Show me some love … or Go to Hell !
I’ve often seen forum users ask others to “show me some love”. I always thought is was kind of a strange request but I think that after yesterday I understand why sometimes people make such a request.
Last night was yet another Camera Club night (I can hear the groans already). It didn’t go so well. The two pictures here are the ones I took with me so you can see what shocking images I presented! My apologies if you have seen them already.
The format of the evening was very simple. Everyone goes along and takes a couple of prints. They hand out some slips and each person writes down which ones they think are best in order of 1, 2, 3. While we all walked round looking at the prints there was a general social chat time where we could catch up on what we’ve been doing recently. Or at least that’s what everyone else did.
I was one of the first to arrive and, after helping with tables and chairs, put my prints out. It’s pretty obvious to everyone which ones are my prints as I’m the only one who shoots in the studio. So I put out my prints and prepared to join the chat. But it didn’t quite go to plan. The other members arrived, said “Hi” and then looked at what prints I had brought in. At that point I started to become a social leper. I must have needed a shower as a space seemed to form around me, like the shield of that Starship Enterprise. People would walk past and turn their heads away or move on as I approached. I was well and truly stonewalled. A few people exchanged the basic pleasantries but by the time the voting period was over, I had got to the point where I was just sitting by myself.
There was, I think, ten black and white prints and I can honestly say that I think that only 3 or 4 people actually looked at my prints, most made a point of just walking past.
Let me tell you that at that point I was not feeling any love.
After the voting is over we all sat down and they discussed club events. There is another workshop evening coming up and they had asked me to do a Photoshop evening, to which I had agreed. The chairman asked the club what they would like and they could not decide whether they would like a Photoshop evening, run by yours truly, or a portrait studio session, again, run by yours truly. Basically, they would have liked me to do both while no-one else would volunteer to do anything on the evening. So here we have a bunch of people who spend most of their time stonewalling me because I shoot nudes and yet fall over them-selves for me to run a training evening for them.
By now, I was not feeling any love, but I was feeling just a tad exploited.
Two of the most experienced photographers of the club began to discuss the prints, making helpful comments and critiques to help people develop their skills. When they reached mine they were very nice and said what great prints they were and they could not find any faults in them. It’s very nice of them, but I don’t learn anything that way. It doesn’t help to be told that I really should go Pro and it just serves to piss off the other members.
I was not surprised that neither of my prints placed. Out of a total of about 50 prints there were 3 described as technically and artistically perfect and I had two of them. But at least the other didn’t win either.
To be honest, I don’t expect to win because most of the club members are not photographically sophisticated so they can’t tell a mistake from a practiced technique and thus, tend to vote for pretty landscapes. Also, I didn’t expect to win because I thought the subject matter of my photographs would be outside their comfy bear zone. Boy was I right.
Come the end of the night and only one person said goodnight to me as I left.
I was feeling pretty rejected at this point of the evening.
So I am now contemplating ingenious ways in which to tell the club to go to hell and what they can do when they get there.
The funny thing is that since I started showing people my photographs pretty much everyone has at some time told me that the pictures I take are beautiful but then they treated my like a leper for having taken them. Friends and my parents are not happy with me, the club is not happy with me, it seems the world is not happy with me.
Maybe I am just being naive and this is simply what happens to all those who photograph nudes and have the balls to admit to it. It’s certainly going to get worse when I photograph women in latex body suits! Am I just catching on to what all the other photographers have been through? Is choosing this as my art a one way trip to solitude?
If that’s the case, all I can say to the world is:
“Show me some love, or Go to hell. I’m going to do this my way and you can like it or lump it!”
Last night was yet another Camera Club night (I can hear the groans already). It didn’t go so well. The two pictures here are the ones I took with me so you can see what shocking images I presented! My apologies if you have seen them already.
The format of the evening was very simple. Everyone goes along and takes a couple of prints. They hand out some slips and each person writes down which ones they think are best in order of 1, 2, 3. While we all walked round looking at the prints there was a general social chat time where we could catch up on what we’ve been doing recently. Or at least that’s what everyone else did.
I was one of the first to arrive and, after helping with tables and chairs, put my prints out. It’s pretty obvious to everyone which ones are my prints as I’m the only one who shoots in the studio. So I put out my prints and prepared to join the chat. But it didn’t quite go to plan. The other members arrived, said “Hi” and then looked at what prints I had brought in. At that point I started to become a social leper. I must have needed a shower as a space seemed to form around me, like the shield of that Starship Enterprise. People would walk past and turn their heads away or move on as I approached. I was well and truly stonewalled. A few people exchanged the basic pleasantries but by the time the voting period was over, I had got to the point where I was just sitting by myself.
There was, I think, ten black and white prints and I can honestly say that I think that only 3 or 4 people actually looked at my prints, most made a point of just walking past.
Let me tell you that at that point I was not feeling any love.
After the voting is over we all sat down and they discussed club events. There is another workshop evening coming up and they had asked me to do a Photoshop evening, to which I had agreed. The chairman asked the club what they would like and they could not decide whether they would like a Photoshop evening, run by yours truly, or a portrait studio session, again, run by yours truly. Basically, they would have liked me to do both while no-one else would volunteer to do anything on the evening. So here we have a bunch of people who spend most of their time stonewalling me because I shoot nudes and yet fall over them-selves for me to run a training evening for them.
By now, I was not feeling any love, but I was feeling just a tad exploited.
Two of the most experienced photographers of the club began to discuss the prints, making helpful comments and critiques to help people develop their skills. When they reached mine they were very nice and said what great prints they were and they could not find any faults in them. It’s very nice of them, but I don’t learn anything that way. It doesn’t help to be told that I really should go Pro and it just serves to piss off the other members.
I was not surprised that neither of my prints placed. Out of a total of about 50 prints there were 3 described as technically and artistically perfect and I had two of them. But at least the other didn’t win either.
To be honest, I don’t expect to win because most of the club members are not photographically sophisticated so they can’t tell a mistake from a practiced technique and thus, tend to vote for pretty landscapes. Also, I didn’t expect to win because I thought the subject matter of my photographs would be outside their comfy bear zone. Boy was I right.
Come the end of the night and only one person said goodnight to me as I left.
I was feeling pretty rejected at this point of the evening.
So I am now contemplating ingenious ways in which to tell the club to go to hell and what they can do when they get there.
The funny thing is that since I started showing people my photographs pretty much everyone has at some time told me that the pictures I take are beautiful but then they treated my like a leper for having taken them. Friends and my parents are not happy with me, the club is not happy with me, it seems the world is not happy with me.
Maybe I am just being naive and this is simply what happens to all those who photograph nudes and have the balls to admit to it. It’s certainly going to get worse when I photograph women in latex body suits! Am I just catching on to what all the other photographers have been through? Is choosing this as my art a one way trip to solitude?
If that’s the case, all I can say to the world is:
“Show me some love, or Go to hell. I’m going to do this my way and you can like it or lump it!”
posted by Rich at 4:37 PM
4 Comments:
I sympathize. Once I was asked to show some work at a camera club and brought in eight or ten of my older colorful street nudes. While polite attention was paid while I was talking, there wasn't one question, and after the meeting the only one that would talk to me wanted to discuss lens resolution testing.
I believe the response you are getting is more envy than anything else. Landscapes, after all, are not the same as real live people who are there specifically to work with you. And might even be naked.
You're learning the biggest lesson in doing nude/erotic/fetish/bondage/porn photography:
Stop worrying about what "normal" people think. Most people are "normal" because they haven't the imagination to be anything else. Forget them.
Oh yes, welcome to the ranks of the pornographers. There's always room for one more.
I suggest you schedule the portait and Photoshop workshop and when it comes around make some popcorn, turn off the lights and listen to them bitch and moan through the door when they show up and no one is home. If you really want to get the point accross you could tape a picture of your naked ass on the door for them. Artistically shot of course.
Sounds like you you need new friends and family(easier said than done I guess, especially the family:) that aren't so judgmental.
keep at it and you'll wind up surrounded by people who appreciate what you do. And they'll be a lot more fun than the current bunch.
Your work is beautiful and I think I agree that they have their noses out of joint about it in envy.
I like the go to hell idea personally but I dont think it would help.
Meg.x
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