Leonard Nimoy’s Nude Mission

Like the classic "Betty or Veronica" and "Ginger or Mary Ann" debates, how you answer the question "Kirk or Spock?" says a lot about you as a person. (Either way you're a geek, but bear with us.) Even in retirement their alter-egos carry on the battle of "passion vs. logic," only now they do it in the final frontier of nude photography. While William Shatner chooses to get up close (and maybe a little too personal) with Playboy models, Leonard Nimoy has created a nice second career for himself shooting artistic portraits of women you generally won't find in one of his movies.

We've mentioned his "Full Body Project" before, but (two years later) The New York Times has gotten on board with a thoughtful look at this ongoing work, which is currently featured in galleries across the country and will culminate in a book to be released later this year. Naturally, the discussion focuses on his fascination with large women and the paper discovers that for the most part, people don't seem to mind that much. His message of body acceptance hasn't exactly reached the pages of Vogue, but maybe the fact that people might actually want to see pictures of full-sized naked women isn't so shocking these days, even if some of the kids can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea. Enduring all the fat jokes with a Vulcan-like patience is no problem for Nimoy, who clearly sees his work as more than just a hobby (or a one-time lark, like the old captain.) He's out to change minds, one planet at a time.

· "Girth and Nudity, a Pictorial Mission" (nytimes.com)
· Leonard Nimoy Photography (leonardnimoyphotography.com)

Previously: Nudes by Leonard Nimoy, Leonard Nimoy: Full Body Project, William Shatner Does Playboy