POSE NAKED FOR A CALENDAR

WE had the photos done in August. It was the back end of summer and quite a nice day. It wasn’t too windy, despite the fact we were by the sea. It was a bit chilly. Luckily that’s not apparent in the photo.

I play for Glenelg and work as the rope man on the Glenelg-Skye ferry during the summer when I’m home from university in Glasgow. The idea for the calendar was first presented to us by Rab Macaskill, who is the club manager, coach and player. A few of us were having a meal in the pub and Rab came up to us and asked: “Do you fancy doing this?” Actually it was more like “this is what’s happening”. The shinty team had done a similar shoot so maybe he took inspiration from them. Our involvement was encouraged to raise funds for the club and have a laugh. Plus they offered us a pint, which was a good incentive.

The photography team explained the idea to a group of us. They said how it was really casual, it wasn’t a big deal, and we said we’d get involved. I was kind of having second thoughts about it, but my pal Ewen went and did his that night. He walked straight out the pub and had photos done by a boat. Once he’d done it I thought, “Ah well!”

I chatted to the photographers about it and they said they could only do the next day, so I had the shoot done the next morning before I clocked on to work on the ferry. I told them it was in quite a nice setting and that I could lean against the lighthouse.

A couple of customers had turned up early for the first crossing so I had to ask them to stand to one side for a second. Luckily I managed to get it done before the skipper showed up.

The photographers seemed to latch on to the humour of the situation, encouraging me to have a laugh. They provided the props – a football – so I just did what was natural.

I thought it’d be a bit more awkward standing there between shots, but they just set me up and took five or six photos. I thought it turned out quite well. I’ve not seen a full copy of the calendar though, as I’ve not been home from university.

The whole calendar shoot was very friendly and they made sure I was comfortable with everything. Probably kit on in front of a hostile crowd would be worse than kit off in front of a lens – there’s actual ridicule involved there.

I play for my university team as well and when the word got out my teammates started joking about doing it down here as well. They also made the usual jokes about “I don’t want to see your so-and-so”.

I think it’s one of those oncein-a-lifetime things, isn’t it? You don’t really get the bug for it. It’s off the bucket list so, no, I probably wouldn’t do it again. I feel like I’ve done my stint.

The Glenelg FC 2017 calendar is available from glenelgteam.com for £10 (plus postage) and Waterstones.

PHOTOGRAPH: KRIS KESIAK