This is a dramatic/artistic project depicting the often overlooked injuries and abuses of women. I need both men and women for the series, some of the images may require implied nude or nude. For men that want to pose you will probably be cast as the villain The mood of this series is somewhat dark but I think that it will be a worth while endeavor.
The Stories
Most of the images have a primary female character, some have one or more male characters and possibly some background characters. For men volunteering to be in an image you should be aware that you will likely be cast as the villain of the scene. This series was inspired by the many people that have confided in me over the years. I have often been in the position of consoling and advising someone that had been hurt but I have always wished that I could change the situation before someone gets hurt. From time to time I have tried to write and post something that would make a difference somewhere but with little effect. I am not a writer and lack the talent to really influence people in that media. I am a photographer though. Visual images are part of my natural thought processes and I do see people react to the images that I make. So this is my attempt to make a difference, even if only to one person. Many of the images will be disturbing but they are designed to be so. They are designed to get attention and cut into complacency. Years ago I had a group of Scouts out on a camping trip. In the evening they were standing around the fire and a group of girls walked past the camp several times. These boys got started yelling things out to the girls that were getting a bit rude. I could have just yelled at them to cut it out but thinking about he situation I realized that though they would to what I told them they would not learn anything from it and would be likely to repeat the behavior when I was not around. The core of the problem was that they were not seeing these girls as people, they were objects. So the next time they came by I walked up to them, explained the problem I was trying to solve and invited them over to our fire. I will never forget the shocked looks on the boy’s faces just before they ran and hid in their tents. This series, though it is more serious has the same principle To make people see a person who has been hurt. Someone who can’t be dismissed by saying “she was just…….” or “she should have…….” This project has been done on a TFP (Time For Prints) basis, though I am trying to raise some funds (cache) to be able to pay the models, construct sets and get locations. The project has gotten this far from volunteers, but this has been very slow and there are a number of images that I have not been able to get done because of critical resources missing. I don’t know what the destination for these images is. I hope that eventually there may be a gallery show or a book but for now I need to keep the costs down. I am happy to do regular portfolio or portrait work in exchange for work on this series. Most of the scenes require multiple people and I don’t want to have anyone recognizable in more than one image because it should not be one person’s story, so this will require a number of people to complete. I realize that there may be some reservations about playing some of the parts in these images. My hope is to get people who are interested in purpose of this series and would like to see it completed. Due to the lighting techniques that I am using in many of the image I also need assistance to help with equipment. I am commonly asked when the shoot is. Since there are many scenes there will be many shoots and I don’t know when they will be until I have all the props, people and locations needed for the particular scene.
For those interested in participating in this project as models or providing locations here are the image descriptions.