Pornography part two

I recently found another article highlighting the photographing of young children labeled "pornography". The girl in this picture was on the cover of an Australian art magazine "Art Monthly." The picture was taken by a Melbourne photographer, whose daughter is the subject. Of course there are the critics:
"Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called it disgusting, infuriating liberal art critics."
" "I can't stand this stuff," said Rudd."
"We're talking about the innocence of little children here. A little child cannot answer for themselves about whether they wish to be depicted in this way," Rudd added.
" The Australian Childhood Foundation said parents had no ethical right to consent to nude photographs being taken of their children, as it could have a psychological impact in later years."

The magazine is publicly funded, and officials are reviewing the funding of the magazine.

One issue I think this picture really brings up is the right of parents to take nude or suggestive pictures of their children and have them published. Part one of my pornography blog chronicled Sally Mann. All of Sally Mann's controversial pictures were of her children. Do the children have the right to say no when the parent is the photographer? Are the parents taking advantage of their kids by publishing theses photos? And if nude pictures were published of a child that were not taken by that child's parents, would that be abuse because the parent is in a sense selling their child out?

If my parents were artists and wanted me to be a subject of their work, I would have loved it when I was younger. Olympia, the girl in the photo, shares my opinion. "I love the photo so much. I think that the picture my mum took of me had nothing to do with being abused, and I think nudity can be a part of art," Olympia Nelson said.

Chernobyl Children

Because I'm in physics this summer, I had to research and write a paper about nuclear meltdowns. While researching, I obviously stumbled upon Chernobyl. The images I found of the children in the aftermath were beautiful yet horrible at the same time. These kids were deprived of a normal life, most disfigured from birth, and the pictures of them are eerie.

"The 2005 report prepared by the Chernobyl Forum, led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), attributed 56 direct deaths (47 accident workers, and nine children with thyroid cancer), and estimated that there may be 4,000 extra cancer cases among the approximately 600,000 most highly exposed and 5,000 among the 6 million living nearby."

As always, here are my favorites:

Photography Censorship

My new favorite website, digg, once again had a great article on photography. It was titled, Military Kicks Out Embedded Blogger For Photographing Marine Killed in A Suicide Bombing in Iraq. It's pretty much self explanatory. Zoriah Miller, a photojournalist in Iraq took a picture of a fallen Marine on June 26. After posting the picture on his blog, he received a letter from the military for his dismissal.

Last week, I blogged about art in the times of war. However I didn't cover censorship. Since he was a photojournalist, and he did take the proper precautions in releasing the photo, I see no problem with it besides the fact that the army wants to keep things under wrap. Read the article and decide for yourself.

Light Graffiti

Once again, when I was surfing the Digg website, I came upon an interesting article about light graffiti. Photographers use the movement of light to create stunning images. This article shows off 10 photographers who each use this technique in their own unique way. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how you would go about doing something like this. If I were to guess, I think you would set a tripod up, have a 30 second or so exposure (because most of these are at night) and wave lasers or whatever light you have in the pattern you want. These pictures have really intrigued me, and I plan on experimenting with light graffiti. Here are my favorites from the bunch, but there are A LOT on the website, so I suggest you take a look at all of them.

Lego Photography

Just a few minutes ago, I stumbled upon an unusual display of photography. On the site digg, people post things that interest them. One particular article was called The LEGO Recreation of Famous Photographs. Someone, although it is not specified who, positioned LEGOs to recreate famous photographs. The link to all the photos is above, but here are some of my favorites:

Art and War

Everyday the news covers the Iraq War currently ensuing. We see striking images of soldiers being heroes or innocent civilians crying. But art in times of war has always been an intriguing topic. In Spanish class we learned about Francisco Goya, a Spanish painter who lived during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). His art changed dramatically. Below is probably his most famous image Los Fusilamentos del 3 de mayo en Madrid (The Shootings of May 3rd).



Goya also made a series of 80 prints in the 1810s. They were not published until 1896, 35 years after his death because of the gruesomeness of the pictures. Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of the War).

When photography was first introduced, it was used to document the Civil War. Since early cameras had several hour exposures, dead people were perfect because they didn't move.

Photoshop as an Art?

Postsecret Art

Every Sunday, I can't wait to get up and look at my favorite website, Postsecret. If you've never heard of it, the concept is simple: people anonymously send in their secrets to Frank Warren, who then posts them on the website. As of Wednesday night, Postsecret had 159 million hits. Warren has published several books filled with secrets. He also travels the country doing presentations and showing more secrets. Recently, Postsecret has started chapters in other countries.

The reason I want to feature Postsecret is because of the artistic nature of the secrets. While some are barely legible handwritting on lined notebook paper, most use strong visuals like bright colors and eye-catching images. Not only are the images powerful in the secrets, the message also stands out.

Jeff Wall

Last summer, I went to the Art Institute and saw the Jeff Wall exhibit. Personally, I loved most of the exhibit. The pictures were very large, taking up most of one of a wall. There was so much detail, you couldn't imagine the photo being any smaller. The really cool part of the pictures, though, was that they were illuminated. The pictures seemed to be displayed in front of a light box, making the details even more evident.

I think the mark of someone truly artistic is coming up with ideas that other people wouldn't think of. This was my main critical point with Wall. If I, an amateur photographer, could have taken the picture, I don't regard it very highly. There needs to be something extraordinary about the picture, or it needs to have lasting power.

Some of my favorites:

My least favorites:


And my absolute favorite:

Art or Porn?

Yesterday I blogged about my favorite photograph called "Candy Cigarette" by Sally Mann. While I was researching the history of the picture background on Sally Mann, I came across something interesting. People were claiming Sally Mann's work is "criminal garbage." Although I disagree, this still brings up the bigger picture. What is art? What differentiates it from something harmful or grotesque or even criminal? I will put the most controversial pictures below.






I want to let the viewer draw their own conclusions about the photographs. Are they art or pornography?