test 3

Our narrow cliff side path opened up and with a short descent we were upon a beach with topless girls playing games with their boyfriends. The sight was like stumbling on an oasis in the desert. In the distance lay a shack in the sand. A stall for drinks and a bit of shade, it’s foundations laid out on planks. I was pleasantly surprised that they served beer from the tap for 2 euro. It was an oasis. One girl in particular caught my attention. A girl the epitome of Spanish beauty, a kind of free beauty, an example of an earthly beauty.. I didn’t photography her but I watched her.

We had sat for a few minutes when the music that had been playing from the shack when we arrived started to morph from reggae into an up-tempo Spanish house track. As the song was building, the Spanish beauty came back past, walking toward the sea, her hips moving almost in time to the beat mindlessly as she strolled.

I thought of a girl Tessa who I was reminded of. Another girl I fell in love with in much the same way. An absolute adoration from afar. A presence that would ignite tremendous romanticism in my thoughts, a few moments shared could mean absolution. A fall to your knees beauty, a beauty forged from the clay and dust of this rugged earth must mean something, it does mean something and can renew a man’s faith and exhalation. The presence of this kind of girl, this kind of human can rekindle passion, a lust to live by only the sway of hips and a walk.. a smile while your eyes meet.

For the most part we are rough crude creatures, does this ecstasy felt being near, laying eyes on someone signifiy the love you should follow and preserve. We burn all things we touch in the end though don’t we? Why not leave the angels to fly in peace instead of dragging them down to the earth and mud because we want to feel the softness of their wings.. 




TEST

2016 killed a lot of beloved celebrities and in 2017 the rest were outed as sexual predators and deviants. My hope for 2018 is celebrity culture being abandoned altogether. After Kevin Spacey’s allegations last year, the question came up about who would you be most saddened to hear accusations against with the answer around our table being a unanimous David Attenborough.

Who I want to talk about though, is Terry Richardson.

Although complaints have been made against him over his sexually driven and provocative project work for as long as I’ve known who he is, it’s only recently during the outcry of harassment in the entertainment industry that a few big magazines have stated they will not be working with him again.

I’ve always enjoyed Terry’s work, especially the sexually provocative personal work, often getting Terryworld out at the university library while studying, his pictures being a welcomed alternative to the laboured complex art form version of photography our tutors chose to teach us about. Terryworld was a tome of pictures that weren’t about the pictures, I didn’t have to look at the photography, I got to see right into the subject, the subject being the exploration of sex and sexuality in a way that seemed intimate and above all, fun.

The book features many women and men naked and even engaging varying degrees of sex with Richardson himself and while looking at the images, I had no reason to suspect or to even fathom some of these people may be in these situations against their will. Sex isn’t degrading and no one, no matter what sexual gratification they need or seek should be looked down upon for those pursuits. Sacha Grey who was a successful modern adult film actress said “What one person sees as degrading and disgusting and bad for women might make some women feel empowered and beautiful and strong.” It’s with this reasoning that I couldn’t see anything wrong with the images Richardson and the women he collaborated with were making. I applauded this snapshot aesthetic which holds authenticity, the amateur stylistics which work to transport the viewer into the world and out of this real innocence toward the medium comes an enormous vitality and expression of life.

This was my view of the work without any commentary or detailed revelation’s from models or subjects and I stand by my original viewpoint on the subject of the work and I believe this subject can continue to be explored without anyone being hurt in the process.


What makes Richardson different than others involved in this type of scandal is he didn’t try to hide his perversions, it must have been obvious to most who considered working with him that sexuality was something he was interested in exploring.

I’m not insinuating that anyone who turned up at Richardson’s studio should have expected his dick in their face, I’m saying the brands that commissioned him were aware at the way he worked. It’s convenient now on the heels of the Weinstein scandal to drop him and cut ties but the first allegations of misconduct were brought up back in 2001 and yet for a further 15 years, these brands continued to commission and fund this type of approach to the fashion industry.

The problem isn’t the sex.


The issues lie in the gross manipulation of power dynamics which exist and can be taken advantage of in any industry and with the ideal of becoming a model, an actress or celebrity being widely appealing to young beautiful women, the potential victims are an easy prey. The act of photography itself is predatory in nature, the camera being compared to a gun used to ‘shoot’ someone. Photographers take advantage of people, tragedies, intimacy and culture in an order to make shocking or meaningful work. Couple this with fashion’s sometimes dubious ideals of sex and beauty and the photographer gains a guise of which to carry and affirm his or her actions.

I’m glad that this abuse of power is getting mass recognition and predators are being punished.

On the other side, I also worry about the consequences which will effect sex and intimacy. Sex and sexuality needs to be continually explored and expressed and I fear elements of this may be lumped together with sexual misconduct. The current hatred of men bleeding into a hatred of sexuality resulting in a subsequent repression of sexual expression and freedom.

A recent letter helmed by a collective of French women who fear an impending extremism write

“One more effort and two adults who want to sleep together will first, check through an app on their phone, a document in which the practises they accept and those they refuse will be duly listed.” 


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