Rochester footballer Nathan Marrone headlines a list of volunteer models who will bare all to be part of a 2023 calendar being prepared by an Echuca photographer as a flood relief fundraiser.
Marrone, who is returning to play with Rochester this year, is a former captain of the club and appeared in the pages of the Sunday Herald Sun alongside the Campaspe River to promote the calendar, which is expected to go on sale by the end of the week.
Brett Hopson is the man behind the concept, using his All Inclusive Photography business as the tool by which he is preparing to launch the calendar.
“I still have three spots to fill, but Nathan and four other Rochester footballers will be part of the calendar,” Mr Hopson said.
Mr Hopson has lived in the Echuca area for 30-odd years and through his involvement in the scouting movement has developed strong relationships with the Rochester community.
“I decided to get involved because I couldn’t do much else due to me being off work with an injury,” he said.
Mr Hopson is a father of five girls, aged from 21 to 11, and lives at Echuca Village.
“We didn’t get hit with the water, but we were evacuated,” he said.
“I have been off work with a workplace injury and wasn’t able to get out to sandbag or clean up.
“I am normally community involved and a couple of guys made the suggestion that I help out by doing a calendar to raise some money.”
He moved into the photography space when his eldest daughter, who had studied photography, put her interest in the business aside and it landed in his lap 18 months ago.
"I can stand up and sit down and take photos,“ the former factory worker said.
Marrone and the Rochester footballers will not be alone as sportsmen in the calendar, with a small group of players from Mathoura also appearing.
An Echuca barber and a man from Cohuna will also appear.
“I’ve been doing the project for the past two weeks. A friend of mine with connections to the area got on board and came over from Shepparton,” Mr Hopson said.
“There is another bloke from Bendigo, and a woman celebrating her birthday convinced her partner and his friend to participate as a birthday present to her.”
He has nine of the months covered and is on the hunt for three more to complete the year’s worth of images.
“I am at the stage of doing a few image adjustments and am working with a couple of printers to get the best deal on printing the calendars,” he said.
Mr Hopson said he didn’t mind where the “models’’ come from, saying it was a light-hearted body positive project.
"There are men of all different shapes and sizes, including a couple of bigger fellas, in the calendar,“ he said.
There will be an online sales component and the calendar will be promoted through the community Facebook pages.
“If I can get a couple of places to sell them for me I will post where they will be available on the Echuca Moama Community, Nanneella and Rochester community pages,” he said.