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Saturday, 29 January 2005 |
I once did a show of my photos, entitled "Corps et ames" (bodies and souls), at the Universite Laval gallery, in Quebec city. This was my first "real" show, and I was asked to write down a little piece to send out to the local media. So I did. What I said in short was that in this age where magazines and films were re-touched to elimanate imperfections, slim waists, erase scars, where people were transforming their bodies, my images was a record of real women, no touch ups, just real natural beauty.
 Now, I actually got critisized because my images were of young pretty women. In saying "real women" people seemed to expect old, young, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, tall, short, all different kinds of people, as if the women I photograph were not real, and that trying to show beauty was not showing something that was real.
Now, a couple of people also commented on the fact that some of my models had tatoos, peircings, shaved their pubes, as if "real" meant plain and hairy. In fact many people commented on this second photo here, stating the obvious fact that this model has breast implants. "Now that's not real!" was the general idea. On the other hand, some people were almost offended that I hadn't taken the liberty of retouching the image and erasing the visible scar under her breast.
The fact that she has breast implants makes her not a real person ? Not a real woman ? Those implants, like her scars, like her belly button piercing, are part of her, they are part of what makes up her identity. Why does that make her less of a real woman ?
She has a very athletic body, she has a dancing background, which means she know how to move, she is very entusiastic and likes to work as a model, and I like the images I made with her.
I try to convey some of the personnality of the model that I feel in the brief ammount of time we spend together during a sitting. I think that what makes my images "real". That's what makes me like an image, when I feel something of the model going through, not just an impression of a concept thought out by a designer. I guess that's why I don't like magazine covers and glamour images.
I think that's it's something that is reflected in my technical choices when taking images : usually high resolution film, and no retouching in the process between the moment the shutter is tripped and the moment the print is hung on the wall. That what "real" means to me.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 November 2005 )
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