Luxembourg is one of Europe’s smallest countries. With a population of only 672,000, you can drive from the top of the country to the bottom in about an hour and a half. It’s also the richest country in the world per capita—banking and steel production are big businesses.
So queer photographer Pit Reding is a rare find—someone with a sexy underground sensibility living amid perfectly manicured towns.
Reding caught our attention with his new photo series, where he invited gay men out into the woods for naked photo shoots as a commentary about gay male culture’s insatiable appetite for each other’s nude photos. Wander+Lust asked him about his art, what it’s like being a gay artist among millionaires and where to find LGBTQ+ Luxembourg.
When did you start taking pictures?
I started in my early teenage years, just having a camera with me everywhere I went. I actually am a trained graphic designer, but over the years I got more and more into photography. In 2020, I made a decision to switch and took up photography as both my job and my art.
Is it hard to balance photography as your art and your job? Do the two overlap some?
It’s difficult because my art is very queer and naked. That’s something you obviously can’t do as a job with clients. I have to separate my advertising and branding, so my professional clients don’t see my art and get confused about what I can do for them. I mostly do events, corporate events.
What, you don’t have corporate clients who want to be photographed nude?
I once had a client who is a choreographer. His dance pieces are always nudes. I took photos for the promo, which was obviously nude dancers. It was a very fun job.
Your art practice focuses on naked bodies, queerness, how bodies are positioned in interesting spaces. What are you trying to capture?
For me, the most important thing is that people are themselves. When I do a shoot, I don’t really give directions. I just tell them my visual idea. Then I have the models in front of me and I let them be, without telling them to pose or whatever. It’s important for me that they feel comfortable.
Your most recent series is called “Can I Please See Your Private Album?” It’s a phrase that you often get texted on gay hookup apps. The photos depict guys out in the woods behind screens, looking kind of blurred, like locked photos. It’s very clever. Where do you get your ideas from?
Most of my ideas are very personal, but they usually come randomly. I get most ideas before I go to sleep, when my brain is, like, shutting off. For this, the main inspiration was, as stupid as it sounds, Grindr, because they employ this blurry effect when photos are locked. It’s getting at the desire of the gay community, to always see everything and to get the nudes and ask for more and more. Visually, it’s just what I do. I like taking photos outside in nature.
I noticed a lot of your work takes place out in the woods.
Growing up in Luxembourg, nature is everywhere, and I spend a lot of time out in it. I have a favourite spot to take photos that’s close to where I live. My studio is about 500 metres from the only cruising spot in Luxembourg. I take photos in the area, but it wasn’t on purpose that it’s next to a cruising spot.
Do the neighbours notice you with naked people in the woods?
I’ve never been caught. I know my way around to places where there are no paths or anything. I usually bring in two flashes with tripods. That’s all, plus the people I’m working with.
Where do you find your models?
Instagram. Everything is Instagram. It’s very important that I vibe with them. I don’t like arrogant people or typical Instagram models. I mostly look for bigger people just to have that representation. They’re mostly not in Luxembourg. People here are too close-minded to get naked—and publicly. Usually I go to where my models are. For the last series, I did an open call and people contacted me. A lot of them, when I met them, said it’s kinda weird going into the forest with a stranger and getting naked. I could be a serial killer.
How do you win their trust?
I don’t know. I’m a very calm person. I think that helps.
For a visitor, Luxembourg is a small country, perhaps not so well known as your neighbours France, Germany and Belgium. What is there to see and do?
I think it’s good that it is small. You can see the capital city, which is also called Luxembourg, in one or two days. You have the mix of an old town feel and very modern buildings. It’s very pretty and walkable. And there’s free public transportation, though you might need a car when outside of the city. We have beautiful surroundings and a famous castle, Vianden, in the north. It was in ruins actually, but the whole thing was rebuilt in the 20th century.
There’s a beach on Esch-sur-Sûre, which we call a lake, but it’s a river with a dam. The town I live in, Kockelscheuer, is notable because of the steel industry, so you can see evidence of the industry here. An area called Mullerthal is known as Little Switzerland, even though it doesn’t really look like Switzerland. It has rock formations, a waterfall.
What’s LGBTQ+ life like in Luxembourg?
Rosa Lëtzebuerg is the biggest queer organization in the country. I work with them a lot. They organize Pride, which usually happens in mid July, and they operate the Rainbow Centre (19 Rue du St. Esprit, Ville-Haute Luxembourg), which is a place for exhibitions, concerts, discussions. We have one gay bar that opened about a year ago, Letz Boys (60 Grand-Rue, Ville-Haute Luxembourg). It’s mostly gay men, very posh and corporate. Basic pop music. On weekends it gets busy around 10 p.m. There’s dancing, but most people are there to talk and have a drink. Every few months they have drag bingo.
There are a few party organizers and one or two parties a month. Thibault Milan organizes several different parties, including one that’s mostly bear and fetish, and the Banana Party, which is a queer party for everyone.
We also have a bar that’s queer friendly, more of an alternative bar, where bands perform. It’s called De Gudde Wëllen (17 Rue du St Esprit, Ville-Haute Luxembourg), which is on the most Instagrammable street in Luxembourg—balloons and lights hang over the street.
Luxembourg is the richest country in the world per capita and has the most millionaires per capita. Would visitors see evidence of this looking around?
It’s a wealthy country. You can see it in the cars. A car with Luxembourgish plates is going to be a BMW, Audi, Porsche—stuff like that. You do have super pretentious people around, but they’re not the people I’m around, so I don’t really notice.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
