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Leica M for Glamour


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Harvey, I suggest that what is or is not porn in the mind of the purveyor and/or creator of a photography has little to do with whether the models is clothed or not. Many societies are saturated with subliminal sexual pandering which manages nevertheless to be acceptable. Is there any doubt that Britney Spear, Christina Agilera, and dozens of other pop stars are selling sex?

 

Not that I mind, I just like to be honest with myself. As far as "glamour" photography is concerned, I have always thought it had a sort of stodgy perversity to it. As for example, here in Japan where a group of elderly men in a photography club pay a very young woman wearing a very very short plastic skirt and black pumps to "pose" for them in isolated locales as they fall over each other shooting "ground level" shots up her legs. This is truly the dark side of amatuer photography.

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<<As for example, here in Japan where a group of elderly men in a photography club pay a very young woman wearing a very very short plastic skirt and black pumps to "pose" for them in isolated locales as they fall over each other shooting "ground level" shots up her legs. This is truly the dark side of amatuer photography.>>

 

What if they use Leicas?

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Harvey, James Joyce had a pretty good definition of pornography. He said: (I'm paraphrasing a bit here) "Any work of art that creates in the viewer the desire to posess it is pornography." So vaginal penetration, male erection, or even nudity have no bearing on it. If you look at the picture and think: 'Man, I'd like to....' then it's pornography.
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Some interesting arguments here. I suppose the nude body allows you to respond on several different levels; whereas certain clothing underscores and points and suggests how we should respond. Another difference in the shots is that you see the model's face in only one. To me, glamour shots with faces have an edginess that averted-face poses do not. Eye contact, of course, adds even more to the sex appeal. Am I wrong here?
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First, I think that all of the photos here are really beautiful. I know what Donald is talking about. There is an empidemic male obsession here in Japan for seeing what is often called "a brief view of panties" (rough translation, pun not intended). There are guys, so help me, who tape miniature cameras to their shoes to photograph up women's dresses on trains. (These sickos get arrested all the time; interestingly a lot of them are teachers.) The weekly magazines and so-called sports papers inevitably have shots up some starlette's dress at some point. I think I'm a normal hertosexual chap with all of the basic instincts but I've never understood this obsession; it must be something carried over from childhood. Straight nude photography is not pornographic. There is nothing sneaky or intrusive about it. The human body is beautiful and celebrating it fulfills some kind of natural moral imperative connected to propagating ourselves.

 

As an aside, I'll mention that the problem of sexual harassment has become so great on Japanese trains that there are now "Ladies Only" cars. The good news is that though Japan is the land of the Leica maniac I've yet to read of any Leica photographer getting arrested for indecency.

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Kevin said: "Any work of art that creates in the viewer the desire to posess it is pornography."

 

So if someone take a picture of his/her child (fully clothed) and some sicko out there feels desire for this child, that makes the picture pornography? I don't think so.

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