As an amateur photographer who has walked on both sides of the Pornography fence. I have an interesting perspective to bring to this issue.
Visual Pornography can best be defined as images that invoke a sexual response from the viewer. Applying that broad definition to society and avoiding the fetishistic group that can become aroused by pantyhose or even a raincoat, we can then make another broad statement.
Pornography in North America can be defined as images that can be offensive to some or all who view them in a public or easily accesssible medium. Europe has a totally different view of pornography, they actually classify most ‘porn’ movies as erotic and do not need to give them the ‘xxx’ rating. That rating is commonly only applied to ultra-violent films that show excessive blood and injury to people or animals. To most Europeans, violence is pornography.
There has been a gray area about photography since the very beginning, when the first nude photos were being taken of prostitutes by EJ Bellocq and others. Because these were ‘Fallen women’ the images were taboo, and as such not to be viewed under any circumstances by ‘proper’ people. Society defines what is proper, and American society has been at the moral foreground to stamp out any depictions of nudity or anything to do with erotic artwork, be it phorgraphy, or any other medium.
The definition I use best to break the barrier and put a fine line in the sand between erotic art and porn is simple … is the pose sexually suggestive? If the model is looking wantonly at the camera, limbs askew, presenting the image that she is open and available, then I’d classify it as porn. If, on the other hand, she is comfortably posed, nude or semi-clad, and not exposing herself dramatically – it’s erotic or artistic.
Having taken photos for both porn and artistic purposes – I tend to enjoy the artistic ones much better, as the porn shoots are primary mechanical. There is not a lot of style in most porn shoots, unless you look at the work by the Randalls or by Danni Ashe. 95% of porn shoots are tasteless, simply frozen bits of hectic activity used to promote the sex biz and make more money.
Artistic photography looks much better and is much more appealing to my tastes and those who I work with. Being able to set the scene, pose the models, play with light and shadow – it makes the shoot a lot more enjoyable for everybody.
It all really comes down to personal choice. My ideas of eroticism are different from yours or the person down the street. If you follow a simple rule of thumb like I do as in ‘Is the pose sexually suggestive?’ then you’d have a good basis to be able to make a less reactionist and more appropriate response to images being artistic or pornography.
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Amateur Photographer
- Related Blogs on Artistic Nude Photography
- Related Blogs on Artistic Purposes
