On Sat, 20 Mar 2004, frank theriault wrote: > I know both subjects. They know each other. The one with his face to > the camera, Taryn, is transgendered. He's had the hormornal treatment, > but not the surgical, and currently lives his life as a male. > > This photo was an attempt to capture that. Taryn really does try to > look the part of the "Tough Boy", but still comes across as "a boy", I > guess due to the lack of facial hair and baby face.
That makes sense now. I suspect I was disturbed by the fact that the anonymous man on the left looked like he was about to embrace an ambiguously young boy, and the boy wasn't entirely opposed to that. > Now, Shel, knowing what you now know, what's your reaction to the photo? > Has it changed? If so, how? Do you (or anyone else) think the photo is > dishonest? I'm not sure about that last one, quite frankly. If it is > dishonest, does the title contribute to (or even cause) the dishonesty? Oscar Wilde would say, "There is no such thing as a moral or immoral photograph. Photographs are well made, or badly made. That is all." Also, "It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors." The photo is only dishonest in that it refuses to conform to whatever expectations and preconceived impressions we bring to it, and I can hardly fault it for that. chris
