Interview: Robert Nailon Pumps Up TheArnoldCollection.com!

During twelve years of bodybuilding competition, Robert Nailon came into contact and trained with many of the greats of he bodybuilding world such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Frank Zane, Larry Scott, Dave Draper and Reg Park. During these days of high Pumping Iron adventure, many of the greatest black and white photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger were taken by Nailon.  During Arnold’s bodybuilding career, Robert became close friends with The Austrian Oak. Schwarzenegger, impressed with Robert’s photography skills, let him take thousands upon thousands of shots of the youthful bodybuilding icon. Decades later, he is preparing to sell these rare prints to the fans! At last we’ll be able to purchase some rare Arnold bodybuilding prints and many of them have never been seen! TheArnoldFans will surely be following Robert’s website at TheArnoldCollection.com to see what new images pops up for sale.

TheArnoldFans: Why has it taken so long to share these never-before-seen Arnold photos from the greatest era of bodybuilding?

Robert Nailon: When they were first taken I licensed a lot to Robert Kennedy from Muscle-Mag International. Some were published and some were not. Over the years I have licensed him most of my Arnold photos for use in his magazines exclusively; he was the only one who I would allow to use my photos. Of course, each generation has seen a few of these photos – not all of them. But with each 10 years or so there is a new generation, so this means they have never seen the photos before due to the fact they had not been around the last time I opened my collection up. Eventually most of the photos will be seen.

The 1960s and 1970s was a different era in bodybuilding, drug may have been in there a bit but it was more about hard training, diet and rest. Joe Gold told me personally “This IS the golden age of Bodybuilding” I was lucky I was a part of it and knew the people I did. America always has been the number one place for bodybuilders in the world.  Venice beach (Muscle Beach) was the number 1 spot to be. I have heard many stories from the top bodybuilders including Steve Reeves, George Eiferman and Reg Park, etc. Russ Warner – the photographer who took the best photo of Steve Reeves sent me his best print of the famous photos.

TheArnoldFans:  How did you meet Arnold and who decided that you'd be one of Arnold's top photographers?

Robert Nailon: I first met Arnold in 1972 when Bob Bruce bought him out to Australia the first time for the ‘Mr. Southern Universe’ competition, which was held in Queensland. HE first flew into Sydney and had a press conference in the Journalists room at Sydney international airport. That day I went with my girlfriend Janet, took my Super8 movie camera and my color stills camera. Arnold had just come in from a long flight from Los Angeles, which was 15 hours, he answered all of the questions from the journalists and he recognized me from ‘Health & Strength’ Magazine in England, which I had my articles and photos published on the opposite page to his!

TheArnoldFans: How was your reunion with Arnold when you saw him again a few days ago?

Robert Nailon: After having photos taken with hundreds of people I was the last on the queue, so it took him 20-30 seconds to recognize who I was! But when he did we connected again for the first time in many years! We had a few laughs and said we would see each other again soon. We couldn’t talk much because he had other commitments in the next room for dinner that people had paid a lot of money for.

TheArnoldFans:  Were there any images of Arnold with nude models that he didn't want shown? Did Schwarzenegger get to approve the images before they are all released? Were any images not approved to be released?

Robert Nailon: There were photos with nude models taken, but they were done exclusively with ‘Muscle Builder’ under Weider Enterprises.

TheArnoldFans:  How many years did you shoot Arnold and what is your all-time favorite one(s)?

Robert Nailon: Well I first started taking photos in 1972 and then in 1974, 1975, then in the USA in 1978, 1979 and 1981. I also had a photo-shoot in 1980 when Arnold won his last Mr. Olympia, I bought all of the negatives and color slides from friends and professional photographers. So I have more shots of the 1980 Olympia then anyone else on this earth.

TheArnoldFans:  What are your top 3 Arnold movies?

Robert Nailon: The only two I didn’t like were ‘Junior’ and ‘Twins’, but my favorite 3 were Kindergarten Cop, True Lies and The Last Action Hero. I have always enjoyed Arnold as leading man in his movies.

TheArnoldFans: When will all the images become available to see for people to purchase?

Robert Nailon: The images will be available as a final release as soon as we can put them together and I feel happy with the end result. Hopefully within the next couple of months my son will have the first 20 images digitized, cleaned up and ready for the fans. After that we will then release 10 at a time until the whole collection is available!

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