I’ve gotten some complains about my use of the term girls when I refer to my models. In particular the term my girls sets some people off. The wife of a photographer friend was particularly incensed at my use of the term. Then after meeting me she realized my meaning of the way I feel about my girls. I do not mean it in a proprietary sense but a protective sense. I think of "my girls" as a group of young women who chose to work with me and I have a responsibility to them. A responsibility to treat them right and to protect their reputation from harm both in the present and the future. Many people go through a period of their lives with blinders on. They do not have a sense of the future and how their acts today could harm future prospects. It’s almost like their sealed in amber and they can’t conceive of a future different than the present.
Cocooned in their innocents and blinded by the thought that they are invincible. They haven’t learned that the world can be a cruel and unforgiving place. That the acts that they engage in can and do have horrible repercussions in the real world. I think of so many of the girls I’ve know who willing followed me out to the middle of nowhere to do my photographs. I consider too those girls who haven’t chosen so well and haven’t made it back. I feel so sadden for those girls who were just following their dream and how those dreams turned into a nightmare for them. As I say I have a responsibility for and to my girls to make sure that they have a good and a safe time. That the adventure of shooting with me is a positive experience. That their adventure with me, their faith in me never harms their futures lives.
I think I pick girls for their independence and their joy of life and sense of adventure. I instinctively know that the odd are that they will make something of their lives. They’re not going to be limited by what they appear to be today. My girls are intelligent and thoughtful and have a well developed sense of themselves and a drive in life. Some turn out to be teachers, business owners and mothers all are wonderful women. I have no other agenda for them except photographic. I want nothing more than to be given the opportunity to capture them at this moment in their lives. To record this period in their lives and to help them understand their lives better. Maybe to be more comfortable in their skins and to be more confident in life. Nothing pleases me more to see that look of confidence in their eyes and to know I had a part to play. As a older man in these young women lives I have done the right thing by them and I have play fair by them. It is and remains a great responsibility and one that I treasure greatly.
2 comments:
Noble sentiments, Michael. Your motives are admirable. I wish all photographers feel responsibility the way you do, but more often their motives are...say we say...less pure :-)
Michael, during my decades at a women's college I became much more sensitive to the use of the word "girls" for my students. They are "women," and that is according to college policy and also Associated Press style which says any female over 18 of years of age is a "woman."
Nevertheless, I call my dog Sunny "a girl," even though she is obviously a female dog, and I call myself a "girl" at home. Sunny and I are "the girls," and we like it that way.
Sometimes political correctness in itself becomes oppressive. As I said in my post yesterday, I want some freedom here! If my dog and I want to be known as "the girls," or if "the girls" are something else I own, that's my right...I hope, I wish...
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