Britons strip down for Spencer Tunick

Spencer Tunick has taken his camera to Britain, where hundreds of volunteers are shedding their clothes for him this weekend in Manchester and neighbouring areas.

The latest photo installation by the 43-year-old New York photographer, famous for his photographs of large numbers of naked people posed in artistic formations, has been commissioned by The Lowry art gallery in Salford, near Manchester, to celebrate its 10th anniversary this summer.

Tunick has photographed thousands of nude volunteers across the world, most recently at the Sydney Opera House in March, but this project, involving 1,000 naked people, will be his first multiple-site installation.

Volunteers are being ferried between the eight secret locations in heated buses. Tunick is shooting at four sites on Saturday and at another four on Sunday.

He said he was inspired to begin the current project after visiting The Lowry, which houses the world's largest collection of the art of the late British artist, Lawrence Stephen Lowry. Lowry's drawings and paintings are characterized by matchstick figures and industrial landscapes, and often sell for millions of dollars at auction.

Titled Everyday People, Tunick's exhibitionwill open at the gallery on June 12 and run until September.

The photographer told BBC Radio that he was inundated with requests to be part of the shoot. More than 4,000 people applied for the 1,000 places.

One of the models is Bob McDevitt, a 42-year-old publisher from Glasgow.

"There's something about people taking their clothes off that is a real leveller," he told The Telegraph.

"Prejudices and concerns go out the window. It's about learning and expressing what it is to be human."

Tunick is looking for volunteers for his next project at The Big Chill music festival at Eastnor Castle near Ledbury, England, Aug. 5-8.