Search for the Truth

Revised 1/16/23

We return to the examination of the images of debatable authenticity in this post.  Refer to my earlier post The Unknown for initial comments.

This is a picture that gets a lot of play in places where this topic is considered.  I’m inclined to think it is an authentic, original image captured in a club setting such as the Y.  Just in this one dive, it is apparent the difference in skill levels among the participants.  The one most prominent in the foreground seems to be leaving a little late and his fingers are splayed as though he’s trying to ward off the water rather than plunge into it.  Others have well tucked heads and straight arms, suggesting better form. 

This is also a faked image, coming from a Photoshop user on April 28, 2014

One could simply conclude that this is a good example of the practices of the period we’re considering and move on.  The males are all naked (as far as can be seen) and the few females are dressed.  However, that does not account for the naked pot-bellied gentleman just off the center of the shot.  He’s obviously not a competitor.  There were at least a couple of accounts that mentioned coaches that were nude for competitions as well as practices. He doesn’t have the physique of a typical swimming coach, but he may have aged in place. 

There is a fully dressed woman seated at a folding table in what seems to be a scoring attitude.  She is surrounded by three other females, who seem to be wearing swim suits. At this level of resolution, the females’ hairdos and the scorer’s long skirt look like 1950’s. Supporting that dating, the boy at the number 5 spot has a pompadour style haircut that was chic for teens in the 50’s.  The others’ hair would be considered “proper” for the time. So far, the case is strong for authenticity.

Now for the spoiler: This image was manipulated.  But it was not Photoshopped. The ambiguous metadata says only that it passed through a software called “Google.”  Google has a photo editing app, so that it likely what is being referenced. It is possible that this image was assembled from a bunch of disparate elements.  If so, this was a hard-working forger.

A badly timed shot shows one naked driver in the background.  I’m calling this one “good.”  Nothing to quibble about.  It doesn’t look like a typical faker’s target image.

Quite a turn out for whatever this was. And the crowd is the story.  The spectators in the stands on the right side appear well-dressed on a summer’s day, reminiscent of times before the 1960’s when coats and ties were typical even at a ball game.

The spectators on the decks, however, seem to be mostly in uniform.  The middle deck clothing is dark as in navy blue.  The top deck looks like the occupants are in khaki.  The people on the porch on the ground floor includes one guy who appears to be in a waistcoat uniform complete with service ribbons reminiscent of the Eisenhower jacket of World War II.  Was this an inter-service academy competition?  Maybe right after the war when a lot of men could be seen in uniform. And the huge audience?  I have a feeling that we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.  This may be a European event. 

By the way, this was Photoshopped on October 19, 2014 by a troll using a McIntosh.

As long as we’re talking about well-attended events, this one drew a crowd as well. While he seems to be in the throes of a somersault, the audience is getting my attention.  There appears to be line of naked men ascending and descending a stair or path immediately below and to the right of our subject.  Although the distant background is indistinguishable, the non-swimmers in the foreground are well turned out.  This is therefore not a nudist event, but a typical (for its time) competition in which the males are nude.  I’m endorsing this one, although I haven’t a clue as to the time and place.

Let’s take a break from the action and look at a few figure shots.

Faked using photoshop and a McIntosh on July 30, 2014.

This guy has a great build but what’s up with his little guy?  It looks like it’s in a candy wrapper (not just uncut – unusual).  The woman behind him seems to be holding a long textile, like a towel or robe, but there is no indication that she’s interacting with him.  Was this guy deprived of his speedo by a faker who botched giving him a penis? 

I’m leaning toward “altered” on this one.

A very seductive image. The scenario is that his girlfriend came to his swim meet and they posed for a picture afterward.  He is completely at ease being seen and photographed nude in public. She’s proud of her man. Perfect.

But … Fact is, this was Photoshopped on October 1, 2014 on a Mcintosh.

Here is what it looked like originally. She appears to be wearing nothing but body paint and he is definitely nude.  This is the reverse of what one might expect of a faker, but it is not unique among the images posted on this blog – dressing the girl to create a CFNM situation. Of course, the intent of the original picture considering its staging is open to debate.

… But not the kind implied by the first version above.  The altered version contained meta data, but not the Photoshop type, so it took the discovery of this original to clinch its status – faked.

This young man’s predicament is garnering the amused attention of the moms as well as the suited girls to his left.  To his credit, he merely continues with his head gear preparations.  Taken at face value, this image is intriguing.

The moms are telling, particularly the two generously proportioned seated ladies.  Obesity has become more prevalent – and accepted – in the past few decades, somewhat after our period of interest.  The clothing and hairdos on all of the women seem very contemporary – what you might expect to see around any community pool today.

So where is this modern oasis of community-accepted nude male swimming?  I read one account which took place in the 90’s (see “Frank’s” comments in Resource 10).  A man related an incident at a Maine vacation community where he was a property owner. His teenaged daughter was engaged in coaching boys in their swimming technique.  The boys were nude and she was in a suit.  The upshot is that this practice may have persisted much later than originally thought, albeit in certain private settings.

All that being said, this is almost surely a fake.

Let’s return to action shots.

There an interesting mix of elements here.  The swimmers all have caps but not goggles, which might suggest the latter end of our period.  The universal use of caps is a concern but not a deal breaker for this dating. Looking further, the two bystanders against the back wall (who seem to be recording data) are both in white shirts and ties.  They have a middle manager look from the 1950’s or 60’s. 

All that having been said, this image was Photoshopped on a McIntosh device on October 27, 2007.

Let’s take inventory: masks, goggles and a modern facility (compare with the appearance of the physical plant in the previous picture); only two nude swimmers and everyone else in the image is dressed with the exception of the one guy on the far side of the pool.

In the European meets, there are dressed officials, so maybe that’s what is occurring here.  If it is, then this is a grey scale fake.  Either way, I don’t think this is a genuine example of what we’re studying here.

Not sure what this guy in a water polo cap and facial hair is up to.  The goal is at the other end of the pool behind the racing starting blocks and beyond his nude companions.  No point in belaboring this one, I’m convinced this not from our era.

Without belaboring the point, this picture was Photoshopped on October 19, 2014 on – you guessed it – a McIntosh computer.

Ditto on April 28, 2014.

The following two images seem to be related.  I believe they document a nude swimming competition – probably European and very recent.  The officials and support personnel are probably employed by the host swim club that is not normally nudist, hence they are dressed in uniform costumes.

Different event, same idea.  The one female on the right looks like she’s taking pictures.

The bushy hair on these young guys tends to suggest the 1970’s. The lack of goggles and caps would support that dating. The females in the background are not dressed for swimming.  They seem to be in the role of monitors as in the previous few frames. 

My impression based on experience, is that this type of shot is the easiest to fake.  Sure enough, this was Photoshopped on April 12, 2012 by our friend the McIntosh guy.

This tightly cropped shot is hiding the larger context (probably for a reason).  It may also be altered in the way described under the previous image. The goggles and caps argue for a later time period.

The metadata shows that this image was run through an obsolete photo editor app (Picasa) on a date unknown.  I’ll give you one guess as to what change was made.

I found this is image some time ago (the stamp says I downloaded it in 2014), but then I found a very recent (2021) blog posting (first item under Resource 11) by what must be a septuagenarian who had the nude swimming experience at the YMCA beginning in the 1950’s. He claimed to have scanned and posted this picture found in some family effects.  He speculated that his mother took the photo at one of his meets which would have occurred in the 1950’s or 60’s (probably the latter, since it is in color).  Given the posting date of the cited resource, I have my doubts about the claim regarding the origin of this shot.  If the blogger was correct, then he must have posted this years ago in some other on-line hosted site.

Having danced through all of that, I believe that this is an unaltered image. Based on what I can make out of the facility, the competitors and the spectators (mostly male, but there could be one suited female), I’m inclined assign a time frame of early-to-mid 1960’s.

We’ll step aside from this inquiry to consider school yearbooks in our next posting.

Back to Top