Alex Waterhouse-Hayward

Dana Moreno López - Self Portraits - Not Selfies

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Dana Moreno López - Self Portrait 2014

Hacia 1859 el hombre que para el terror y la gloria sería Billy the Kid nació en un conventillo subterráneo de Nueva York. Dicen que lo parió un fatigado vientre irlandés, pero se crió entre negros. En ese caos de catinga y de motas gozó el primado que conceden las pecas y una crencha rojiza.

El Asesino desinteresado Bill Harrigan

Jorge Luís Borges

Some of us may know that photographer Bunny Yeager at one time was a model. She became so frustrated in being photographed by men that had no clue that she started taking glamorous self-portraits. She was so good that she became one of the few female photographers of her generation to shoot pinups. She was offered a job in Chicago by Playboy’s Hugh Hefner if she moved from Florida. Yeager turned him down and opted for making Betti Page famous.

Another female photographer who currently may be one of the most revered art photographers, Cindy Sherman, has only taken self–portraits.

Sometime around 2001 I became friends with Dana Moreno López. I discovered her in a passionate essay on how to be a model for an on line Spanish site. We have emailed each other since and I have written about her here and here. She also wrote this for me.

Since we met on line Dana has sent me countless photographs of herself. Many have been beautiful nudes. We have had constant differences of opinion as she sometimes deprecates the fact that I am a commercial photographer or a magazine photographer with an editorial bent. I once made the mistake of openly criticizing one of her posted images on facebook. I was crucified by a long string of Spanish photographers, makeup artists and her friends. I had crossed the line that is most important in facebook and that is that the world is rosy, we like everything, and to never post anything re Palestinians/Israelis. Any advice in facebook has to be flat design square posters in cyan telling you to love thy neighbour. I did not apologize as I felt that the photograph that had been posted put Dana in very bad light. Since then I have seen hundreds of pictures of her. Some, a few, feature photographs taken underwater, by Teco Pablo Salto-Weis, that are truly very nice. The rest seem to be pseudo fashion poses of yesteryear where Dana looks into the horizon while wearing swirly clothes.

Dana Moreno López - Self Portrait 2014

Every once in a while she posts self-portraits (not selfies!) that show off her best features, those eyes of hers, those freckles and a feisty disposition that she must surely have. I see her self portraits as pictures telling us, “I am a woman, a real woman. I am not a clothes horse.” I also think that because she is European she has what I suspect is a healthier self-concept in relation to her body that is not so much influenced by the ironic North American political correctness which is there hand in hand with a terrible culture of pornography. There seems to be a lack on the kind of photography that Helmut Newton used to be so good at. I would like to see Dana now pointing her camera away from herself. I think she would surprise us.

I long to see more pictures showing hands, and using much more dramatic lighting. But I am satisfied with this latest string of self-portraits and I can only dream that if I pointed my camera at her I just might take a photograph that is almost as good.

Link to: Dana Moreno López - Self Portraits - Not Selfies