MADONNA - THE NUDE PHOTOS

In this day and age, when nude, or nearly nude, photos of celebrities don't merit a blip on the radar screen, it's difficult to realize that there was a time when the emergence of a single nude photograph could turn a famous celeb into an instant pariah. When, at a pivotal point in Madonna's career, nude photographs of her which she had posed for when a nude modeling job meant food on her plate, suddenly surfaced, the conventional wisdom was that the photos would do irreparable harm to her reputation. In fact, one prominent critic was heard to exclaim that the effect on the young singer's career would be like to throwing a bucket of cold water on a fire. Well, at fifty years old, Madonna is still too hot to handle. The prominent critic was asked several years ago if he still stood by his earlier statement. He answered that he did - with one small change. When asked what that would be, he stated that he would substitute the word gasoline for the words cold water. In this post full Demi age, it takes a lot more than a nude photo to raise the public's eyebrows.

PROMOTE YOUR WORK #2

A second great way to promote your work is to donate samples of your work to charity fund raising events. For instance, I recently donated two photographs to be auctioned off at a fund raiser for a local museum. A good number of people got a chance to view the photographs. An additional bonus was that one of the photographs was purchased (at auction) by the police chief and the other by a very prominent businesswoman. The eventual publicity I will garner from this can't really be measured. However, it's probably way more than I would get through traditional advertizing.

PROMOTE YOUR WORK

This image was one that I used several months ago in a presentation I prepared for the Kiwanis Club of Bisbee's annual prayer breakfast. I made a CD containing Biblical quotes illustrated with my photographs. I gave the group a short program, then passed around a CD to each person present. More recently, I presented programs featuring photographic essays compiled from my photographs of Ecuador made during a week long photo shoot last May. The first of these programs was presented to the Kiwanis Club of Bisbee as a featured program at a regular weekly meeting. The second, and more elaborate, presentation was one I presented to the S.E ARIZONA CHAPTER OF THE ARIZONA PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYORS ASSOCIATION. As a result of that program, I have been invited to make a similar presentation to the employees of the Cochise County Dept. of Highways & Floodplains. My point is that Rotary, Kiwanis and other similar organizations are constantly looking for interesting programs and presentations. I can't think of a better opportunity for a local photographer to promote his or her work. In my next blog, I will discuss another great promotional tool, that of donating your work to raise funds for charitable causes.

PRESERVING MEMORIES

My mother passed away just two days ago. One of the things we will probably be doing in the next few weeks will be going through old family snapshots. I am sure we'll come across photos we cannot identify insofar as subject, location or time period. If we had taken time to go through the photos with my mother and document the information, we would be in a much better situation in attempting to preserve these memories. Don't make the same mistake. It's easy to put things off. Then, suddenly, it's too late. LARRY ELKINS