These Young Slovakian Men Have 'Nothing to Hide'

Photographer Phil Dlab proves that raw, imperfect, and real male bodies deserve the spotlight in his 'Nothing to Hide" series.

Before transitioning to a full-fledged film photographer, Phil Dlab spent years operating another kind of camera — working behind the scenes in Canadian broadcast television, cutting between live feeds and wrangling edits for CPAC, Canada's version of C-SPAN.

If you're wondering how someone moves from dry government coverage to steamy nude male portraiture, the answer might be: more naturally than you'd expect.

Phil was born in Bratislava, Slovakia — back when it was still Czechoslovakia — and moved to Ottawa in the 1980s. He grew up between continents, countries, and cultural influences, eventually landing behind the scenes for various Canadian media companies. But while working in TV, he was more interested in composing shots than transmitting them.

"I was always fascinated with looking through the eyepiece and composing shots," he says.

A creative curiosity had been with him since childhood, but it wasn't until 2018, after a soul-searching ski trip and some nudging from a friend, that Phil decided to turn impulse into pursuit. A year later, he launched Bodytorium, a website devoted to photographing men as they are: candid, vulnerable, unfiltered.

Real Bodies, Real Moments

For Phil, authenticity is everything. He seeks out models who are "not —and don't aspire to be — professional models, exhibitionists, influencers, or OnlyFans performers." Not that there is anything wrong with those categories of people, but for Phil, the work is rooted in the spontaneity and human connection of everyday men.

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