Why???

[smoke665]

On the news all the oohs and aahs, and fawning over Martha Stewart's cover shot for SI's Swimsuit. First let me say I don't believe she is unattractive, being a senior myself I have a preference for the classic beauty of older women. However, being a photographer with many senior portraits under my belt, I can safely say that at 81, there will be issues with skin tone, wrinkles, age spots, sagging, and all the other things that come with aging. Minimizing those with lighting and editing lets the real beauty come through, but to over process to the point of obliterating all the manifestations of a life well lived is an insult to seniors. It's like they said "you aren't beautiful old, we have to make you look unrealistically young".

 

[terri]

Meh. You ask Why? I say, Why Not? It's not like an 18 year old hardbody isn't given a good airbrush, too.

I hadn't looked at the Stewart shoot until now; mainly because I have little interest. But it's an excellent photo shoot - great posing, lighting, wardrobe. The article I read says Stewart was a model before creating her first company. She knows the game.

I also seriously doubt she's feeling insulted - isn't the whole point of this kind of glamor shoot to elevate the subject's features into some kind of faux perfection? You write: "It's like they said "you aren't beautiful old, we have to make you look unrealistically young". But 20-something models like to see their facial skin made flawless to the point of plasticity. I think the real issue is "You aren't beautiful - period; we have to make you look unrealistic - period."

And that's been going on with portraiture in any medium for many centuries.

No one seems to take issue with blatant over-processing of younger subjects. To call it out on a senior seems ageist.

 

[smoke665]

No one seems to take issue with blatant over-processing of younger subjects. To call it out on a senior seems ageist

That's not true, over processing in portraiture gets called out all the time, in the news, in social media, even here on TPF. The European countries have even passed laws requiring disclosure of body altering editing.

As you say Stewart supposedly has experience in modeling yet chose to look like one of the silly filters social media is awash with now. She's not an unattractive lady. Tasteful editing would have brought that out, and been far better than the clown filter they used on her.