2 posts tagged “photography”

Being a photographer that shoots a lot of teenagers, I've been watching the Miley Cyrus/Vanity Fair controversy pretty closely.  Everyone is talking about the bare-back photo and, honestly I don't get it.  I see more skin than that at prom.  Far more disturbing is the photo of Miss Cyrus and her dad, Billy Ray.  She is very suggestively draped across his lap with her hip bones jutting out holding his hand.  To me that photo is more representative of daddy using daughter to boost his career than the very empowering photo of her by herself.  Rebecca Traister on Salon has been the only journalist I've heard or read that noticed that little gem. 

As far as Annie Leibovitz's role in all this, she did her job.  It's any photographers job to push the subject matter as far as it is willing to go.  Some have said that Leibovitz exploited Miley for her own gain.  Not any more than her father has/did. A young girl coming to terms with her own sexuality is one thing. Being helped by her father is something totally different.