Women in Photography

This weeks lecture about women's roles in photography was very interesting to me.  I had never really put too much thought about what gender took what kinds of pictures.  After looking through the pictures that Mr. Oxton showed us, it was very apparent to me that there was a difference in what kinds of photos men took and what women took.  In most of the photos taken by men, there was more focus on being sexy.  This focus shifted as the photos taken by women were not for sexual appeal at all, having the women pose in more reserved positions.  In most of the photos that we saw taken by a male, they had the women showing lots of skin and posed in a way to show her body off.  The photos that were taken by women tended to show less skin and were posed in positions that didn't intend to show their bodies off.

I think that art and photos are a challenging thing to place in a single box.  Photos can be interpreted differently by everyone and can spark different opinions.  This is something that I find so fascinating about art, it can be interpreted anyway you want.  Without a title and description, viewers perspectives will vary much more than if there was a specific title and description.  This can be difficult in understanding the photographers true meaning behind the photo.  Society today makes it hard for people to have opinions about the meaning of the pictures of the models.  Unfortunately when a man takes a photo of a women it is more likely to be seen as a sexual photo than a work of art and when it is taken by a women it is seen as usually anything but sexual.

One of the more surprising things that I learned during Mr. Oxton's lecture was the photographers that Nikon chose for their new camera.  Nikon is one of, if not the biggest company in the photography business and for them to choose all men photographers for this was disturbing.  This is something that speaks big about this industry and their views on women, which is very unfortunate and wrong.  Just like everything else in the world, photography is no different when it comes to gender capability. Women can take just as good if not a better photos then men can, and this is something that should not be overlooked.  Once again, society needs to change their outlook on women for the better.  Once this change happens, then women will be less sexualized in art and viewers will have different interpretations and opinions.