[Leica] a life of photographing women

[Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com>]

><Snip> It must be a relief to
> have someone like Kyle around who doesn't react with horror and hushed
> voices to what is a non-life-threatening form of self injury.
> 
> i found the 'I love you' picture both disturbing and moving and it said a
> lot about the whole subject.
> --
> Johnny Deadman
> 
I don't think the scarring issue means you are dealing with someone deeply disturbed.
I'm sure MANY of the people  I know I deal with are disturbed. it is just much
less obvious.
It is hurtful for US to witness these scars. It is hurtful to listen to a
stuttering person try to talk.

Over the decades I could have made the "ethical" decision to not shoot women who
appear to be dieting heavily but so far it appears I've contributed to no
deaths. Had it gone the other way who knows how I'd be feeling about it now.
...anorexia being the prevalent female mental disorder which relates to photographers.

I had an elegant 28 year old women come out of the dressing room (who was a
nurse) wearing a bathing suit, two piece. We were discussing shooting her
modelling portfolio and if she needed to get in shape much more first.
So it was a shock when I saw she had cigarette burn marks all over her body from
parental abuse.
I was the first person she ever allowed to see those burns…
	which I guess meant having never gone to the beach or having a much of a love life.
Anyway i didn't end up shooting this womens model portfolio but I was strangely
flattered that she would take the first step of allowing someone to see her
scars and that this person would be me.
She burst into tears briefly and then went back to being a nurse at the hospital
where she worked in this neighborhood.
A necessary catharsis it seemed for her to get on with her life.
I ran into her sometimes and she smiled at me nicely a kind of trust was there I guess.

I think we interact with people with all kinds of problems all the time. We
don't know WHO will show up at our doorstep for a picture and what their life's
baggage has amounted to.
 We just have to do the best we can without PHD's and try to treat these people
like normal humans so that someday they can become normal humans.
Not isolate them or treat them like eggs.
Markwr