Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Glamour Photography Philosophy 101

I was surfing around various blogs today using the words "glamour" and "photography" as my search criteria. I stumbled upon one blog that had this to say:

"Glamour photography rides the border between art and pornography, between erotic and graphic, between glamour and exploitation. Too often it crosses the line and preys on young women whose ambition leads them to do things they shouldn't in front of a camera."

Heady stuff, no? (Maybe not, but I thought so.)

But it got me to thinking, once again, about the line between glamour and porn, what constitutes exploitation of our subjects, and whether there are morality issues associated with enabling and/or encouraging others to make decisions that might later bite them on the derrriere.

Here's my take on it:

1. I don't know exactly where the line is between what we call "glamour images" and "porn" but I know it when I see it.

2. Exploitation is part of the foundation of a free market economy. I might also mention that sexploitation is a big part of the marketing of a free market economy.

3. While decisions about what some hopeful women will do and not do in front of a camera have not always been positive, fruit-bearing decisions, for others they most certainly were good choices within the context of their over-all lives and careers. Who am I to make those decisions for them? I'm only responsible for my own, personal behavior and decisions.

No comments: