Quite apart from the fact that they ARE commercial photographers and depend on both equipment and skills to make that living a reality. Boxes don´t always fit the content.
I see nothing wrong with creating beautiful people; everybody who has walked this Earth knows that such looks don´t exist: they are an imaginary ideal.
Now, whether "dumb" people such as half-witted young women believe the advertising agent´s message or not, that is an issue quite apart from the creation of imaginary beauty. (I hear Futt Futt grinding up his gears already. Pace, hombre, it´s just a point of view, an opinion, no more and no less; don´t boil your waters over it.) Mental health is something quite else, and the inability to distinguish the real from the imaginary is really a problem that existed already within the individual, regardless of any photogaphy.
Real babies, as in the nappy-soiling sense of the word, are seldom beautiful other than in the eyes of the mother, immediate family or, perhaps, in the eyes of the female gender as a whole. See one and you have seen them all. The rest of the ooing and ahhhing is social obligation - some basic physical similarities to a parent MIGHT be on show, but as for the brat having the family nose, eyes or mouth, the less said the better until the child is somewhat older. Anyway, plastic surgery is widely available today. You can even go on holidays where it comes as part of a package. A photo opportunity, even.
Painting starts with a blank canvas. And working on a roll of white Colorama is different? That´s one of the reasons I did everything I could to slant my own career towards going on location: not only does it make the job seem more interesting, provide memories for old-age, but adds a lot to the image itself. That bloody blank canvas might well posterise a product but it makes it very much more difficult to fill in a satisfying way. Not, of course, that a painter has it any easier, nor, in many cases, does a painter meet with more success. But, of course, that blank canvas around the image allows space for the almighty written word...
The above brings us back, unfortunately, to an earlier acrimonious thread, but risking that, I feel obliged to say that a series of shots on that blank photographic canvas has slight chance of doing well; even Avedon´s American tour doing just that kind of thing was more than even his skills could see through very well. All just MY opinion, but compared with much else that the man produced, hardly a showcase for his talent. Anyway, Arbus did it all before.
Gotta fly - domesticity calls.
Rob C
