All is Full of Love, pt. 3

Here’s the link to the images: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftaHJwc0YycGl6QmM

-

ALL IS FULL OF LOVE

Youth is beauty. Beauty is truth. It’s far too easy to find young, attractive women willing to pose for photos these days. And I still don’t know how to feel about it.

Kaitlin is a great example. She is kindhearted, open-minded, not terribly shy or sheltered in any way. She is barely 18, yet is comfortable enough with herself and her body that she isn’t afraid to pursue amateur modeling for any other reason than she wants to. Clearly, she’s attractive, with a shape and countenance that is envied by women and desired by men. She messaged me last year when she was only 17 asking to shoot with me, and I turned her down.

Though arbitrary at a biological level, turning age 18 is a cultural touchstone, a stone which I won’t touch. I have a strict rule about not shooting anyone under 18, at least not without a parent or guardian’s signed release from, and even then, nothing nude or revealing. Still, I know so many beginner photographers, men and women alike, who don’t even think about the age of a model being an issue.

I have twin nieces who are just about to hit puberty, and I worry about their mindsets, of how they view their bodies, and how the world at large will alter that opinion. Women have always had it harder in our society, and I often wonder if my work is making it more difficult for them.

My work has always been about presenting women in the most positive ways, helping the women I work with and eventually becoming friends with most of them, being there as best I can for them. I genuinely care what happens in their lives. Yet I will always receive messages about how I take advantage of them, and though the detractors are few and far between, I hear the negative messages 100 times louder than any of the hundreds of thousands of positive comments. Sometimes I even start to question myself and believe the detractors.

And these are the kinds of things I think about late at night, and they are the types of things that anger me when not taken seriously by others. I suppose I could do more to criticize others for not obeying these written and unwritten laws, and I am positive that my images are a part of the problem in a society that’s ever-increasingly judging women by how comfortable they are with nudity. Still, I know my intentions are true and honest, that I care deeply for the women I work with, and that I will always treat them with the level of respect they deserve.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Are you a fan of Kaitlin yet? Please send me your feedback, positive or negative, and feel free to leave comments in the box below or in my DMs! And thank you as always for your continued support!!

Here’s that link again: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftaHJwc0YycGl6QmM