eugene_scherba

My pool is looking good, buddy!

Did you use any fancy HDR techniques or just curves?

Seen today's article in Metro? I think Extra mentioned AlbinoCode as well.

this is cool.

technical sidenote: i think the top part of the wreathe should be lighter than its bottom.

There is no correct or incorrect anything here. Only interpretation.

Yes, that is exactly why the conclusion that this photograph is exploitative is *wrong* and why the conclusion that this photograph concerns exploitation is *correct*.

Sorry, didn't finish with Sherman. I meant to say that the doll-like look a lot of her photographs have was intended to convey the artificiality of preconceptions of women that were/are reinforced by the entertainment industry. The prodigiousness and diversity of her work was a message in itself, mirroring the great variety of these preconceptions and directing the viewer's attention towards the source from where the seemingly archetypal images were drawn.

Back to this photo. What surprises me that a lot of viewers take this photograph at a face value. This is exemplified by the message I quoted above. We have a picture of a woman after sex. But she doesn't at all feel happy about it, and in fact the ambiance is very cold. The woman looks like a doll, lifeless. A (correct) conclusion: There is something here concerning the sexual exploitation of women. A very wrong conclusion: This photo is exploitative and inhuman. There is no reason whatsoever to ascribe what you see in the photograph to the photograph itself. This makes as basic a fault as anything I have known. I don't know how to stress this: The fact that you may not like what is depicted in the photograph is not a reason to dislike the photograph. The photograph could very well condemn what it depicts.

But they were ...dolls. Artificial constructions. What we have in this picture is either a human who has become a doll (negative impulse) or a doll who has somehow become a human.( positive impulse).

Actually the subject is not that clear as you would suppose. Consider Cindy Sherman photographs. In them, she uses herself as a doll or a mannequin. That is to show that the preconceptions we have of women were to a great extent reinforced by the film industry.

Making a simple value judgment (positive vs negative impulse) doesn't get you far once you consider that the doll-like may not be a goal in-itself but could instead refer to something outside the photograph, as is the case with Sherman's photos.