The idea for the artistic photo shoot in Utrecht arose during a brainstorming session with a few drone photographer friends. The plan is to leave the models in a beautiful way and thus create shapes that coincide with the contours of the inner city.

“For example, a long garland of people next to the new Singel, or contours on the spot where the Dom Church was once connected to the Dom Tower, or along the yards of Utrecht or simply in one of the beautiful parks.”

The organizers are quite sober about the reason for the aerial photo shoot. “Why not? Creating a beautiful photo together with a hundred people in an exciting way seems cool to us. And who wouldn't want to lie naked on the ancient stones and take an epic photo with 100 others? And actually, we think that being nude should be more normalized. And of course, we also expect worldwide exposure of the resulting photos that show how beautiful Utrecht is from the air.”

Drone photographer wants to stay within the rules

According to drone photographer Durden, the project can easily be carried out within the new European rules for drones. To take the aerial photo, he wants to use the lightweight DJI Mini 2.

Durden: “With a Mini 2 you may not fly above crowds, but you can fly above people involved in a shoot.”

Durden also sees no problem when it comes to posing nude in the city. “As long as you work carefully to avoid shocking or hurting people, you can do a lot.” Incidentally, Durden prefers to perform the shoot on a Sunday morning at sunrise, when it is still quiet in the city. The location is only passed on to the models at the last minute, to prevent snoopers from coming to the shoot.

Help Wanted

In order to realize the shoot, the initiators ask for the help of interested parties. For example, it is possible to make a donation via GoFundMe to cover the costs of the project. These are budgeted at 1,000 euros. If more money comes in, the initiators want to print the resulting photos in large format and exhibit them in a public location in Utrecht.

The initiators are also looking for drone pilots who want to help with the preparations: scouting the locations with a drone so that the positions of the models can be adjusted to the light at sunrise.

Durden calls on Dutch readers in particular: “Who has a Mini or Mini 2 and wants to help map a few beautiful places in the city center in the coming weeks, during sunrise? And who has permits to fly a heavier drone over the city center during the shoot, and wants to film a “making of”? And who likes video editing to make a nice registration film?”

In any case, there seems to be enough enthusiasm for posing nude, according to Durden. “The women's and mixed Facebook groups for Dronude models now have 183 and 230 members, respectively, from home and abroad. But you can still register: if you are 18+. Do you feel too old, not beautiful enough, or something else? No, you are perfect the way you are, everyone is welcome.”

More information and updates regarding the project can be found at www.dronude.com.

What do you think about the planned aerial shoot from drone photographer, Tom Durden? Let us know in the comments below.

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This article first appeared on Dronewatch and is written by Wiebe de Jager who is also a DroneXL contributor.

Photo credits: Tom Durden