the camera is a cover for their real desire.
they can justify to their friends "see, i'm doing photography.. i went to event and there were these models, so i shun bian shoot them"
they can justify to their parents "see, i'm doing photography.. blah blah blah"
never mind that they actually planned to go to a computer show, camera show, motorcycle show, car show, sole purpose was to capture more pokemon models to "bring home".. when the primary focus of that show is not even supposed to be the models. but the organisers of these shows know that, so they produce the supply to meet the demand.
i'm sure we all remember the sunshinetracy incident.. that is a clear example what all this is all about.
and you are right, the difference between porn on the internet and this is that there is probably some amount of intangible delight to be derived from having seen the person in reality before. a porn model remains a porn model, far and unreachable, but the person you have seen in real life, well, it's not hard to see how it works, right?
for the people who liken this to be like landscape photography, cat photography, insect photography - the main difference is that all those have nothing to do with embracing your primal desires and just using photography to cover up. the previous 3 categories also have photographers in it for the sake of saying that they do photography, but that's more of an ego/face issue rather than giving in to the lower head.
a proper portrait is hard to execute - so many people here claim that they want to "capture the beauty and soul" of the person, i don't see how in an uncontrollable environment like a show of any form, this could be done. let alone the fact that the models aren't necessarily wearing things that suit their so-called soul and personality - common factor is revealing, revealing, revealing.. so what is the real purpose here, you can imagine.
that said, just because one only shoots in a studio where everything is controllable doesn't mean a thing to me. there will also be cases where people putting up pretenses of being morally upright are the worst of the lot. this also includes me - and the difference between a good person and a bad person, a serious photographer or one who's just using photography as an excuse for other things - is whether you bother to keep yourself in line. boys will be boys, that much is true, but can you exercise the appropriate amount of self-restraint to keep it pure?
at the end of the day, if you can look yourself in the mirror and honestly, honestly speak to your conscience and be at peace with it, that's what matters. which is why i said, if your conscience is clear, and you shoot all these for pure aesthetic reasons, or to just test out your gear, whatever... you won't bother about what i say, right? you won't fall into that category.
anyways, we are going way off topic.
this will be my last post on the matter... and i don't know for sure what TS is trying to say with his pictures.. but well, in any case, just sharing my thoughts. cheers.
