Feminism Role in Photography - Essay Example

Feminism Role in Photography Introduction Photography is the art or science of coming up with durable images by use of light or electromagnetic radiation. It is done electrically through an image sensor or chemically by a light material like a photo film. Over the years, photography has grown from black and white photos produced to the current high definition photography done professionally. Women have always been in the front of the camera since the emergence of photography. However, they became interested in the art of photography in the late 1960s, and more women were noted to be behind the camera. The essay will focus on the roles women play in photography and determine if children sexual photography will ever be ethical. Role of women in Photography Women are often seen as sexual creatures globally when it comes to some of the roles they play in photography. It is a belief that sex sells, thus the need to portray it more often in attracting male or the opposite sex. Men are chauvinistic on women being behind the camera as it is, and they assume that women are not good at it. The notion has remained since the 20th century, but many women are changing these facts. In the 1950s, female photographers were about 10% in California; this figure, however increased to about 20% in the 1970s (Warren 2006). Now, female photographers have significantly increased to about 40%. Women, however, have been taking different career roles in photography including final retouchers, print-finishers, camera operators, gallery owners and the most obvious one models (Warren 2006). The major role of women in photography is modeling. They are the people in front of the camera, making poses for the photographer’s needs (Ang 2002). The pictures produced by the photographers are never the real image of the person modeling, and this has often caused many controversies. The images, which portray a thin, tall and flawless woman, are normally not real thus a fairy tale. Edits on the images make women go through many struggles and troubles to lose weight and look flawless including surgeries (Aadland 1996). It is a major problem because the women, who try to look like their counterparts in magazines, go through all the surgeries to be something that is not real. Ethicality of Children in Photography I recently did a photo shoot with an 11-year old girl who wanted it to be sexy. The poses were controversial and more adult like. My inspiration for the photo session was the shoot of Thylane Blondeau, an 11-year old model who featured in Vogue magazine. The images were deemed seductive, and many people disagreed. Children should be fully clothed when taking photographs like photographs that are commercial. Adults may take bikinis and bra/panty photos for commercial purposes (Murphy 2014). The fact that children should not photograph sexually is an opinion of many adults as seen in the Vogue magazine deba. Photography is an art and no one should deny anyone the chance of expressing themselves whether a child or an adult. Most magazines sexualise each image they produce because it sells many copies (Alderson & Morrow 2004). Young girls should not be always overly sexualised in their photos because this is what will determine the kind of adult the child is going to be. Photography in its purest form should not however be blamed for exposing young girls in a sexual way. The parents are also to blame for giving consent on photo sessions for their children. Ethics should be in consideration when photographing a minor. The Ideal looking flawless woman as seen in photographs I photograph females only and there is a lot of retouch and editing that happens to make the image look perfect. The purpose of editing and retouching is to make a nice clear photo and not for women to strive and look like the photographs. Research shows that 80% of woman in the United Kingdom would like to look like the women in magazines (Robin 2005). Let us take a case study of Daiva Juodelytė. When Daiva was 22 years old, many white spots appeared all over her body from face to the arms and even her legs. She had a vitiligo diagnosis, a condition that removes pigmentation from a person’s skin leaving them with white spots. This condition wrecked Daiva’s self-esteem (Holahon 2015). In a separate case, Vaida Virbalaitė was a student of fashion design and art history, hoping she would have a career in fashion. Her dreams were however not shattered when someone told her she was too fat for fashion. The images people see in magazines of thin, tall models make them believe it is the ideal shape and body of a woman. Vaida ended up being anorexic and bulimic to be able to be in fashion (Holahon 2015). What the readers, many not realize is that the photos in magazines take much editing and retouching work. The models do not look anything like the photos they portray. Most of them have flaws on their skins, and they do not have to be very thin to feature in the magazines. These women, along others became an inspiration to many normal looking females by choosing to photograph themselves with only a bikini. Beata Tiskevic’s online photography project aimed to show women that it was okay to have a normal looking female body changed things for the better. The pictures did not have any editing done to them when posted online. The project’s main aim was to explore what a beautiful woman should be (Holahon 2015). These women use social media i.e. Facebook to show their flaws and to encourage other women to do the same proudly without being ashamed. Society has a lot of perfect and standard looking women from the media. Print media is next to the TV when it comes to idealizing the shape and image of a perfect woman. Fashion, Trends and role of makeup in Photography Recently, many fashion bloggers have emerged. Fashion and trends are what moves the photography world. Many fashion bloggers eager to showcase their fashion and trends hence make photographers have more work when it comes to photographing. Photography is important to fashion and trends as this is a way of the designers to showcase their ideas and creativity (Sartore 2012). Makeup is majorly used during photography to enhance the quality of the images and to make it more appealing. It is okay to take photos of females on a fresh face with no makeup on to make the photo look real. Creativity is important during a photo session as this shows how skilled the photographer is. Use of props and interesting location during the photo shoot shows how creative a photographer is as well as personal ability (Sartore 2012). Conclusion Photography is important in day to day life as seen in the above discussion. Females have come from being in front of the camera to becoming photographers themselves and even owning galleries. Females should be left to decide what kind of photograph they want as long as they feel confident in their bodies. Females should however not be under pressure to look like the one’s on magazines as those are a result of good photography skills and good editing by the photographers. References Aadland, D 1996, Women and Warriors of the Plains: The Pioneer Photography of Julie E. Tuell Macmillan, New York. Ang, T 2002, Dictionary of Photography: The Essential Reference for the Modern photographer, Amphoto Books, New York. Alderson, P & Morrow, V 2004, Ethics, social research and consulting with children and young people, Barkingside, London. Holohan, M 2015, What is a 'perfect' woman? Photo project explores body image. Available from http://www.today.com [Jan. 4, 2015] Kim, E 2011, Are There Any Ethics in Street Photography, Amphoto Books, New York. Krist & McNally 2013, A Hands-on Guide to Creative Lighting DVD. Available from: http://www.nikon.com Murphy, TF 2014, Ethics, Sexual Orientation, and Choices about Children. The MIT Press, Cambridge. Robin, L 2005, The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, Oxford University Press, New York. Sartore, J 2012, Fundamentals Of Photography Course on DVD. Available from: http://www.nationalgeographic.com Warren, L 2006, Encyclopaedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, Routledge, New York. Read More