So, are you proud of yourself? If so, disclose your real name?
Oh, Jeff, darling, spare me your bullying board games. I've never been filled with foolish pride.
This thread is much funnier than I ever expected, but some of the replies don't surprise me.
So I called a platform artist - an overweight, middle-aged, adult male photographer - fat, and just look at the phony outcry from a bunch of chubby babies in need of therapy. Not one peep from any professional businessman about Andrew Rodney - famous author, blogger, platform speaker, businessman, and fellow photographer - who publicly denigrates Scott Kelby's success in business, accusing him of being the "P.T. Barnum of all Photoshop, LR and photography…90%+ (about) making money and hocking."
In one small paragraph, Rodney slaps down decades of success and hard work that Kelby built, and stands tall and proud that he posted such destructive words, using his own name. And Jeff, LuLa's premiere lecturing bully, is demanding an apology from me for calling Kelby fat? What world are some of you so-called professionals living in? Tell me, Jeff, are Andrew's destructive words what you call "working for free, on behalf of the photographic community?"
I can't take any of you blowhards seriously anymore.
For those with uber thick skulls or a big, fat, beer belly, the simple point of my OP is: If you're going to take to the stage to "teach" beauty photography, take a look in the mirror first and check if your addiction to donuts makes you look credible.
OK, so I may not want to have sex with an obese man because I find that naked look an utter turn-off. But being obese doesn't mean you have no talent. However, even with talent, you're not entitled to bad taste and looking like a slob in the fashion photography business (unless your name is Bruce Weber and you possess his genius). If you're going to pretend to be a fashion photographer, you better know how to dress when you take the stage, and accept that beauty = the appearance of good health in ALL fashion circles. Instead of blogging, try a treadmill. Otherwise, expect to be criticized. The fashion police are everywhere.
IMO, Kelby would have served himself and the B&H audience better had he taken a portrait of a zaftig business woman, and had Katrin and Julieanne tackle those very real retouching issues. The average CEO in America is overweight, and none of them, male or female, want to appear that way in a corporate photo.
Photographers who claim to shoot "fashion" are becoming a dime a dozen, thanks to Terry Richardson. Many think all it takes is shooting a pretty young girl in a fancy dress with an on-camera flash. Well good luck getting a spread in Vogue, or any other fashion job, with such limited thinking. Even boring, bring-home-the-bacon, fashion catalog photographers know, if they lack taste and style (and oftentimes a great physique), art directors are not going to be willing to bond and trust.
It's your foot, shoot it as you see fit.