More than 2,500 people doffed their clothing in downtown Montreal Saturday morning to pose for a New York photographer expanding his body of work.

Spencer Tunick was shooting his first Canadian photo session for his internationally renowned Naked Pavement series.

With police watching nearby, the pictures were taken just after dawn in front of Montreal's Museum of Contemporary Art.

The photo shoot

"The most overwhelming part was really when we first took off our clothes," said one man. "Everybody stripping, and the landscape just totally changing."

Although people are not usually allowed to strip in public, Tunick obtained a permit from the Movie Bureau of the City of Montreal. An entire city block was closed for the occasion.

Before the shoot, the photographer said he wanted to portray our collective vulnerability, in a harsh and cruel world.

Spencer Tunick

"I'm going to be forming shapes blocking the pavement," he said. "So I form a sea of pink with brown and yellow and tan... so it will be just pure bodies blocking out the pavement, a sea of bodies."

Tunick has travelled the world to capture the images of his volunteer models whom he often arranges in one large group.

During his five-month "Naked States Tour" a few years ago, he visited and photographed nudes in all 50 U.S. states.

Tunick has been arrested five times since 1995 while taking his pictures.