Warning: This article contains images that may be considered NSFW. Viewer discretion is advised.
Photographer Ron Amato has been capturing images of nude men for over two decades. Beginning in 1999 with shoots in Provincetown, Amato has traveled the world capturing gay men in their natural habitats, from the parks of Berlin and Italy to the beaches of Florida and Fire Island, and their homes in Italy, London, and New York. Now a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Amato has teamed up with Out Traveler to create a retrospective of his work.
Amato recalls his first trip to Provincetown, “I first went to Provincetown in the ’90s when a friend asked if I wanted to share a room. I packed my camera and film and headed out, not knowing what to expect. It wasn’t until my second week that I started taking pictures of men in the dunes and on the beach. It was a natural progression to incorporate the body into the landscape, and it started a more than 20-year pursuit of photographs of men in nature.”
As a gay artist, Amato finds inspiration in Provincetown, “There is a deep sense of community among artists, LGBTQ+ folk, and nature lovers. It’s like a Venn diagram and I’m right in the middle.”