Sturges was 28 and a photography instructor at the school when he met the girl in 1975, prosecutors said. Sterngold, James (September 20, 1998). "Censorship in the Age of Anything Goes; For Artistic Freedom, It's Not the Worst of Times". The New York Times . Retrieved February 17, 2013.

Last Day of Summer: Photographs by Jock Sturges The Last Day of Summer: Photographs by Jock Sturges

Boundaries and art are terms that appear to repel each other in many regards with a culture within art wanting to "break" boundaries. When the efforts to do such are urinals in exhibitions the effects are harmless; it is only when the efforts walk the line of illegality that a debate needs to take place. The majority of photographers and artists are against the stifling of expression, but when leniency enables the endangering and exploitation of children, creative freedom must be sacrificed. The enormous gray area that engulfs Hamilton, Mann, and Sturges speaks volumes to the need for constructive discussion. If an amateur photographer were to take similar photographs to these three artists, would the images ever reach print, let alone sell millions of copies? The question is admittedly loaded by the terms "amateur" and "similar" but the point stands insofar as how important the context of the images and the artists appear to be. A narrative has been applied to these collections of nude images of adolescents which categorizes them as important and expressions of purity, but it seems that any justification leaves a foul taste in the mouths of many. His photographs appear as cover art on three novels by Jennifer McMahon, Promise Not to Tell, Island of Lost Girls and Dismantled, as well as Karl Ove Knausgård's 1998 debut novel Ute av verden ( Out of the World). The band Ride used some of his photographs on different releases, i.e.: the Twisterella and Leave them All Behind EPs. There are women, as well as men, who appreciate his work — e.g. the writer and photographer July Stars (Jaja Hargreaves) has written at length in the magazine I.T.Post about what Hamilton's photos meant to her, ever since she first encountered them as a teenage girl... On October 22, 2016, French radio presenter Flavie Flament named Hamilton as the person who raped her during a photoshoot nearly 30 years prior when Flament was just 13 years old, as detailed in her novel "La Consolation," said to be based on true experiences. As is often the case with landmark allegations against a public figure, Flament's words prompted several other models featured in Hamilton's work to step forward with similar claims. Hamilton immediately defended himself by stating:

Alexander, this is a link that may explain how the US defines child pornography - https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-chil... - I hope this helps. There are two totally different arguments, and I think it's dishonest to muddle them together. The first is the art, and the second is the rape. A. D. Coleman gave a favourable review of the book in The New York Observer, stating: "Sturges sustains a delicate balance on a very precarious wire ... His struggle is to observe and render his subjects in all of their complexities, trembling on the cusp of change. The result of this long-term, communal effort is one of the most clear-eyed, responsible investigations of puberty and the emergence of sexuality in the medium's history, making a metaphor of the metamorphosis from child to adult." [2] Attempted censorship [ edit ]

Jock Sturges | Misty Dawn, Angela, Theresa, Christina and Jock Sturges | Misty Dawn, Angela, Theresa, Christina and

We had a regionally well-known photographer here in Indianapolis several years ago (Miles Fork) who was sent to prison for drugging and raping a 16-year-old aspiring model. His portfolio was Maxim-style so no one really talked about it in an artistic sense. The conversation during that was rooted mostly in how a 43-year-old man got that much alone-time with the teenager. It didn't help that Fork's daughter came forward and claimed her father molested her, too. It's interesting that we have two different conversations in similar situations because of the perceived artistic merit in the types of photography.This defense continued with Hamilton asserting that he will begin legal proceedings against the accusers, but on November 25, 2016, he was found dead. His death's cause, while unclear, is suspected to be suicide. Flament issued a statement soon after Hamilton's death reached the media and pulled no punches: Grand Jury Indicts Barnes & Noble for Books Depicting Nude Children". Los Angeles Times. February 19, 1998 . Retrieved February 19, 2013.

Jock Sturges Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images

They bonded over photography, and he started bringing her on shoots, he said. Sturges persuaded her to pose for topless and nude photographs, and they had sex in his darkroom and in the woods, the prosecutor said. They’re simply a celebration of beauty,” he said of his photos in an interview with The Associated Press in 1997 when the Christian group Focus on the Family was campaigning to have his books banned in Pennsylvania. Federal authorities in California investigated him for child pornography in 1990, but a grand jury refused to indict him, The Los Angeles Times reported.

This Google cookie is used to optimize advertising to deliver ads relevant to users, improve campaign performance reports, or to prevent a user from seeing the same ads multiple times. Sturges’ photos have appeared in galleries around the world, and several books of his work have been published — though many see his images as little more than child pornography. Sturges primarily works with a large 8x10-inch-format view camera. He has taken some digital photographs but prefers to work with film. [3] Of course I agree that it's important to protect children from abuse like that alleged by Flavie Flament. But do we need a general ban on photos of nude children and adolescents? To me, that seems nonsensical. We're all born naked, and images of nude people of all ages have been part of culture since ancient times. When questioned regarding the prosecution, Sturges stated it would waste taxpayers' money, as the photographs "are not done flirtatiously" and have been displayed in major museums. [6] Sturges responded to the indictment labelling the books as "obscene material containing visual reproduction of persons under 17 years of age involved in obscene acts" by stating "This is pretty chilling language because, in fact, the people in my pictures are not engaged in any acts at all. They are living in contexts that are naturist, which is to say that when it's warm and people feel like it, they don't wear clothes", [7] also stating "To find the work obscene, you'd have to find homo sapiens between 1 and 17 inherently obscene, and I find that obscene." [5]