Secret Pornographers

Well, it’s finally happened.

After saying we never would, after declaring we were immensely proud of our artistic work, we’ve now called it quits and removed our names from our web site.

From now on Rich will be known by his online nickname Mr Fluffy, and I’ll just be Lin. There goes my potential aspirations as an art writer/critic of nude photographic art, and bye bye Rich making a name for himself in serious figure study photography. Farewell to him ever being featured in the prestigious Photographer’s Gallery in London, or ever getting any sort of exhibition. All that goodwill and reputation built up over the last few years? It’s gone. Erased from our web site and online profiles, just like that.

To all you other models and photographers who use pseudonyms out there, rather than your real names: you were right, we were wrong. Clearly we were just being hopelessly naïve.

Now we’ve sacrificed our artistic pride and our honesty and we’ve gone to ground. Reality bites. Nude photography, no matter how artistic we try to make it, will be our dirty little secret. Sod creative art, from now on we’ll just be dirty photographic pornographers, guy (and girl) with camera, hiding our true nature by day and shooting thrill-seeking-dirty-piccies by night.

The reason?

The latest trend amongst the Hogwarts mummies and daddies, before they let their beloved little darlings come around to play with our sons, is to Google the name of the parents. We are being checked out to make sure we are “suitable” before other kids are being allowed to be friends with ours. Apparently we are very "unsuitable."

Shit.

How do you choose between your kids and your artistic identity?

If we sound bitter, it’s because we are.

L-von-B 410

A highly unsuitable image, which matches my highly unsuitable mood.

Honesty.

There is a reason why I don’t have many friends. It’s called honesty.

I tend not to pretty things up for people, I’m blunt, I call it how I see it.

The friends I do have know and accept this, and understand that if you ask my opinion then you had better be damn sure you want to know the honest truth because I won't dress it up.

I don’t often tell people my opinion without being asked. It’s not polite.

I have spent most of this week angry.

Angry at the injustice of a world that in one week would make Lin sick, break my children’s arms, give me a two day migraine headache, and then have a competitor in our day job phone all our resellers to slag off our products and try to sell theirs.

Most of that has passed now. But I’m still angry.

Not at the world. After all, the world just rolls the dice and sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose. It’s neither fair, or unfair, it just is.

But people, there’s the rub.

People have a choice. People can decide to be good, bad, indifferent or anything else. People can care or not give a damn. As I grew up I had great faith in humanity. That people were on the whole good and cared for others. Sympathised with them and on the whole wished them well. As I have grown up I have come to realise that I was wrong. That those who you would call your friends often don’t give a damn. They want only what you can give to them, beyond that you are not of interest.

I think that this week the last vestiges of my faith in humanity died and I am again angry.

I’m angry at 598 people.

That’s the number of people who have read this blog, since Lin posted her comments about having a bad week and being diagnosed with cancer, and were so indifferent that they didn’t leave a comment, didn’t post a message, email or anything else to offer Lin their best wishes. Shame on you.

You are the reason I have no faith in humanity any more. It's difficult to have faith in the whole when only 0.6% of the world live up to your expectations. But I doubt if you give a damn.

Here is a pretty picture to sooth your brow after that, I doubt if you care who it is as long as there are tits in it and I don’t mention the C word.

I expect that this post will lose me 598 readers. Well I don’t care. I would rather take my photographs and write the blog for the 5 people who gave a damn, than the rest of you.