Jacki Rigby taken by Leslie Bainbridge in the late 1960’s posing nude in the great outdoors. Of course Leslie Bainbridge was the man behind the publications Health & Efficiency (H&E) and I suspect this was for H&E rather than GI as it’s outdoors and I have various shots of Jacki posing in fields, on fences and in trees. Shots from this set also appeared in Outdoor Leisure No.37 also by Leslie and thanks to member Tonal Range for reminding me 🙂
It was Outdoor Leisure 37, with the same shaven look and the same bead necklace, and a four page set.
This particular pic wasn’t in it, so great to see it!
Thanks Tonal and I’m sure it was you that sent it to me, just need to find it in my filing 🙂
When ‘open legs’ shots became ‘legal’, Bainbridge had many published in H&E. It’s ironic that you would never see women actually standing like this in a naturist club!
I doubt that his models were naturists.
Health and Efficiency production went into overdrive in the early 1970’s. The magazine went onto a fortnightly schedule and they produced a different quarterly each month. In addition the publishers had the non naturist Girl Illustrated title so there was plenty of scope for photos to be used and they were often only in a publication one at a time so a shoot would provide plenty of value for the photographer particularly if you were also the editor!
Thanks for the info and think I knew most of that, but yes I think GI became the more raunchy outlet for his non nudist type shots and look at all my sets he had plenty of content to cover both 🙂
I imagine that for certain models, it was possible through mags like H&E, to pose nude with honour. At the time, naturism was a mysterious social movement, associated with seemingly sophisticated continentals & open minded Brits, and was always at the cusp of going mainstream. I remember seeing naturist holidays being covered by the BBC & ITV holiday programs in the eighties. Topless and micro-swimwear for men and women was at its zenith in the 80’s, and the tanned body.
For a naturist shoot, it would be all natural poses, and no silly pouting and lingerie. It was a distinct set-up to men’s magazine porno shoots, and a distinct genre of magazine. In a way, it was an alibi to pose naked; not porn but just joining a growing social trend.
H&E from the 1950’s to 1970’s was basically marketed as a publication and a movement by using professional glamour models. But by the 1970’s and especially the 80’s on, it was increasingly using ordinary people, still heavily reliant on beautiful young women, but the mums and grand-mums were in it too, and hence the alibi; this was perceived as being ‘endorsed’ as a movement, rather than a men’s mag.
We know that H&E systematically made heavy use of professional glamour models to boost sales. But I suspect that many girls started their professional careers in those pages, and once with a toe in the water in H&E, went all in elsewhere.
H&E was also a platform for more mature women, and many of them looked surprisingly good. We were unlikely otherwise to have seen such a woman elsewhere, as they were almost certainly authentic naturists.
The movement died a death because of you know what, but shame that the platform for women of a certain age and class was lost in the process.
A perfect summary Tonal and I agree 🙂
Just continuing my mental doodles on the same topic, for any interested…
Seeing the likes of Pamela Green, Uschi Digard and Diane Weber in naturist magazines, was legitimate because while they were all prolific professional models, they were also I believe, practicing naturists. And in the case of Pamela Green for example, I understand that sun clubs were a way to ensure an all-over tan with no white bits, required for her professional work. So life and art were overlapping.
It tends to be the case, that people who are proud of their bodies, like to show them off. Just watch when somebody joins a gym and starts to get results, both men and women; they become enthusiastic about showing the results. Some even want to show you pictures of themselves in their underwear, which can be a bit awkward but not for them, they are just proud.
Likewise, the issue of decency around being photographed naked, is largely a matter of context and perception. Many models who would flatly refuse to pose for men’s mags, would happily pose nude or semi nude for a female audience, e.g. for lingerie ads, and features in women’s magazines. They are still naked, but the context is absolutely the alibi, and once in the water, as stated previously, the fear can be lost, and they can wander to other audiences.
I believe that Jackie Rigby herself appeared in some hardcore stuff later in her career. I doubt she set out to do that, but it just turns that way due to circumstances, and a natural loss of inhibition by progressing in steps. I guess the first step is the main hurdle, but what I liked about H&E (of which Jackie is arguably an example) is that you didn’t have to be a conventional beauty to grace its pages. Inclusivity i.e. everybody qualifies, was one of the themes of the movement, which is why it was a good platform for diversity in ages, shapes, look, and not least, a variety of breast-types that the Barbie-centric men’s mags would overlook. And in my view, there are a lot of such types of bust to enjoy beyond Barbie.
H&E and the like was definitely a different genre, but times have changed again, and not least, the advent of the smartphone camera means everybody is covering up again at the beach and elsewhere, lest the wrong pics go viral.