Friday, November 13, 2009

Wikipedia Vandalism

Let's think for a moment about Diane Arbus. One of the premier photographers of the middle of the twentieth century, her photographs of "others:" insane, marginalized, different opened up an entirely new way of looking at photography and how we view photography as art.

Talented, yes. But let's face it, when you're getting pictures of your new-born baby, she's second from the bottom of the list. (The very bottom of the list remains reserved for Joel-Peter Witkin, examples here, here, and here) Unless of course, you're Gloria Vanderbilt, looking for a picture of your new-born son.



And so, Diane Arbus. Baby Photographer. Of course, the son ends up being a little famous himself. I really, really, really want to edit his wikipedia entry to have that photograph of him as the main picture. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the copyrights on the Arbus piece keep me from doing it. But maybe someone isn't quite as ethical as me.