Elmer Ray (pictured above)
Operations manager, Odenton, Maryland
You drove from Maryland to come here?
We have a self-driving car, so it’s easy for us to go and do a little getaway for a day. We come three to four times a season. We get up around 6 a.m., have breakfast at the house, and usually head out around 8 a.m. We spend four or five hours here and come right back.
Have you always been comfortable with nudity?
I was raised Catholic, and my mom — I love her and she meant no harm — always said if you’re naked outside of the bathroom, your angels will leave you and you’ll have no angels to protect you. So I always viewed nudity as something bad. I didn’t start the nudist way of life until I was 28 or 29, but since then, I’ve been going to nude parties. My husband and I have had nude gatherings at the house; we’ve had nude dinners, nude lunches, nude brunches. They’re nonsexual, just plain nudity.
Does your mom know?
Absolutely not.
Mikey Gülçiçek
Photographer, Greenwood Heights
Did you strip down right away?
Almost everyone I arrived with immediately got naked. So I just took it all off and then we went for a little putivuelta, which is when you do a little tour of the club or the dance floor and you want SABS — to see and be seen. I didn’t meet any romantic interests, but it was fun to chat with people naked.
Jossuie Williams
Habilitation specialist, Williamsbridge
Lucas L.
Firmware engineer, Princeton, New Jersey
Jennifer Leckstrom
PR-firm SVP, North Haledon, New Jersey
Nikolaos Tzanavaris
IT systems administrator, Morrisville, Pennsylvania
J. Zheng
Graduate student, Princeton, New Jersey
What was your first time coming here like?
I was with my boyfriend, and we were both avoiding taking off our clothes. Like, “Oh, our towels need to be cleaned one more time,” “We should straighten out our umbrella.” But you just have to jump in. You realize that no one cares about you.
George-Raymond
Empowerment specialist, Washington, D.C.
Coz Serghis
Banker, Highlands, New Jersey
Eric Salaam Jr.
Underwriting assistant, Blackwood, New Jersey
Do you ever get fully naked?
I don’t, typically. I flip between this swimsuit and a sarong. Sarongs are my way of life. The moment the weather changes, I wear that to the grocery store, to the bank, to the pharmacy. I’m in a sarong from May until September.
Ariel Criss Harris
Content writer, Bloomfield, New Jersey
Do you put on more sunscreen at a nude beach?
I’m awful. I’ve gotten better about it because I’m really into skin care for my face, so I was like, Okay, Ariel, you can’t put all this money and effort into making your face look young and supple and then fry it in the sun. But I’m actually more of a tanning-oil person.
Bas Poranski
Funeral director, Asbury Park, New Jersey
Come here often?
This was my first time in five years. I had a lot of anxiety about coming before top surgery because if you’re trans and naked and haven’t had any surgeries, it’s easy for people to perceive you incorrectly. But I just had top surgery and was finally able to go to the beach and be perceived as who I am and not wear a binder.
Photographs by Frankie Alduino
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