Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-08)

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Zeiss,whorefusedit. I

rememberit beingsaid

thathadZeissaccepted

thecamerait mighthave

beencalleda ‘Zeica’.Since

thepublicationof your

articleI havecontacted

Zeissthemselveswhoin

turncontactedBerndK.

Ottowhois a leading

expertonZeissequipment.

KenWilliams

I havenevercomeacross

thatstorybefore,soit’s

somethingtoaddtomy

ownresearches.AsI

understandit,the

originalwasn’teven

madeasa camerain the

firstinstance.It wasjust

somethingfortesting

smallbatchesofcinefilm

becauseBarnackwas

workingona cinecamera

forLeitz– JohnWade,

freelancewriterand

photographer

Theboudoirdebate

Imusttakeissuewith

LilyBungay’sViewpoint

(AP4 May).Mostpictorial

photographyis basicallya

searchforandcelebration

of aestheticbeauty,

whetherthatbein a

landscape,flower,birdor

perhapsthebeautyof light

itself.A coastalsunsetis a

beautifulthing,butthereis

nothingin creationmore

beautifultomethanthe

femaleform.Andartists

throughouthistoryagree.

WhatLilyis sayingis that

it’sokaytophotograph

anythingin theworldthat’s

beautiful,exceptforthe

mostbeautifulthingof all.

Why?Forfearthatless

beautifulwomenmayfeel

bad? Should we avoid

celebratingintelligence

too,in caseweupset

stupidpeople?

WhatLilysneeringly

referstoas‘themalegaze’

is biology.Thevisual

attractionof thehuman

body,bothmaleand

female,is thereasonwhy

she,I, and7 billionother

peopleexistin theworld.

If appreciatingfemale

beautyis nowseenas

‘objectification’andnot

allowed,thenthatexplains

whypeopleareapparently

havinga lotlesssexthese

days;it isn’tNetflix afterall.

Fortunatelyforthefuture

of thehumanrace,this

prudishVictoriansensibility

is in a minority.Most

boudoirphotographyis

shotbyandforwomen.

Millionsof otherwomen

enjoymodelling.Theyare

allclearlyproudof their

sensualityandwantto

celebrateit. Andwhy

shouldn’tthey?Andmen

too– we’renowseeing

moreandmoreimagesof

shirtlesschapsshowingoff

theirsix-packs,whichcan

onlybea goodthing.The

malebodycanbebeautiful

too.Sadlynotmine, but

that’sokay.

N Northgate

LilyBungayis soright

aboutboudoirphotography

asa genre(Viewpoint,

4 May).I’mfairlynewto

photography but I still fi nd

it risiblethatmylocalclub

willregularlyhavesuch

imagesof womenin

internalcompetitions.

Andthattheyaremarked

highlyandwithout

commentonthemeaning

of whattheyconvey.

Bungayis wrong,however,

aboutonething.It’snot

a complicatedissueas

towhetherboudoir

photographyobjectifies

women’sbodies.It’s

simple:it does.

HughRobinson

ShortInbox

You’vedoneit again!But

youcan’tkeepingdoingit,

forgoodnesssake.Cutting

Inboxin halftoonepageis

a seriousissue(AP4 May).

Inboxis themagazine’s

throbbingpulse,exciting

someandenraging

others.Alterthepulse

andyouupsetthewhole

rhythm.Thisnastycutcalls

forradicalaction,soit’s

timethatsomeof theAP

clanweregivenBPM,or

‘betterpagemanagement’

help.Asa founder

memberof STIR,the

campaignto‘StopThe

InboxRundowns’,youneed

tobeonyourguard.

TomGibson

AP’scontentis planned

wellin advancebutwe

needtobeabletoreact

tolatechanges,whether

that’saccommodating

anextraadvertpage

aftertheissuehasbeen

planned,ortopromote

aneventorcompetition.

Wecan’ttakea page

fromthefeatures,which

arecommissionedor

writtenwellin advance

andfollowa strictdesign

template,soInboxis the

obviouschoice.Butany

lettersthatareheld

backarealwayscarried

forwardtoa following

issueofAP– Nigel

Atherton, editor

Ken recalls reading that the original Leica was offered to Zeiss

Back in the day

AwanderthroughtheAParchive.

This week we pay a visit to June 1924

Marcus Adams wrote about child portraits in this issue

ITWASlessthana centuryago,butit feelslikea very

differentworld,fromthepleasinglyillustratedcover

completewitha flapper(photographicreproduction

wasnotpracticalforthepublishersbackthen),to

theformalproseof theeditor’sintroduction.‘Amongst

thesubjectswhichofferthemselvestophotographers

whowishtospecialise,insectsprovidewholeclassesof

workalongpathswhicharecomparativelyuntrodden.’

Thesedayswe’djustsay,‘Welcometoourinsectand

macrospecial.’EditorR ChildBayleyalsocomplained

aboutpressphotographerswho‘overstepthelimit’,

buthelightenedupandshareda funnystoryabouta

pigfarmerwhowantedtowhitewashhispigsfora

photoshoot...Anotherhighlightis a featureon

photographingkids,courtesyof oneMarcusAdams.

We’renotsurprisedthatsomeof hissubjectsseema

bitscaredasMrAdamslookslikea crossbetween

NikolaTesla,GrouchoMarxanda badlydisguised

fugitive.It’sinterestingtoseehowthekids in the

feature were so crimped and posed.

1924

© K AMERAPROJEKT GRA Z 2015 / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / CC BY-SA 4.