The Photo Session

Our daughter Cassie had been best friends with Sandy since both girls were in the seventh grade. My wife Sara and I had moved into the neighborhood when Cassie was starting in seventh grade. We had found a nice, wooded lot on which to build and we affirmatively wanted Cassie in this school system.

The neighborhood, the schools, and our township came to play a large role in our lives. The schools were excellent and the parents in the district were more progressive and open-minded than was common for our region. Alone among the public schools in our state, this school system had a drop-out rate of zero. Ninety-nine point five percent of the seniors graduating from the high school went on to college. The faculty and staff were paid well above the statewide average. Taxes were higher, but everyone seemed to think that the community got good value for its money. Although it took me several years to learn why, I was struck by the high percentage of faculty who were themselves graduates of the high school.

As I said, the township was an island of progressive thinking in a region where "progressive" was commonly viewed as a dirty word. When parents in a nearby school district began a campaign to remove several works of classic literature from their school library as being too "pornographic," the parents in our district started a campaign to put the works of Anais Nin in our school library. They succeeded too.

I'm not sure how it started, but Cassie and Sandy were fast friends within a couple of months of us moving into the area. Sara and I had no complaint. Sandy was well-behaved, polite, and surprisingly articulate and thoughtful for a child. Like Cassie, Sandy was an only child. Soon the two girls were staying over at each other's homes. There was never a hint of a problem.

Our daughters were so close that it was, I suppose, inevitable that we would become friends with Sandy's parents, Mike and Vickie. Sara and I were financially comfortable. I am a lawyer and Sara is an architect. Mike and Vickie were, however, wealthy.

Coming straight out of engineering school, Mike had appreciated that there would be a growing demand for companies that did environmental remediation and that, given that the need for their services was often urgent, such companies would have substantial pricing power. Somehow, he had found the capital to start an environmental remediation firm in his twenties and had been extremely successful. Later on, he branched into related businesses such as consulting with industry to avert, rather than just clean up, environmental problems. Vickie was a successful ophthalmologist.

Mike and Vickie had a mansion about a mile from our house. Sara and I dined there many times as did Mike and Vickie at our more modest home. One of us was frequently driving both girls somewhere until they got their drivers' licenses. Mike was obviously very bright, and a truly gentle human being. Vickie was blonde, sexy, very smart, very energetic, and sometimes very direct. In sum, they were good people for whom we developed great respect and with whom we developed a friendship.

As they got into high school, Cassie and Sandy also developed, into very beautiful young ladies. Sandy was much like her mother: blonde, a bit short, with a full figure that was impossible to ignore. Cassie also took after her mother: a bit tall with long gorgeous legs, a small firm butt, and moderate but firm breasts. Like her mother she had fine brown hair and a face which became more beautiful the longer you looked at her.

As a small child, Cassie had not been interested in sports. However, Sandy was a tennis player and had Cassie playing before she finished eighth grade. Sandy was a good player, even as a child. What surprised me was that Cassie rapidly developed into a very good player as well. I guess Cassie has inherited her mother's athleticism. God knows it didn't come from me. In their freshman year of high school, the two girls were already playing doubles on the varsity team.

My next surprise came when both girls tried out to be cheerleaders during the summer after freshman year. I had always thought of cheerleading as being something that objectified women and of cheerleaders as peripheral to the games at which they cheered. I had thought that Cassie and Sandy were both too intelligent and too independent to want to be cheerleaders. I was not, however, surprised that both girls made the squad. I was surprised again that they stayed with it, cheering during the fall and winter seasons and playing tennis in the spring.

Before Cassie came along, Sara and I had certainly not been prudes. Several of our trips together had been to nude resorts and we had even gone to Hedonism once. However, following Cassie's birth, Sara had become very self-conscious about her body. We also felt that we owed it to Cassie to live our lives a bit closer to the straight and narrow. Our nudist experiences of our twenties were ancient history by the summer between Cassie's junior and senior years.

Another, coincidental, link between Sandy and Cassie was that their birthdays were just a day apart. Both girls turned 18 about a month after finishing their junior years. Of course, Mike and Vickie hosted a large party for both girls (we provided the food). Given that it was a bunch of teenagers out of school for the summer, the party was very well-behaved.

Damn near anything was likely to be discussed at out dinner table. Still, Cassie caught me very off-guard about a week after her and Sandy's party.

"I was talking to Sandy today. Her parents had wanted to get some family pictures taken once she turned 18 so they did it yesterday. It sounded really great. All three of them were nude."

I was sure that I had heard my daughter incorrectly. "What was that last part?" I asked.

Cassie casually replied, "Sandy and her mom and dad had their pictures taken in the nude by a professional photographer."

Still not fully understanding what Cassie was saying, I asked, "Together?"

Cassie gave me her infrequent, but usually earned, look that silently asked how her father could be so dense. "Of course together."

I looked at Sara who just shrugged as if to say that this was news to her also. However, Sara did not look as appalled as I think I must have. There was an extended silence which Cassie finally broke.

"Sandy said that it took a couple of hours and was a lot of fun. They should have the proofs in a few days. I can't wait to see them."

Another, longer silence settled over the table. Cassie broke this silence too. Although, this time, she was a little hesitant and less self-assured.

"Mom, Dad, do you think that is something we could do?"

This time, I knew exactly what Cassie was asking. However, I wanted it out there expressly. I was also interested to see if my daughter could say it outright. "Do what? I asked.

Cassie shot me another, more ambiguous, look and then looked at her mother. "Could we have our picture taken together with all three of us naked?"

Well, I gave her credit for saying exactly what she meant. "So, you want your mother and me to see you naked?" I asked, thinking that I'd embarrass her into swiftly dropping the idea.

Cassie gave me another of the "dumb dad" looks. "Dad, I'm a cheerleader. That isn't something you do if you're hung up about people seeing your body." Then Cassie grinned. "Dad, I think it will bother you a lot more for me to see you naked than it will bother me for you to see me. I want to see you, though. I bet you look pretty good with nothing on. Doesn't he Mom?"

Sara diplomatically did not answer. I took note that Cassie had used "will" as if this was something that was definitely going to happen rather than the conditional "would" appropriate for this kind of theoretical discussion.

Ignoring me now, Cassie looked at Sara. "Can we do it, Mom?"

Sara gave a non-response. "Well, Cassie, we need to think about it. This isn't something we've thought about doing before."

Cassie smiled; relieved I think that her mother had not dismissed the idea immediately. "Talk to Sandy's mom about it. I'm sure she'll explain to you why it is a good thing to do."

After dinner, I asked Sara "What was that about nude pictures?"

Sara giggled. "The more I think about it, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. We posed for more than a few pictures in the buff years ago. They're still around somewhere. The only difference is that our daughter would be with us this time."

"Don't you think that is a pretty big difference?" I asked.

Sara thought for a moment. "I'm not sure if it is or not. She's 18 now. Let me talk to Vickie. I promised Cassie that I would, so I have to do it."

A couple of nights later, I was lying on our bed reading for a while before going to bed. Sara plopped on the bed beside me. "I talked to Vickie about her and Mike having nude pictures taken with Sandy."

After a moment of no elaboration, I asked "Well?"

Sara smiled. "They did do it, in case you were wondering. Vickie is very, very positive about it; but she thought that you and I ought to talk to her and Mike about it before we say anything more to Cassie. They invited us over for drinks and dinner Saturday night. Very casual."

I shrugged. "Ok if you want to."

Sara rolled partway on top of me and gave me a long kiss. The kiss was much longer than was typical in our twentieth year of marriage.

Saturday was a hot day. However, Sara and I decided to walk to Vickie and Mike's rather than take the car. We thought that it wouldn't be too bad because most of the route was very shaded by trees. It was environmentally correct and the exercise never hurts. Around six p.m., we set out dressed very casually in polo shirts and shorts. I carried a couple of bottles of good wine.

I was hotter than we expected. Sara and I were both a bit sweaty when we knocked on Vickie and Mike's front door. Vickie answered, looking as inviting as ever.

"I applaud you for not using your car," she said, "but it looks like you paid a price. Come in!"

Vickie and Mike's house was familiar to us, but it never failed to impress me when I walked it. The second thing that impressed me was that, after walking a mile in the summer heat, their air conditioning felt downright cold.

Vickie seemed to read my mind. "Let's go straight through to the back," she said. "You may be more comfortable out by the pool."

I knew that Vickie and Mike had a pool. Although Cassie came here to swim with Sandy, Sara and I had never been invited to use it. The pool was impressively large. Being on the back of their house, it was surrounded only by their yard and woods beyond that.

Mike walked out behind us. "Welcome. May I get you a drink?" I handed Mike the two bottles of wine. "Would you like me to open one of these or would you like a real drink before dinner?" he asked.

We both turned to Sara, who asked for a vodka-tonic. I asked for the same. Mike looked at his wife and asked "martini Dear?" Vickie nodded. Mike took the wine inside and was back in a few moments with drinks. He handed Sara and me ours and then walked over beside his wife.

Mike started, "Thanks for coming over. I'm sorry that we've never had you two out by the pool before, but there was a reason. Now may be the time."

Vickie, smiling as always, added, "You two look so hot. A swim before dinner would probably feel wonderful." I started to point out that we hadn't brought suits, but Vickie raised a finger to stop me. Smiling and looking as innocent as someone as sexy as Vickie could look, she said, "We've had one rule since we put the pool in a couple of years ago: no suits. Everyone who uses our pool has to use it nude."

I was a bit more shocked than I probably should have been. I started to politely protest, but Mike and Vickie had already kicked off their sandals. Mike was unbuttoning his shorts as Vickie pulled her top over her head. Looking to Sara I could see that she also had her shoes off already and was unbuttoning her shorts.

Addressing my wife, I asked "Did you know about this?" Sara just smiled at me and dropped her shorts. She had gone commando that evening. Turning back to our hosts, I saw that Mike and Vickie were completely naked. I sighed, "Oh well, when in Rome..." I kicked off my sandals, pulled my shirt over my head, and dropped my shorts and underwear in one motion.

Suddenly, the four of us were standing stark naked beside Vickie and Mike's pool. Vickie spoke again, "One thing we've learned with newbies is that everyone should take a good long look before we get in the water. That gets it out of the way so there's less sneaky peaking later and it makes it clear that it is ok to look." She smiled and spread her arms. "It is ok to look."

My first look was at Sara. As always, Sara looked absolutely stunning naked. The very stark tanlines made her nudity seem more erotic. Looking at Vickie, my first thought was that she looked stunning naked too. Then I wondered, if they always swim nude, why does she have tanlines? The next thought which flashed into my brain with an element of panic was "holy shit, Cassie swims over here!"

Mike must have read my mind. "Harry," Mike said in a serious tone, "I've never seen the girls out here. Sandy isn't allowed to invite Cassie over to use the pool if I'm going to be home." Mike was looking me straight in the eye. I believed him.

Vickie cheerfully called "Everyone in the pool." She walked to the edge and gracefully dove in. Sara grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the pool. We dove in together. We swam to the far end of the pool. Sara gave me a tight hug.

Looking back towards the house, we saw Mike carefully set our drinks by the edge of the pool. The he walked back into the shade and brought out a disk-shaped object. He dropped it into the pool where it floated. Mike then slid into the water, and carefully set our drinks on the float. Pushing it ahead of himself, Mike walked about halfway across the pool's width in a part that had about four feet of water. "Here are the drinks. You'll have to come here t get them. This is a close to a waiter as I get."

Sara giggled, took my hand, and we walked towards the drinks float, careful not to create a wave that would upset it. Just as we got there, Vickie surfaced a few feet away and walked over. The float was only about 24 inches in diameter, so we were touching as we stood and sipped our drinks. Mike was across the float from me with Vickie between us on one side and Sara between us on the other.

Pushing her hair back, Vickie took a sip of her drink. Then she said, "Sara, Harry, you did good. A lot of people are more shocked the first time we invite them to swim naked with us. Of course, Sara tells me that you two used to be nudists too."

I asked Vickie, "So, are you nudists?"

Vickie smiled. "Lifelong. That's how Mike and I met. We went to the same college. Someone had posted notices around school for an organizational meeting for a college nudists club. Mike and I and another guy were the only people who showed up."

Mike chimed in, "I had been skinny dipping throughout high school, mainly with the guys. I loved the freedom of not having anything on. When I saw Vickie at the meeting, I thought that any woman that beautiful who was willing to let others think that she might go nude was worth getting to know."

Vickie laughed. "My parents were nudists. Most of our family vacations were to some place like Cypress Cove. Anyway, it was winter, but Mike told me that he knew how to get into the IM pool after hours and asked me if I'd like to go on a skinny-dipping date. How could I refuse that? We went to that pool a lot. We had it to ourselves late on Friday and Saturday nights. We were both naked and, well" Vickie smiled more broadly, "you can imagine what happened. But, you can't imagine how good it was."

Vickie paused and then turned the focus to us. "Sara told me that you two used to go to Club Orient, Paradise Lakes, even hedonism. I doubt that you're prudes. Why did you stop nuding?"

Sara decided to field that. "Like I told you when we talked a couple of days ago, when Cassie was born, Harry and I decided that we needed to live more plain vanilla for her sake. What I didn't tell you is that, for a long time after Cassie was born, I thought that the pregnancy had changed my body and I didn't want people to see me naked."

Mike said, "Well, we can understand your thinking about Cassie. We never went nude around Sandy or allowed her to go nude around me until she turned 18. Well, you know a little about that. But, Sara, I have to say, and I hope that you don't take this wrong; you should not be at all embarrassed about your body. You are very beautiful naked."

Sara blushed slightly. "Thanks Mike. That's what Harry kept telling me. It has taken me a long time to internalize it, if I have."

Vickie added, "Sara, dear, our bodies all change as we have children and get older." She lifted one of her breasts. "I'm getting droopy." (She wasn't.) That's no reason to deny yourself the pleasure of going naked with other people." Vickie paused, sipped her drink, and then grinned. "Besides, you need to get Harry naked around other women. One look at that dick and every girl will envy you. Not me, of course, I have Mike, but there aren't too many Mikes and Harrys out there. I can tell you . . . ." Vickie stopped herself. "Whoops," she said.

I noticed that Mike quickly said, "I better start the grill. Come on Harry, you can help me. We're not dressing for dinner. Let's give the girls some eyecandy."

We climbed out of the pool. Mike lit his massive grill built into a wall along the pool deck. I followed him into their kitchen and helped him carry out steaks. As he cooked them, I noticed that he stood away from the grill and leaned in. In response to my question, Mike explained "I never wear an apron because Vickie wants to see my dick. I stand back so I don't get hot grease on it."

As the steaks cooked, Vickie and Sara got out of the pool. Both toweled off then dropped their towels and walked into the house. Soon they were back carrying bowls of green salad and pasta salad. Watching them setting the patio table naked, I thought that there simply could not be two more beautiful women anywhere.

Soon we were eating a simple but wonderful meal and drinking wine without a stitch on among the four of us. After we'd finished the food and cleared the table, Vickie poured more wine. Sitting down, she said, "We asked you here to tell you about the nude photos we took with Sandy. Well, the real reason we asked you here was because we like you and thought that it was past timed to get your clothes off. But, I promised Sara we'd talk about the photos too."

Vickie sipped some wine then resumed. "It was a great experience for us. Of course, Sandy has known for years that we are nudists and has wanted to join us. We thought it was better to wait until she was past puberty and the rollercoaster of the early and middle teens. We promised her that we'd all do something naked together once she turned 18. The photos were her idea."

Not knowing how to frame my question elegantly, I asked, "So, what was the experience like?"

Vickie said, "Well, once Sandy said that was what she wanted to do, we hunted quite a while to find a reputable photographer who does nudes. We didn't want some sleaze. Jeffrey is wonderful and agreed that we own the pictures, although I'm sure that he has the images on his computer somewhere. We got there. He gave us each some wine and then asked us to undress so that there wouldn't be marks from our clothes on our skin. His studio was nice and warm. He told us that it usually takes 30 to 45 minutes for the skin to fill out and erase the marks from women's panties and that those marks are more noticeable on prints than to the naked eye. Sandy and I told him that we hadn't worn any panties, but we both had to show him our asses to convince him. That took about 20 minutes. He did, I don't know, maybe a hundred shots. Each of us individually, front back, and sides. Mike and me in a number of poses, Sandy and me, Mike and Sandy, all three of us together. I will say that there was a lot of skin to skin contact between all three of us, but no one minded that. Of course, Sandy and I had seen each other nude some. Mike, what was it like for you as the guy?"