Last night as I looked over my collection of printed photographs i
wondered what is it that people really see in photographs when a model
indeed a fellow human being , is posed forever in a single point of
time.

What did some of the worlds greatest thinkers say?






Albert Einstein

"A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the
months and years but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at
a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember
them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph
can be kind."





Mark Twain

"No photograph ever was good, yet, of anybody--hunger
and thirst and utter wretchedness overtake the outlaw who invented it! It
transforms into desperadoes the meekest of men; depicts sinless innocence
upon the pictured faces of ruffians; gives the wise man the stupid leer
of a fool, and a fool an expression of more than earthly wisdom.
If a man
tries to look serious when he sits for his picture the photograph makes
him look as solemn as an owl; if he smiles, the photograph smirks repulsively;
if he tries to look pleasant, the photograph looks silly; if he makes the
fatal mistake of attempting to seem pensive, the camera will surely write
him down as an ass. The sun never looks through the photographic instrument
that it does not print a lie.
The piece of glass it prints it on is well
named a "negative"--a contradiction--a misrepresentation--a falsehood.
I speak feeling of this matter, because by turns the instrument has represented
me to be a lunatic, a Soloman, a missionary, a burglar and an abject idiot,
and I am neither."


- Letter to the Sacramento Daily Union, written July 1, 1866





Both contrasting views , each with merit, one sees it as a remarkable
tool for mankind to fondly remember long lost family members and the
other it being nothing more then a twisted representation of the
fellow him self.





Who is to blame? Are they models? No, merely people caught in front
of a lens as them selves to which may or may not represent them as they
believe they see them selves.





Which brings me to my main question, what is a Model for?

• Model (person), a person whose occupation is to function as a living prop, often to display products, e.g. a fashion model
• Model (art), a person who poses for purposes of art, for example in art school
• Supermodel, a person who attains celebrity status through fashion modeling
• Fetish model, a model who wears the clothing and/or devices of sexual fetishes
• Promotional model, a person who promotes a product or service
  
  
  
  
  
  

So judging from the above a Model is nothing more then a tool , whose objective in their role is to serve as a "living prop".



That being the case from my view a model must be able to give
expression when asked, to give form to clothes when prompted, to be
what ever is humanly possible to achieve for the sake of art.







That said, to what end?

What as "Photographer" do we really hope to capture from a "Model" ?




Most focus on the beauty and form of the sexes, and why not , to see
naked body's before us is an easy trigger to stir feelings of lust and
want within us , and in the end grant a response to the photographers
need for feedback.




For others , a select few it is the opportunity to capture something
wonderful , to hold forever the smile, the look , the emotion of the
moment to let others years from now see and perhaps understand
something about that person and maybe about them selves.





For me a Model MUST be able to express emotion when needed, so as to
capture something special , be it a smile or sadness all emotions can
bring a uniqueness to the photograph.





I hope to meet a Model someday that is very well capable of this....





Peter