Hundreds of volunteers - including some from Lancashire and Cumbria - have stripped naked for a public photo shoot marking the 10th anniversary of the Lowry Gallery in Salford.
Amercian cameraman Spencer Tunick was commissioned to staged the "Everyday People" art installation used amateru models in eight different locations across Manchester and Salford.
Tunick's aim was to capture the movement of everyday people and reflect the work of artist LS Lowry who was famed for his stylised paintings showing people in the industrial landscape of the North West
The photographs will form part of an exhibition "Everyday Peopled" at The Lowry Gallery in Salford that runs from June to September.
New York-based Tunick has photographed thousands of nude volunteers across the world, most recently at the Sydney Opera House in Austrlia, last month.
The Lowry event, involving 1,000 naked men and woman is his first multiple location art installation and was completed over Saturday and Sunday.
The event was over-subscribed and Tunic said: ""I think I have done enough works in England where there's sort of acceptance of my work as an art form and people really want to pose.
"I mean, we had people signing up to do this, and so we had to get that number down to 1,000. It's taken me about 10 years to gain the trust of the English public."
Over Saturday and Sunday, 500 volunteers were bussed to the eight secret locations and asked to pose naked while Tunick created his piece of work.
The event started on Saturday morning at Peel Park in Salford where our pictures show the phtographer and his models in the throes of the very first stage of the event.
One volunteer was Joyce Stevens, 56, a Personal Assistant/Secretary from Liverpool who said "I wanted to push my boundaries and see how far I could go.
"When I was registering initially I didn’t know what it was letting myself in for. Towards the end it was a bit chilly but I feel like I’ve accomplished something. Liberated is probably not the word but maybe that will kick-in when I’m back sitting on the bus and a bit warmer."
Chris Walton, 18, nightclub promoter from Altrincham, Cheshire said: "I’m always looking for new experiences and fancied doing something a bit crazy, so when I heard this on the news I thought it was right up my street!
"When you’re getting your kit off in a situation like this you have a laugh about it with your mates, because there’s a safety in numbers thing.
"At times we all had to move in one direction. Whether getting naked in a park is the right direction to be moving-in is a different question, but maybe something will come from it."
Sharon and Rob Tranter, 33 and 30, a staff nurse and student from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria said:" We’d seen the Sydney one and though we’d have a go.
"We were really nervous this morning with butterfles in our stomachs but it’s been really great. It was the fear of the unknown more than anything and it got more nerve-wracking the closer we got to stripping our clothes. But once we had done it, with everyone else it felt absolutely fine and the nerves vansihed to be replaced with a sense of elation.
"It looks beautiful that you can see everyone’s different skin tones and boyd shapes. Some people will think of it as voyeurism or exhibitionism, but it is art. There’s nothing sexual about it. It just seemed so natural.
Julia Harvey, 58, an NHS employee from Liverpool sadi: "It was on the BBC TV programme Look North West saying that it was taking place because of the Lowry anniversary.
"I think it just sounded such an off-the-wall ida and a bit bizarre that I thought ‘why not?’. I wanted to take part because I thought it was going to be a challenging and interesting event.
"You see Spencer’s pictures but you have no idea how they’re put together so it was a bit nervous. It was interesting to see what he did and I can’t wait to see the finished product.
"It was great talking to the range of people of different ages and attitudes because some were up for it and others were a bit reluctant or unsure and took a bit longer to get their kit off.
"Only a couple of people knew that I took part in it so it will be interesting to see peoples’ reactions about whether it was sleazy and whether they will judge me for taking part.".
Marc Lyth, 38, an NHS admin officer and member of St John's Ambulance Brigade, from Salford said: "It came through our email system that they wanted first-aiders to come and look after five hundred naked people so my name was first on the list!
"I'd seen bits on the news about it so I thought it would be interesting to come down and see it for myself. I was doing the First Aid but I felt so uncomfortable being fully-clothed with people walking past me maked that I got involved and stipped-off myself and joined-in, since we had enough first-adiers to cover the job.
"When you think about it, naked is the most natural state of the human body. It’s clothes that are unnatural really. It might not be the most social thing to walk around naked but this event certainly shouldn’t be viewed as negative as pervy in any way."
Michael Simpson, from The Lowry, said: "I think Lowry would really like it because his whole mission for him was to paint ordinary, everyday people going around their daily lives.
"The people who feature in this project are doing something extraordinary, with no clothes on, but they are just ordinary people, all different colours and shapes and sizes.
"He would like the fact that it is not high-brow or pretentious, just ordinary people. He would be amused, even a bit bemused probably."
Mounted branch mark 100 years of service
(Fri 18/05)
Bamber Bridge paedophile sentenced to jail
(Thu 17/05)
Mick, London around 2 years ago