Hot naked chicks ...

... inside and out.


Not the most politically correct headline* for a post about Rosanne Olson's awesome new book, "This Is Who I Am," and probably not in fully keeping with the spirit of the enterprise either. But with the help of "... inside and out" maybe it's not so far off.

The actual subtitle of the book is "Our beauty in all shapes and sizes," and the point, as the title suggests, is that women (and the rest of us) can and should appreciate their beauty even if they're not glammed-up Hollywood cover girls. To prove the point, Rosanne interviewed women of all ages and body shapes and also photographed them nude.

The feelings the women share about their bodies, combined with the images, are enlightening and moving -- and, as John Marshall notes in a Seattle P-I piece on the book yesterday, they don't always seem to go together. One roundish woman is actually a triathlete; one attractive young woman is pickily dissatisfied with "flaws" that many people wouldn't notice; a 95-year-old woman seems at peace with who she is and how she looks.

"This Is Who I Am" caught my eye because Rosanne has been a friend since we worked together at the Eugene Register-Guard 25 years ago. She was a terrific newspaper photographer and it doesn't surprise me at all that she's having such success now as a commercial photographer and artist in Seattle.

It's been a long time since we've seen each other -- the last time might have been when Rosanne photographed Greta for the cover of her first CD in 1991 -- and it's been nice catching up with her via email over the past couple of days.

You can see more images and interview excerpts from "This Is Who I Am" at the official site, and also in a P-I photo gallery. Rosanne's appearing on "Good Morning America" on Sunday and has book signings in Portland and Eugene next weekend. I wish her all the best. She deserves it. She too is beautiful inside and out.

(Top photo copyright Rosanne Olson, used by permission)

* But good for SEO