4 posts tagged “teenagers”
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.
As 2007 ended I looked back and tried to remember what was good about it. There was only really one thing that stood out as good, the rest was just kind of meh. It seems like a lot went unfinished. I have a pile high of unread books, unfinished projects, unrealized gallery show ideas that are probably in limbo because they were uninspired, that book proposal I keep redoing. I stayed depressed for several days and realized that was no way to start a new year. I need to have a plan.
First things first, finish what I started unless it's just not feasible, and let it go - move on!
Next, get inspired. Virginia Woolf was right, you need a room of your own and money to be a writer/photographer/artist/creative. I certainly don't have a room or the money to get one. Travel has always been my "room" and since we've been conserving for the house renovation, I haven't been traveling as much as I used to. This year I'm going to get the hell out of Jackson as often as I can, even if it's just a day trip to Nashville.
Finally, worry about myself instead of worrying about everybody else. The most depressing and frustrating thing for me this past year has been living with three teenagers and a passive husband. One minute teenagers can be accomplished and happy and make me feel everything is going to turn out okay. The next minute they dissolve into an alien goo bent on destroying everything around them because they can't find their favorite pair of jeans. Yesterday a woman at church, who was my daughter's sponsor for confirmation, asked me how she was doing. I said, "Well, she's 14. She'll survive. They always seem to." The woman who is a great-grandmother said, "Sure she'll survive, but the question is, will you?" At that moment, I wasn't so sure I would. I resolve in this new year (even though I don't believe in resolutions, but I'm desperate) to feed my soul and strengthen myself. I can't help others if I'm too weak to help myself.
