When I critique a photo, I try and look at its artistic merits only, and avoid trying to second guess what someone pictured in the photo may have been feeling or thinking at the time the photo was taken. Similar to watching a movie, when Harrison Ford is running for his life from the huge rolling boulder, it doesn't occur to me to wonder if he was having a bad day on the set, or was comfortable with the shoot, or was worried about what he had to do for the next scene. Similar to my photo I posted at the gallery this week. I expect people to evaluate it for what it is, and not worry about the model herself, what she may or may not be doing at the time of the exposure, or if she's comfortable or not. For what it is worth, the model in question happens to like the photograph very much, feels that "it's very nice and natural" (her words). I also showed the photo to another model/friend who was visiting the other day, and asked her for her opinion of the photo, and specifically to look for any negative aspects of it. She loved the photo, and could find nothing bad about it (and in fact told me that she was jealous that the photo wasn't of her!). I then pointed out the size of the model's hips may be large, and my friend looked surprised and said no, how else would they look? I then asked her if it loked like she was taking a crap, and she just laughed and said of course not (other people have pointed out to me that a) her feet are together and this is not how women relieve themselves outdoors, and b) she is sitting on a flat rock, why would she choose that spot to do it (tongue slightly in cheek)? I have received a lot of positive praise at two other public forums where the photo has appeared. But these forums are accustomed to having nudes posted to them, whereas I suspect the Photoforum gallery is probably not. Could this be the underlying source of the apparent hostility to the photo? The bottom line is, I as the photographer don't think I have shown the model in a bad light, and the model herself doesn't feel that the photo shows her in a bad light. It's really no one elses business. Forget how the model looks, critique the photo on it's own merits, don't worry about the model, she can look after herself. If you don't like the photo, tell me why, don't tell me that her joints hurt, because that simply doesn't concern you. -dan c. At 06:26 PM 27-08-05 -0500, Don Roberts wrote: >I have to agree with Russ plus it makes her look bottom heavy, >something no woman wants. Now what exactly were you thinking, Dan? >Don >
