Currently, I am working on a series of books about different periods in my photographic career. This soft cover book of 64 pages shows a lot of photography created between my fifties and sixties. A lot, if not all, of these photographs have to do with sexuality, although there are no sexual acts depicted.
Compared to the other photographic books, there is an awful lot of text about photographic theory in it. I am not claiming these are essays. I have no definitive answers to the questions I have asked myself over the years, but I am slowly opening up about the theory that is the base of my own work. While doing so, I was reminded of the many discussions we had in the 1970s about whether we should consider photography to be a serious art form. It is obvious which side I was on.
Not much later, I saw my works defined as Fine Art Photography, and of course also as Pornography by those who had a problem with nudity.
At age 67 I often think back how photography became mainstream. The Kodak box camera of the late 1800s was designed for the whole family to enjoy. Today we have a comparable revolution with the smartphone. Through social media, a lot of these photographs have an enormous reach.
So, I am flirting with the idea that a new definition of photography is needed. While writing the texts for this book, I leaned towards defining photography as folk art, but I am still working on it. I have a feeling more of these books will follow, and I may find a better definition.
