I forgot to mention that I got a return note from the Ken (KSM) fellow. I guess my earlier note to him caught him a little off guard at first - but he's managed to retreat into academic BS defensiveness.

His note follows:

Why do we do this? I haven't the faintest idea. For me, I just need to express myself, and at the moment that can be visually, or with words, or with both. In part it's what you mentioned yourself, I think: working through the issues brings them to the surface, where we can see them in fresh ways, and then jump to another level. Sometimes it does amaze me though that women are willing to put up with what I need to make that happen. Sure, some are narcissistic, one or two have been full-blown exhibitionists, but a lot have just been curious, or willing to help. The true artists, including a few I met through this site, added suggestions which gave me ideas I might not have had otherwise.

As for perception... well, books have been written. As photographers we mostly understand that we see reflected light, interpreted by electrical signals sent to our brain. Look at an object under a microscope, at 10 feet, at a mile, it looks like different things. And none of them are real. The most convincing philosophy I've seen posits that we can at best infer reality. Of course, different cultural viewpoints construct very different realities. Justin Lane's post on a Native American perspective film was fascinating because they really do see things very differently than we do. Which of course means we, as visual artists, have an unlimited number of ways to see things.

Well, I need to get on the phone and try to pin down details on a couple of photo shoots so I can practice some of this. I heard last night from one of those web cam models, basically, her one tfp shoot was actually worse than the ones she took herself, at least hers were almost in focus. But she has a good face, so as a personal challenge I'm going to give her an hour and see what I can get. Should be fun.

Anyway, keep seeing things in a fresh way,

Ken

... ok, maybe I'm being to harsh. I tend to move in that direction when I don't get what I expect. I'm not sure how to repond. I've been rolling that around in my head since receipt of the response.

McGowan sent me a link to a list taht he manages ... a non-glamour, erotic nude list. I would love to join but I'm reluctant, feeling that to do so would be under false pretenses in a way. As I said before, I've not been involved in doing that kind of shooting in over two years. Maybe once we get the house under control and get settled in I can take it up again.