The plan was to target "thirty-something" housewives (at the Dawn of the Age of Aquarius, mind you) and appeal to their need to feel young, glamorous, and sexy again. A lot of women harbor a fantasy of wanting to be like a Playboy model just once in their lives. I gave them that experience. They got to "do the nasty" in front of a camera. They got a risque, but not scandalous, portrait of themselves that made them look like they wanted to feel. They would buy them as presents for their husbands and lovers.
Here is the econo-dynamics of portraiture. You are asking someone to give you money for a picture of themselves. Why would they do this? Because they want someone to have it. You get your money for a portrait either from the subject or from the person who will ultimately possess it. Portraiture is an act of love that must be purchased from a third party.
The operative motivations are ego and vanity. The "better" you can make them look, the more they will pay. "Art" pays even better. So I didn't sell just pictures of people to themselves, I sold them Creative Portraiture. I sold them an Experience that they would remember for the rest of their lives, every time they look at that picture. They get a rush from it. It is worth money to them.
I objectified women, is what I did. They paid me to do it, and I was damn good at it. Then I heard the word "objectification" for the first time, probably from Chic. That's when I decided that I didn't like doing it as much as I thought I would when I was 17, being questioned by the FBI about "seditious" activities. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
So here I sit, 25 years later, looking back into my past. These are people who gave me money to make portraits of them, and I can't remember their names. I wonder if they still have their prints? When I photographed couples, they would buy three prints, one for them and one for each set of parents. If they later divorced, who got my wedding portrait, or did it wind up on the trash heap? Hey, what do I care ... the money's long gone!
The digitizing project is proceeding in several phases. The first was having snapshots digitized at 300 d.p.i. in monochrome (black & white). The second was having some negatives, slides, and slides copies of mounted prints digitized onto a Kodak Photo CD. These have provided me with the images to complete a few discrete, stand-alone "chapters" for distribution and feedback. This is the phase I am in as I write this.
The next phase is to transcribe the handwritten and oral journals. I've had a Teach Yourself to Touch Type program that I've never used, so I think it's time to learn ... I can't afford a transcription service at the moment, and I've got plenty of time on my hands.
-=DAH=- 30-Sep-93
Last update: 13-May-96 by dennette@wiz-worx.com
<Who is this "Dennette" person?>