This is a deceptively simple question and one which was prompted by the statement by an artist I had never heard of before but came across while reading one of my photography books.

The artist, whose name I cannot right now recall, but will remember it I am sure as soon as I have posted this, described the phenomenon whereby the public, will when presented with an abstract photograph, defer to someone who is classified by the viewer or someone else  as an ‘expert’ and accept their opinion as to the quality and artistic merit of the said work.

Such deference is in complete contrast to the situation when confronted with a work featuring the nude. Suddenly everyone is an expert about what is good or bad about the work and whether or not it is art!

I found this very interesting and it is worth exploring in much more detail and from a few different perspectives. I think it’s fairly obvious that the statement points out yet another double standard, whereby the same person (usually without formal art training) can at the same time plead ignorance of the finer points of artistic merit on 99% of all the artwork they see and yet be an expert when it comes to artwork depicting the human form.

It’s like the old expression…which goes something like….I can’t define what what is offensive, but i know it when i see it!

I think it is worth exploring in ourselves and in the wider artistic world, if we find something offensive or that upsets us we have to know exactly what it is about that thing that we find unpalatable and we have to be able to explain it. We cannot just say we find a work offensive and demand its removal or suppression. If we defer the judgements about artwork to ‘experts’ and accept their conclusions for 99% of the work we see, then we cannot reserve judgement on the remaining 1%,just because we don’t like that 1%.

Just a thought for now….

Derek.

This is the second part of my thoughts about a particular book that describes the life of model and photographer, Lee Miller (#Lee Miller).

The second part of this post is prompted by the other passage in the book that I have re-read many times and it came time to write down some thoughts that cross my mind each time that I read the passage.

Firstly, the passage always prompts me to think about the images I make, why i make the ones I do and what do i need to document about the images so that I can be as sure as I can that my reasons for making a particular image and what it means to me are written down. Even of people ignore them, I have at least made it clear from my point of view what I wanted to achieve and what i thought.

Back to the passage.

The time is now early 1930’s and Lee is now a successful photographer as well as working with the photographic and artistic elite of Paris, people such as Man Ray (#Man Ray). The passage describes the time spent with her father, Man Ray, Man’s newest model at the time and some of Lee’s female friends where her father continued the series of nudes of Lee, and a few of her friends. The author seems scandalized that the poses are approaching what she labels “lesbian sex”. It is particularly unfortunate that the author neither provides any examples of the images nor references to where the images are. She expects us to accept her word that they are almost pornographic in nature and are therefore more examples of the inappropriate relationship that existed between Lee and her father. In an academic work, or even a historical work, the author making such claims is obliged to substantiate these claims with a footnote or a copy of the image. Given that in the book there are photos of Lee and others that contain nudity, it is odd that the author would leave out images that support her point of view! you can’t have it both ways either you have no photographs that show nudity or you use them. to leave out images that you rely on to make a point deprives the audience of the chance to judge for themselves the validity of your arguments and come to their own conclusions. This half and half approach comes off as the author wanting to make a point, but not wanting the reader to think about it, but to just accept it.

The author also puts herself in the place of one of the most famous artists of all, Man Ray. Miller was his muse for a while and learned a lot from him and came to be very close to him. The author writes about how Man saw the relationship between Lee and her father as if she was looking at the photographic session through his eyes, Lee’s eyes and those of everyone else present. She again makes claims about what people thought, interpreted, gave, received etc all from no listed sources of images taken at the session in question.

It is here in this passage of text that the author returns to the relationship between Lee and her father and infers that somehow now, in the passing of years, that the their relationship is clearly close, but yet now complicit. They are creating images together and with other adults that (by the means of the author leaving them out) not only are too shocking to print in the book, but which also clearly make others at the time uncomfortable! there is no evidence of this and there is also no explanation for the continued duality of the the authors opinion that despite no evidence one way or the other that the closeness of their relationship was due to the undue and sleazy influence Lee’s father held over her.

I guess what I am saying here is that no matter what you think was happening, no matter ho tempting it is to say what you want to have been the case at the time, you were not there, nor do you know for sure. You cannot describe the content of an image an make claims for that content without allowing an audience to view the image for themselves or to explain why the image could not be used, yet provide a link to where the image may be found.

I think that is enough for now, if anyone wants the page numbers of the passages I can provide them. I always say, look for yourself, and if an author wont let you then you need to ask yourself why?

Derek.

I was re-reading a passage from a book about the photographer and model Lee Miller. The passage is one among a few that stood out for me. The passage concerned a process over time in which Miller’s father took nude stereoscopic photos (this was the early 1900’s) of Lee for many years as she grew up and after she became a famous model for Vogue. It has always stuck in my head that the author of the book in the same passage of text says that although what was going through the minds of Lee and her father at the time cannot be known, she feels that she is still able to state with certainty that various actions were clearly occurring and that even if either person involved was unaware of the actions they are responsible for them.

I have several problems with the type of writing of which this is an example. I trained as an historian/archaeologist before turning to photography and as an academic we are taught that you have to cite sources for your inferences, opinions and facts and that you cannot guess what was in a person’s mind because what people write down is not always what they were really thinking. All you can do is make a best guess based on multiple lines of information and be prepared to admit that although you may suspect that something happened, you cannot say for sure that it did if the information is not available at the time your write.

The author of the book on Lee Miller is talking about the nude studies that her father took of her over many years. She interprets the look on Miller’s face, the pose she adopts, the direction of her gaze, whether she poses alone or with a friend. She also describes how the father acted while taking the pictures despite the fact that he never wrote down what he thought and how he must have been active in the demeaning of his daughter and thereby harming her, and that even if later in time Lee actually wanted to be involved in and actively participated in the sessions, she was still at the mercy of her fathers abusive thoughts and actions. None of this is attested by any documented evidence.

For me it comes down to the issue that unless we have personal accounts from the people involved in the making of an image we can never know what their motivation was, who was responsible for the content, how actively each participated in the sessions, to name just a few possible factors. Just because we see what we want to see in the facial expression of a model in a picture does not mean we know what they are feeling at that time. They may look passive, but that may be what they are asked to portray, yet inside they may be feeling happy, content or enthusiastic for what they are helping to create.

I get the sense that the author of the book is like so many others in that they are seeing what they choose to see in an image and what they want it to show so that it fits with the premise of the text in which it is used as support. It would have been much better if the author of the book had simply stated that these images made her uncomfortable when she saw them given what she had uncovered about Lee Miller’s life and what she believed were the circumstances of her relationship with her father. It made no sense to say that she could make no definite claims as to the emotional state of the participants, yet in the same passage, claim to know certain things about what Miller and her father were thinking over the many years in which he photographed her! This would be the same situation regardless of what the image contained

I suspect that the real reason that the images upset the author is that they are nudes of someone (in this case the same person) ranging in age from childhood to adult and that she has a problem with parents photographing children without clothing. She seems to equate this with pedophilia or some other unhealthy interest in a child by a parent.

I do not condone abuse by anyone for any reason. What I do have a problem with is authors and others writing about the thoughts and feelings of others, interpreting their actions with the 20/20 hindsight of the person looking back in time with a different set of morals and social mores to guide them.

If the author had any direct first person evidence or ultra reliable evidence such as police evidence then such inferences to abusive over an extended time could be sustained. As there is none of these types presented in the passage such inferences ought not even to be raised. What is comes down to is that unless you have evidence for something leave it out. It seems that such statements are easy to make because all the people involved are dead and cannot refute the opinions presented. I do however doubt that even if they did refute the writers statements that that would make very little difference to what the author writes as they would probably have written their opinions regardless of any contrary information.

As a photographer I cannot present my work and just let people make any interpretation they like about my work this lazy and allows me to ignore opinions with which I do not agree. It also allows me to say that someone did not like my work, not because it was not of a high standard but because they just didn’t understand my artistic vision and “did not get it”. If I want someone to think about something in particular while viewing my work , I have to say so in the supporting text or caption, although i cannot just put a bunch of meaningless buzz words together and call that a proper caption.

In the absence of my thoughts or other first hand information no-one can ever truly know what was going through my head or that of the model at the time I was making an image. The best someone can say is that it fits in with the rest of my work or it seems out of place for some reason or other.

Don’t get me wrong I like the book and think that it tells an interesting story about a capable, complex woman who overcame many issues to become successful in a time period when that was not easy for a woman to be independent and successful.

In the end all I hope to to do is ask that when you see an image, if you lack details of what the image makers were thinking at the time etc, please keep your remarks and inferences to the merits of the image as a work of art and other characteristics of the work itself. Leave anything else at the door.

Derek

I thought that i would post this image I took some time ago as it struck me as a little glimpse of wonder from nature. This flower is from our garden, it is something wonderful that my wife and I take so much pleasure in creating and enjoying each day. I truly see the world in small things like this flower. It represents so many aspects of life, nature, beauty and the wonder of the world in miniature. I don’t know if other photographers, artists and non artists see things like this as a representation of the wonder of nature made small, but it always strikes me as truly wondrous when I am able to come close to showing this to others.

Derek.

Just by way of introduction, I want to say that I know that there are so many photo blogs out there that cover every possible subject and theme. I am going to give blogging a try because i think that there might be some thoughts that i can share with you all that might provoke a though, a comment, positive or negative. I really don’t mind whether people like what I have written or agree with what I say, just that people take the time to read it and respond with the same amount of respect that I have put into the post. I think that there will be a number of topics that I will cover that spring to mind, some may even spring from something someone says about a post etc. Photography is not just about the technical aspects of picture taking it is also about the mental effort that me MUST put into our work and the combination of all the other factors that go into making a picture that stops the viewer in their tracks.

let me know if you what you think.

It’s always hard to start something like this off, but lots of other people can do it so I can too. I thought that i would try to write some small items related to photography and art, more particularly what I think about art, photography etc and how it might influence my own work and or vice versa. Anyway I hope it is something you might like to read and something that you enjoy.I am planning to add my personal and professional websites to the blog so that if i refer to an image you can either see it in context of a portfolio of images or you can view the single image on its own.

Thanks in advance for reading this small introduction and I hope that you might subscribe.

Many Thanks,

Derek Monz