Last call for Lap Dances in Fredericton, NB

City of Fredericton Buys Strip Club, Shuts it Down

The following article describes how the Fredericton, NB city council voted to buy and then subsequently shut down and demolish the city's only strip club in an effort to "clean-up" the town. The city will over-pay for the property to the tune of $135,000 and put several people out of work while shutting down a legally operating business.  I found this article particularly interesting considering my last blog's very theme was power and corruption.  I guess the "morally superior" aren't restricted to imposing their puritan agenda on the world wide web.  Now you can vote them into your city councils and they'll decide for you, what you should or shouldn't be doing with your spare twoonies, and for the employees of the club, how you should or shouldn't make a living.  Looks like the residents of Fredericton better hold onto their money though.  If the council keeps making decisions like this one, there will be a hefty budget deficit and more unemployed people for the town to support.  I guess the consequence of the city council's need to purify it's electorate from the evils of things like nudity and sexually has come at a cost both socially and economically.

[link] 

Power, Corruption & Eric Cartman

In 1887, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, sent a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in which he uttered the now famous quote "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  This is not to be confused with a speech given by William Pitt, the Elder, the Earl of Chatham, and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778 to the House of Lords in 1770 which stated "Unlimited Power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who posses it."  So why the history lesson you ask?  And what do these men, who both have ridiculously long names, have to do with Officer Eric Cartman from South Park?

Whether it's social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, portfolio management sites like Flickr or DeviantArt, or even just creating and managing a list of favs on sites like Youtube, most of us are involved in some way in these massive sub-communities on the world wide web.  And it's pretty obvious to most of us what advantages this easy access to an incredible amount of content that these online communities offer.  However, one of the problems that arise from the sheer size and amount of the content that is available, is that sites like Facebook or Flickr for example, do not have the means to evaluate and regulate every single photo, video, or blog that is uploaded.  The daunting task of trying to review every single piece of content added to the 750 million Facebook profiles for instance, would be close to impossible.  You'd need a large team of monkeys.  So sites like these have passed off a large portion of the responsibility of policing the communities content to the end user.  You and me.  So I ask the question... are YOU qualified to do this?

For anyone who hasn't had a chance to see the episode of South Park where Eric Cartman is deputized, the end result, although entertaining, is a mirror for what I believe is happening in many of our online communities, and unfortunately, are growing attitudes beyond the anonymity of the internet.  Cartman immediately begins abusing his power and authority.  He is clearly not qualified or trained to make the important decisions necessary to police a community.  His tactics are thuggish and he merely abuses everyone simply because he can.  Cartman falsely believes that because he has been granted this power, that his authority is immediately respected and not earned.

I've stated this many times and in many different forums.  My policy is "If you don't like it... don't look at it."  Seems simple enough.  We do this everyday without thinking about it.  For instance, if you are a little squeamish about some of the violent interactions between animals that are often shown on channels like Nature, or Discovery, then I would imagine that right before the Lion rips out the throat of a Thompson's Gazelle, you'd probably change the channel.  We make decisions about what movies to watch, what magazines to buy or what music to listen to based on our own personal tastes which are inevitably linked to our moral sensibilities.  I would hope that most people would not make the conscious decision to watch a horror movie, and then complain to the management afterwards because they saw blood in it.  That would just be asinine.  So what I don't understand is why when we see something we don't like on a site such as Facebook, why do we not just keep on truckin' as we would if watching TV?  I think our friends Lord Acton and William Pitt have the answer to that question.

We've become a community of wimps and winers.   We believe that for some reason out of the almost 7 billion internet users world wide, our individual delicate sensibilities are not allowed to be trampled on for any reason....EVER.  We believe that 'our' morality is the only one, and the correct one.  So instead of clicking, Next, Block, Unfriend, etc, it's more satisfying to impose our own brand of Officer Eric Cartman justice and bully our internet 'Friends' into following the moral and aesthetic code that we deem acceptable.  This was hard lesson learned by a group on Facebook who's content was removed after complaints were filed because there were photos of women breast feeding on the page.  This begs the obvious question... what were these people doing on a page about breast feeding, if they are offended by the concept?  I think one of the worst aspects of this blatant censorship imposed by amateur, self-righteous, incompetent, thugs, is that it is done anonymously.  I think there would be a lot less 'judging' going on if the person had to stamp their name beside the fact that you reported someone's  photos for example.  Instead these acts are effortlessly carried out by cowards and goons.

For this reason, sites like Facebook, Flickr, etc. have become increasingly less appealing.  I don't want to be part of a community that encourages the cowardly and anonymous enforcement of censorship and moral judgments without any chance for an open debate and a clear cut guideline for what is acceptable and what is not.  And therein lies the problem... who is going to decide what is acceptable and what is not for the World Community?  It's an impossible task.  Unless of course you're one of the people who like to police the internet on sites like Facebook for content that you deem unacceptable... then the answer is easy.  Then the answer is whatever you say it is.  I can't even begin to imagine where that kind of mentality comes from.  Ah yes... Lord Acton, you are correct once again. 

A Hard Lesson Learned in 2010

I learned a hard lesson in 2010 on my journey to become a better photographer. During a period of several consecutive months, I had three former models (and consequently former friends) all contact me and 'demand' I remove all of their photo's from my various online portfolios.  Sadly, one of these women was not only one of my closest and dearest friends, but also the person I considered to be my muse.  The reasoning for the change of heart was varied an included; possessive boyfriend's, changes in morality, and believe it or not, even Jesus was a reason given.  In all three of these instances, the women involved failed to recognize the time, effort, passion and expense that was put into these collaborative works.  If I am not able to use them due to their sudden change of heart on the matter, I am forced to bare both the emotional and economic expense of wasted time and effort.  And I bare these costs alone.  I feel there was also a failure on the part of the models to understand that they are the subject matter of the work of art, but that does not entitle them to dictate to me as the artist what I do with each piece, especially when there was an agreement and understanding by all parties prior to each shoot.  If I were creating a sculpture or a painting based on a posed model, would they still feel they had the right to make the same demands?

I suppose it's fair to say that I am partially responsible for my own troubles. Working with inexperienced models can be problematic. Especially if they are younger and haven't had the foresight to see how modelling may affect them in the future. And working with models who generally are only involved for the ego boost, but aren't serious about modelling, about promoting themselves or about promoting me as the photographer. I've also never been a big fan of release forms. To me there's something intrinsically negative about starting off an artistic endeavour with someone by handing them a legal document. I realize that things like this are just part of the bigger world we live in, and that I have to protect my own interests. Or at least... I realize this now, in hind sight. It's unfortunate that the good natured trust I once began each of these new creative relationships with, has now been replaced by a consent form and a signature. 

The summer was painfully slow and relatively unproductive creatively. I miss the relationship, comfort level, trust, and companionship that I shared with my muse. In short, I miss my friend.  As I entered into the Autumn months, I had the opportunity to work with a few great new models and broaden my talent pool a little further.  As an entirely self taught photographer, I spent a great deal of time reading and teaching myself the craft both technically and creatively.  I find it interesting that there was never any mention about the roller coaster ride of ups and downs that would follow in this strange art form.  I have made a conscious choice to work with people as a subject matter and even more precisely, to work almost exclusively with female models.  I've often had a hard time understanding how many photographers choose plants or wildlife or landscapes as their preferred subject matter.  To me the female form is an never ending source of beauty and inspiration.  But I suppose it's also fair to say that a plant will never stab you in the back, wildlife won't accuse you of being a pervert, and a landscape will never not show up for a shoot.  Despite all of that, I will still choose to ride the roller coaster.  I love what I do and that's enough for me.


Looking forward to 2011