“The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium.”
In 1936, Helmut Newton started his career in film photography. As his career took off, he chased more paramount ideas with his photography. Newton geared his photography towards the idea of sexual desire in a rebellious standing against early 1900s social norms. He used a single-lens (SLR) camera to take photos in film. His photography built his reputation, and he became dubbed the “father of modern photography”.
Film was one of the many forms of photography at the time. Developing a photo from the film is a tedious process. It involves chemicals, darkness, and time, not including the expectation of taking the photos perfectly with the correct placement on the film roll as well. In this time, there were other ways to take photographs and with simpler processes. With film as a more delicate form of photography, it’s fascinating to review why it was such a common method. SLR cameras provide higher resolution photos, meaning a higher definition and clearer quality. The negatives of the photos provide clear ownership of who took the photos and can make a photo timeless. SLR cameras required less energy than other forms of photography at that time to take a photo. With the development of the film being the most tedious process, the advantages of film photography at that time outweighed the negatives. Film photography isn’t a perfected form of photography, making it an imperfect medium in which Helmut Newton thrived in.
Although the contradiction of the mid-1900s paragon laid the groundwork for Helmut Newton’s film photography, the spectator’s eyes single-handedly developed the ethical connotation of the primitive images. As Newton had intentions with each picture he took, how we see it gives it its meaning. His argument against the norm in a negative moral standard is what drove him to take the picture. In turn, he succeeded. His photos were intricate and beautiful; they were loved by the viewer. It was up to the viewer to interpret the photo and elicit its moral meaning.
The aphorism is valid in the position of the photographer, Newton, and the viewer, us. Overtime, photography develops and photos become more modern. To go down to the raw morals of a human and capture that in an image in the early 1900s to demonstrate the same meaning to this day is astounding. He was able to use the imperfect medium given to him, the SLR camera, and produce beautiful images. His inspiration was the moral life of man, and the moral meaning drawn from the images was from an imperfect medium, film. To review his images in “King of Kink,” is to be reminded of what humans will always be even in a perfect world.
Helmut Newton is one of the best examples of the aphorism because of his resources and what his photos represent, to the extent that he still has an impact on modern photography. The jump to go against the standard social norms is what continues to drive finding those raw and natural habits and keep capturing them through an imperfect medium.