Ongoing censorship struggle

Monday, I was going through a my website looking up some information to make sure what I was about to tell a client was correct as written on the site, when I discovered my site was not accessible.


It seemed the company with who I had designed and hosted te site through decided to shut me down. After three days of emails I found out that I was shut down due to "adult" content.

I was told, "Weebly doesn't allow adult sites on our network. So your sites were taken down and your account turned off. This isn't a "moral" issue for us, we simply have the same policy regarding adult content as a social network like Facebook."

Not a moral issue; what kind of an issue is it then?

They came back to me and apologized for taking it down so abruptly and even refunded fees I had paid but that still doesn't explain why artwork that deals with the nude is immediately considered "adult."

My frustrations on this subject keep growing as I am running out of options to post my artwork. The hosting companies that allow adult oriented content are where the more pornographic sites are hosted and becasue they are a niche the costs are totally out of my league.

There is a need on the internet for web hosting for the arts. One that will not censor the artist's work, one who will provide a decent site at a reasonable rate.

I even tried posting my images that are for sale on an art website who showed a few oil painted nudes, but when I approached them the reply was that we do not sell "that" kind of work.

I didn't even present them with the images from my most recent exhibition. These were images of a more suggestive and classic nature.

So the saga continues. If anyone out there knows of a reasonable hosting company who can see the art from the porn, let me know!

Censorship vs. Artistic Integrity

It seems that my exhibition keeps hitting stumbling blocks the more I try to keep true to my vision, the more our puritanical culture gets in the way.
As many of you who have read these blogs know, this exhibition, "Censor This!" is a group of my more erotic work. I was given the freedom to show this body of work by a very opened minded gallery owner. Jason Pipper, owner of the ArtHouse Lounge in Harrisburg, PA approached me with the idea of this show. The one thing he said to me was "I will not censor an artist, show what you want to show". Now how often does an artist hear that! So I took the ball and ran with it, producing 38 new pieces of work to compliment some of my more erotic existing images. Now since I went digital I really cannot print them myself. My computer is my 21st century enlarger and the lab I use, Miller's Professional Imaging is one of the best in the country and the lab I have been using for over a decade. I am calibrated with Miller so that I get exactly what I see on my monitor. The quality is superb and up until now I have had no issue with them printing my images. When I sent this batch of 38 images to the lab, only 32 came back, that along with the note I have posted above. It seems that someone on the lab floor was offended by my images and refused to print them. It went to their supervisor and then to the CEO of the company who said if you are uncomfortable printing them, then don't do it. He never even saw the images. In fact, the supervisor who called me to explain, never saw the images. He kept repeating the same line, "Miller's will not print those images." My work was censored by a lab tech - from Kansas, no less. It's not like they have to worry about model releases and the great debate about pornography and art that is raging on. All they had to do was print the entire batch. But no, this tech had the power to question the artistic integrity of the images and almost damage my show.
Almost because I was saved. Saved by McKenna Professional Labs. I called the lab and talked to a wonderful receptionist that said as long as there is nothing illegal there shouldn't be a problem with us printing the images. But I was still worried and actually lost sleep over it. Then today I received a phone call today for one of the top guys at the lab. Once he said his name and where he was calling from he laughed and said, "I bet you were expecting this call", I was. He explained to me that due to sexual harassment laws there was a potential for someone to claim that the printing of these 6 images could constitute a hostile environment. I understood, but my problem still was not solved, I still need these images printed. Then he added that since this could be an issue, he would print these images himself to make sure that I had them for the exhibition.
He saved the show and understood the artistic statement I was trying to make. He took it upon himself to make sure that I was satisfied and that I received the best customer service and quality of images that McKenna Labs gives all of their clients. Needless to say I am now a McKenna client for life and will no longer be using Miller's Imaging.
No flat out censorship, just an understanding conversation and a solution to a problem.
If anyone is in need of a professional photography lab I highly recommend McKenna Pro
I want to thank them so very much for saving my sanity and this exhibition.

Censorship is alive and well

Two posts ago I posted about my Valentine's Day special and used the actual advertisement I was going to have published in two local newspapers. Well surprise, surprise both the Bucks County Herald and the Penny Power refused to run my ad. The Penny Power said the photo was to provocative and they go to too many conservative households where that wouldn't be acceptable. The Bucks County Herald said the photo was ok but the web linked to images containing nudity and their are people who pick up their free paper who might not like that. Remember, they would have to see the ad, then go to a computer and punch in the website. So if they didn't want to see it, why would they go through all that. And besides, these are probably the same households who's kids go hunting and kill defenseless animals for sport and play Grand Theft Auto all day. Violence is ok but a bit of skin, OH NO.
So now that we've entered a new era of change in the White House, will anything change? I doubt it. The ultra right winged conservative element, at least in this part of the county, has a death grip on the social and economic attitude of the people and politics here so tightly that it will never change. I sometimes feel I am fighting a battle that I can never win. But that doesn't mean I will ever stop trying to wake them up. Everything from movie ratings to advertisements to the social consciousness is slanted so that people are afraid of nudity, afraid that being nude, or seeing the nude portrayed artistically is immoral. But please don't try to take away their guns. You do that they start spouting the Constitution of course they forget the whole freedom of speech part.
So as a photographer whose artwork is primarily the nude figure, I have a bit of a conundrum, do I start photographic landscapes, covered bridges and puppy dogs or do I keep true to myself and photograph what I believe in, knowing that I probably never will get shown in a major gallery, never enjoy any success or recognition for my art and probably be the iconic starving artist? The answer of course is Yes, be true to yourself as an artist. I can take heart that I have wonderful support from my beautiful wife who backs me 100% of the time. Even when I am wrong, (ya gotta love her!)
So I guess for this week, it's time for me to step down from my soap box but I'd like to thank the Bucks County Herald and the Penny Power for censoring my ad, if you didn't I wouldn't have a blog this week.
By the way, the title of the photo above is "Liberties Revoked"