What is our initial reaction when we see people without clothing? Our reactions vary. Some people get shocked. Some people find it interesting and worth looking at. But most people find it immoral or offending.

Well there is a huge difference between seeing a picture of a naked person versus seeing it as a nude person. When we say "naked", it means that that certain person is simply stripped off of his/her clothes, and that person is either presented explicitly or vulgarly. On the other hand, a nude person is a naked person who is seen as an object. His/her nudity become her form of clothing. This is where art comes in.

Way back, it has been common for nude paintings to contain women in them; most paintings have nude women as their subject, due to the reason that women during their time were seen as objects of display and admiration, and that men are the ones who view them. And that thought was carried up to now. When we pass by the main roads of Manila, we see huge billboards of women posing in different locations, with different clothes, and projecting their own looks towards the viewers.

Now imagine seeing men instead of women on those billboards. Now that would be very unusual not just owing to the fact that I myself am male, but also because it goes against the tradition or the norm of seeing women on coverpages or in several print ads.

I think that we are both influenced by the western and eastern style. The western, in terms of the subject projecting his/her looks at the viewer, and the eastern, in terms of equality (because man and woman can now have their turn at posing or being the subject himself/herself.