In a 1957 Allen Ginsburg case, the U.S. Supreme Court defined obscenity as material without “socially redeeming value." This allowed photographers and artists for the first time to publish male frontal nudity under the guise of health and art, but not eroticism.  By the mid-1960s, photography at nudist camps was well under way and was justified by promoting a healthy lifestyle of living naked full time under the southern California sun.

Bob Mizer shot photos during these two years at several desert camps like Ramona Ranch, Hemet, and Homeland for himself and for other clients like distributor Wyngate and Bevins, one of the first porn mogul companies. He also shot nude films that focused on athleticism in preparation for the coming change in laws, like the two bonus films here featuring Joe Dallesandro and Monte Hanson. This is a rare slice of Mizer's world and creative output, because these films were barely seen as by late 1967, sexual nudity would be legalized and nudist films were quickly forgotten.