kbstella

<p>Is it time for cat macros yet? </p>

<p>(sorry, couldn't help it.)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"Noooo! You'll just end up with DD (Deadly Diffraction). Really! Look it up."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Oh God! Is there no hope then? :D</p>

<p>I got nothing to add here except to say thanks to everyone contributing and to the guy brave enough to post the question. :D<br>

It's been wonderfully informative and cleared up lots of questions for me anyway. 'Course from here on out I'm gonna set my A at 18 or higher for fear of BB (Bad Bokeh).<br>

-_~</p>

<p>

<p >1) Do you feel that women are overly exploited in media and advertisements?</p>

<p >Yes. Anyone who feels otherwise is kidding themselves or simply ignorant. I have worked on both sides of the camera and I can't even remember how many times I have been pressured to take my clothes off or reveal parts of my body. It becomes exploitive when I'm offered higher pay for getting nude. Many male photographic models state clearly that they will NOT do nude work but they still get good work. I've never taken it personally but it's simply the truth. When I was a student in collage it made more sense to do nude work, whether I really wanted to or not, because I needed the money. Photographers and sketch artists were exploiting my need for money - conversely, I did the same thing to my models, the only difference being that when I did that to men, many of them thought I was coming on to them, (LOL), which is one of the reasons I like working with gay models (or with straight men, I prefer to have his gf present) - no misunderstandings!</p>

<p >2) Do you think that media and advertisements shape the peoples views of perfection?</p>

<p >Absolutely.</p>

<p >3) As a photographer, do you feel that sexual photos would get your work more attention?</p>

<p >Of course! In college I did a lot of film photography and it was the (female) nudes that always got the attention. No matter how nice a landscape I did, it simply couldn't compete. </p>

<p > </p>

<p >This has simply been my personal experience. Make of it what you will.</p>

</p>

<p>All systems can be gamed. The answer to this is don't aspire to the front page. Just concentrate on your art. Frankly, I rarely look at the first page of any art site because of this very thing. <br /> Look through the random images to find the work YOU think is best. Takes longer, true, but your impressions are uncluttered by the fact that the image is "supposed" to be good. <br /> Not trying to be preachy here, it's just that looking at "top rated" work is often frustrating and disheartening. Don't do it to yourself. lol</p>

<p>Oh God, this is an old thread! - Nevermind, the issue is probably fixed by now! ^____^</p>

<p>You are in Berkeley Springs? I'm very close to there in Shepherdstown. I agree with going small. There is a lot of really interesting small flora and fauna. But if vistas are your thing then go to Harper's Ferry to the convergence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah. Not only are the rivers a good sight but the morning fog rolling through the pass can be pretty amazing. There's also tons of little streams tumbling out of random cliff faces that are pretty magical, especially when they freeze. </p>

<p>random stream<img src="http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o129/r0ck3tsci3ntist/townrun2.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p>