[Leica] Women

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> Excellent point, Tina.
> 
> One of the things you hear about the homeless is that they are
> invisible, not that they hide, but that others refuse to look at them.
> They are not spoken to or interacted with in any way. It is part of
> the puzzle of reducing the problem.
> 
> I frequently enjoy (though not always) conversations and interactions
> with the "street characters" I meet and photograph.
> 
> But, perhaps it is not so easy to distinguish the line between
> exploiting and acknowledging the otherwise faceless as human beings
> with worth and lives.
> 
> Ric Carter
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/ricc/
> 
> 
> 
> On Jul 25, 2009, at 10:47 AM, Tina Manley wrote:
> 
>> At 10:42 PM 7/24/2009, you wrote:
>>> Let every one use his own judgment - culture differs from country to
>>> country. I for one refuse to take photographs of the very poor,
>>> homeless,
>>> street dwellers, slum dwellers, beggars, etc which is a staple of
>>> every
>>> visitor to the third world, and it leaves me angry that you take
>>> advantage
>>> of people who cannot fight back, and strip them of what little
>>> dignity they
>>> possess. To me that is much worse than a woman's bottom.
>>> Cheers
>>> Jayanand
>> 
>> Or you could reaffirm their dignity by photographing them.  The
>> first medical mission I went on, I very carefully photographed the
>> mission doctors and nurses at work and avoided photographing local
>> campesinos.  A local girl asked me why I was photographing my
>> friends and not her family.  Were they not good enough to waste my
>> film on?  Was it because they had brown skin and were not
>> beautiful?  That's when I started staying with families and
>> photographing them and taking the photos back to give them.  They
>> are very proud, beautiful people and they want to be photographed.
>> Ask them.
>> 
>> Tina
>> 
>> Tina Manley
>> www.tinamanley.com
>> 
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> 
> 
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To me the photographic exploitation of women is a boring topic.
Its overly obvious and ubiquitous.
Walk by a magazine rack - google search any female name you can dream up.
What sells? T&A. Its what turns heads.

The fact that photographic exploitation could exist on the level of people
photographing suffering people in poor countries is much less obvious making
it a more interesting topic as it almost strains credibility. But does
exist.
For what its worth I happen to find Tina's work to be 100% solid.  100%
integrity. I don't see exploitation issues and I do know what they are
talking about when they talk about that kind of stuff and on you name it
level. Her pictures speak for themselves - the people in the photos often
seem more then dimly aware they are being photographed and its a more than
positive relationship. They know she's there and don't mind that. Not that
that always would have to be the case.
Tina's work exists as both great social documents and great works of art.
And will exist long after we are all gone and forgotten. With the exception
of names of Tina. Ted.....
And some other guy I think forgot his name. Harry something.
I think he shoots with a IIIC. Muddle puddles. But really nice mud puddles.
mud puddles you could die for.


Mark William Rabiner