"Denver dudes bare it all in the woods of Idaho Springs as part of growing “dudeoir photography” trend"

Photographer Deirdre Fritz photographs Joshua Novak, left, and Matt Cantwell during a dudeoir shoot on Saturday, November 4, 2017 in Idaho Springs, Colorado.
A Denver photographer has embraced a trend that’s sure to land her clients on Santa’s naughty list.

Deirdre Fritz turned traditional boudoir photography upside down Nov. 4, when she packed her Subaru with holiday-themed props and consenting, male models, whom she drove into the mountains and instructed to drop their pants.

“We were at 10,000 feet, and it was cold and windy,” Fritz, 26, said. “We got there and set up different scenes. Then the models got undressed, got their accessories, and we just went for it.”

This photo shoot falls into a genre known as “dudeoir photography.” The burgeoning category is exactly what it sounds like — boudoir photography that features dudes.

While it’s a relatively new phenomenon for men, historical records show that the first ever cave drawings were images of women straddling woolly mammoths while wearing nothing but a loin cloth. (It’s a wonder that the human species ever transitioned out of the Homo erectus phase.)

Now men are now taking a crack at sex-pot photography. All this social progress results in hilarity — picture a large, fuzzy man sprawled on a beach clad in nothing but a mermaid tail.

But Fritz saw past the absurdity to achieve her festive — albeit phallic — vision. She decorated a patch of forest near Idaho Springs with Christmas tree ornaments and positioned her models atop an animal hide. The experience, she said, was an exercise in empowering other people to face the camera and their inner critics in a vulnerable state while having fun and focusing on body positivity.

“I think it’s a go-to with these dudeoir photos to inherently make them really silly,” she said. “I think it’s also important to have some more vulnerable and emotional poses to show that guys don’t just have to be silly while they’re baring themselves to the world.”

The shoot was a first for Fritz. Her day-to-day work at Deirdre Fritz Photography usually entails photographing weddings, family portraits or events where her subjects are fully clothed.

“We thought it would be a really fun challenge,” Fritz, who looks forward to taking more dudeoir photographs, said “It’s all about body positivity and loving yourself. I was so relieved that it had gone so well.”

Denver models Josh Novak and Matt Cantwell said Fritz’s inaugural dudeoir photo shoot took them well outside their comfort zones.

“I thought it was really fun.” Cantwell, who saw the opportunity as a way to advance his acting and theater career, said. “It was liberating — just being butt naked in the middle of the woods being stared at by a bunch of people.”

Novak, 37, said he was intrigued by Fritz’s twist on classic boudoir photos.

“I think it’s good to flip the mirror around a little a bit and put men in sort of a vulnerable, objectified position every now and then and also to realize that this can be just as fun and just as appealing to someone as traditional boudoir photography can be,” he said. “It was doing something outside my comfort zone.”

A Nashville, Tenn., couple inspired the photo shoot. Ryan Thompson and his wife, photographer Gayla Thompson, sparked a new wave of sexy, seasonal photos for men in October. Gayla, who had done previous dudeoir photo shoots, posted shots of her husband posing in an autumnal, pumpkin-themed gallery to her Facebook page, and the Internet went nuts.

“I was in the middle of a field, and people were driving by and stopping and staring,” Ryan said.

The 26-year-old carpenter initially resisted the idea of posing for dudeoir photos.

“I said absolutely not. There’s no way I’m doing this,” he said. “Then we did the first one and a second one and a third one. As time went on, it got easier. We just went out, and we really did it.”

The pair put their own twist on common boudoir shots. For example, they staged a shoot in their bath tub, which they filled with milk and Fruit Loops instead of rose petals.

“The one after that was a beer bath,” Ryan said. “After that we did a muffin shoot, where I was in the kitchen making muffins in nothing but an apron. Then we did one grilling hot dogs. ”

The couple’s Facebook friends got a kick out of all of these, but the duo went viral after the images of Ryan covering himself with pumpkins went live. The Internet lapped it up.

“Everybody’s excited about pumpkin spice and fall colors,” he said “I think was just perfect timing.”

This dudeoir duo has no plans of slowing down. They’re working together to make a calendar featuring Ryan in settings that reflect all 12 months of the year. Others have completed similar projects and even flashed their fleshy bods for charity.

Ryan said he hopes other men will see his dudeoir photos and feel empowered to take some of their own. For him, the experience was a way to make his wife happy, and he’s glad to continue posing.

“To me and my wife, this is nothing more than us having a little fun,” Ryan said. “I’m not in the best shape of my life. I’m not a huge fan of being in front of the camera. I think what it comes down to is we’re just having a good time.”