A CHORLEY student who calls himself the 'The Naked Photographer' is preparing to bare all with an exhibition of pictures which promises a no-frills look at life in the town.

Christian Moss, 24, is a media and photography student at Preston College and regularly poses nude as a life model at the college. But, in his incarnation as 'The Naked Photographer', he insists his clothes will definitely be staying on.

The seed of his idea came after the Chorley Little Theatre Ladies posed nude for a special 2001 calendar, but it was further inspired by Jamie Oliver, TV's popular Naked Chef.

Christian said: "Jamie Oliver's approach to food is stripping down restaurant dishes to the bare essentials and I used this philosophy in my project."

With the help of a grant from the local council, Christian expanded a college project into a fully-fledged exhibition -- Chorley's Bare Essentials -- taking pictures of what he considered to be fundamental aspects of everyday local life through a special tube to focus on specific details.

He said: "I stripped down life in Chorley to the bare essentials then went out and photographed scenes such as people shopping, drinking in pubs, playing pool, at the train station and so on. I tried to find people doing activities that form the fundamental core of Chorley life."

He said he made a conscious effort to avoid 'classic' Chorley images found in numerous collections and books, such as Astley Hall or Botany Bay, adding: "In my opinion Chorley can be summed up as full of cooked chicken, broken biscuits and drink - it seems that's all you can buy in the town and it also serves as kind of a metaphor for some of the characters you find here."

The exhibition was made possible by a grant from the council's arts development officer Chris Mellor. He said: "The council has backed a number of artistic projects and we are hoping for great things from Christian and his work.

"The exhibition is a modern comment on Chorley as a market town and we hope people will come and see what they think -- you never know, they might even get a new perspective on Chorley."

Chorley's Bare Essentials will go on show at the R 'n' R pub, Mealhouse Lane, in Chorley, from February 20 until March 20. Admission is free.