Body and Spirit

The issue of nude art photography concerns me, both as a person and as editor of DOMAI, a site with tasteful nude photos. In answer to an article on British Journal of Photography's site, I wrote to the editor:

Hello Ms. Smyth,

Thanks for the nice piece online about the Nude.
(Saunders' piece is not online, is it? I did not get the mag yet.)

I am a little sad to see the old chestnut being dragged out, the one about "nude art objectifies women". I really thought we had grown beyond that.

For one thing: what does it do to men then? I notice for instance in films and on TV, at least as much male skin as female. We don't hear any wails about this, and well we shouldn't.

For another thing, art or pictures does not objectify women, people do. And if they are dumb enough to do it, they will dang well do it whether they see any nude art or not.

As humans we are both spirit and body. We should celebrate both.

My first haiku

hai·ku
n., pl. haiku also -kus.
1. A Japanese lyric verse form
having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and
five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect
of nature or the seasons.
2. A poem written in this form.
---

A rose, simply red
standing in the morning light
Thorns, petals, beauty

Photographer, you?

Hi,
I don't want to drown this blog in photography-related postings, I want it to be pretty broad. So if you would like me to put me on my personal mailing list for people interested in the art and technology of photography, please send me a mail.
[The picture above is from Bjorn Rorslett's great site. Is this a beautiful lens or what?]

Abelardo Morell photography

I want to recommend to you Abelardo Morell's photography.
I bought his newest book, a retrospective by title of his name, and it is just beautiful.
His photos are fresh, honest, finely tuned, and totally unpretentious.
He is also versatile, he does not just have one shtick, like many of the best artists do.
He is also sometimes funny, see for instance his "Motion Study of Wooden Manikins".