juan o

<p>Wow, lots of responses in such short time! Hmm. . . </p>

<p>Ellis, to be clear I can make the distinction between women and men; I chose not to since nudes are not specific to women. I say "opposite sex", because I am a male, and some here are female, this term better covers both genders to all who post in the discussion. To be honest you made the distinction, not me. And I do not find nudes offensive (if that is what you meant to type? <em>"you are lookign and are oftened"</em>), I see them and I think "bad, " but I do not react on that. Instead I am curious of the philosophy behind it. . . since this is. . . wait for it. . . the philosophy forum. . . </p>

<p>As for your answer, I believe that it is definitely an individual-specific taste, hence my post. I wonder why it is that "you" as an individual believe nudes are an art form? Josh, JDM, Bruce, and Kelly all bring up good points. Myself, I see some very beautiful nude photographs, while others seem rather tasteless. From what some of you are saying, a pornographic magazine can be art. </p>

<p>Josh, I like how you compare this concept to photos of animals and children. In essence they are the same, but I say that, because we are raised with the idea that nudity is wrong, they are different. This is strengthened by the taboo nudity magazines. The human body is, by society's norm, private and clothed. But when it is behind a lens or a canvas, it is art. Kelly brings this idea to the table with women being so comfortable with themselves they will allow a photographer to record the most private of privates. While this is great to hear in a world where paper thin is good, I still ask: is it art? </p>

<p>Ok, I'm sorry everybody, I'm off my soap box. You can see that I think WAY too much about these things. I am very much into human interaction, couple that with my hobby in photography and you get the paragraph above. Anyway, continue with your responses, so far, it is very interesting. </p>

I love photography, from the theories to the actual images. I grew up like

everybody else... as a child, naked is bad. Maybe that manifests itself in my

thoughts when I see a nudity photographs. In theory, these photographs are

art, but to me some of these photos seem like infatuations with the opposite

sex; nothing more than pornography. Am I missing something? My question

really is mainly to hear other photographers thoughts, and that is: Are nudity

photos art? Why or why not?