The Bargirl Series was shot over a 1 year period in 2003. For the first time I shot the photographs in color which I feel added a more realistic look to the images. B/W photographs while strong visually have a tendency to separate the viewer from the reality of the subject, where as if the photograph is shot in color there is less visual distance between the subject and the viewer.
I was faced with a bit of dilemma with the Bargirl Series, should I include nudity or not? I did not want to exploit the people who I was trying to document and help. Nudity offered to different possibilities on the negative side was the chance of exploitation on the positive side was the fact that nudity was honest to who they were. If your working as a Bargirl being naked is part of the job description, your body is how and why you are used by your client. My goal became to show the person in a honest light, to sometimes show some nudity but to try to do it in a straight forward and true to the subject way. To show it in a way that was honest to the lives of the subject, to not show the nudity in an exploitive way but in a realistic way. It was a fine line, a movement of a leg or a change in expression can change the entire feel/meaning of a photograph. I struggled with getting the balance right through out that year and also later when choosing which photographs to print. I have about 30% of the film from this series to develop and still struggle in dealing with finding the photographs that are true and honest to the Bargirls life.
