From: Gary Miller (gmphotos@earthlink.net)
Date: 09/13/00-10:04:27 PM Z
The entire area of nude photography is quite a fascinating one as is the
male/female nude situation. Woman are definitely photographed nude more
often than men. All things considered equal those interested in the
photography or art of the nude should not care whether the subject is male
or female because many times the study is about line and form and not about
male or female. However we are blessed/cursed with this thing called a
brain which has as part of it a sex drive and the primordial desire to
reproduce. I feel that the male dominated world would therefore logically
be drawn to photograph/paint the female form more than the male form just
like it is 'allowed' to have two woman dance together, or kiss, etc. when
men would shutter at the thought of seeing two men dance, or kiss, etc, lest
they be labeled as gay (Not that there is anything wrong with that). There
is this whole other homo phobic thing that runs through the male population
that I do not think exists as greatly in the female population. There are
so many knots and questions within this whole thing which pulls at our basic
selves. My current thesis project, which I have been working on for the
past two years, is trying to deal with and understand the role of the nude
in art and photography. And yes Judy and others my photographic figure
studies include both men and women, young and old, and various ethnic groups
and body types. My work is not about sex but about form and design and the
landscape of the body, the body as Beauty. Along these lines it is
interesting to look back at the early Greeks where the male nude was the
celebrated body form and the female figure appeared less often and mostly
clothed. There is definitely a society pressure that drives this. Quite a
fascinating and complex issue all in all.
Gary Miller
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