Customer Reviews

The Age of Innocence

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I find it interesting and in some ways disturbing how few (openly at least) female viewpoints are expressed among the reviews of this book. Indeed, some of reviews make it appear that there are quite a few males out there who believe females are a sexual "tabula rasa" on which they can write their judgements of what constitutes morally appropriate behavior.

This book must be understood not simply as art, but as a psychological statement, namely that sexuality exists within each of us from infancy on and parents and society deny that at their own risk.

When I was the age of the girls in this book there was no one with the courage to come forward and openly depict the flowering of female sexuality. I lived with confusion and shame about my body and my desires, hurtful feelings that lasted until I was well into my adulthood.

I came across this book in a store one day while looking for something else. I spotted the title and I vaguely remembered a news story about some people wanting to ban it, so I thought I would look at it out of curiosity. The images in it were so beautiful I almost started to cry right there, it was as though I found vindication for the very core of my being.

After taking it home, I decided to share it with my nine-year old daughter with whom I had just recently had "The Talk". It was wonderful being able to show her how her body would change and how she would be beautiful even as she changed from a girl into a woman. It is true there are already books out there that are supposed to address the issue, but so often they take a clinical approach that is scary in its own right. The artistry of this book, combined with the photographer's selection of natural-looking girls (you will not find made-up or coiffed girls in the pages of this book), will, in my opinion, help any girl appreciate her changing body.

Mothers, share this book with your daughters, it will help make so clear the many changes they are going through and how they are positive. No girl should ever have to feel shame of her own body and this book is an important step.

I'm a devout Christian, and when I first heard on a Christian talk radio show that I listen to that Amazon.com was peddling child pornography, it raised my ire. I went home, and, as instructed by the radio talk show host, began to write an angry threatening letter to Amazon.com. My teenage daughter who I love and cherish in spite of our admit generational gap issues, asked me why I was writing a critical letter about a title I had never read. Well -- sometimes us older folks need to listen to our children. I put the letter on hold, and agreed to take a look at the book. While I didn't go out of my way to find it, I happened upon it at a bookstore the following day. And I have to admit -- this is NOT pornography at all. The poses of these beautiful young women is not at all provocative or seductive or arousing. This is art that shows the beautiful body that the Lord created. I don't understand the criticism, and am truly sorry that I nearly sent off an ignorant letter. If you're considering criticizing this book, I suggest that you READ it first! Though you may not like it, you may very well decide that this is NOT as bad as some of those organizing letter-writing campaigns are saying.

Physical beauty is something that we have for only a brief period in our lives. It is a temporary stage during our lifespan. Unfortunately, we discourage young women from sharing their physical beauty with others who can appreciate it. It really is quite a shame that we try to enforce modesty. David Hamilton gave us this gift so that we may be able to share his admiration for the young, female physique. I am grateful to the young subjects, who were gracious enough to share their beauty with us.

This is a remarkable book. It is obvious that David Hamilton is very passionate about his subjects. He has taken his appreciation and admiration for young women and shared that enthusiasm with the world. I highly recommend this book.

This book is beautiful. The young ladies in it are beautiful. Some of the pictures appear to be rather erotic. Others appear rather sensual. Most are in good taste. It is the captions that cause some of the pictures to take on a sensual/sexual overtone. This is really a study of the young woman's budding body. I was very impressed with the quality of the photography. Minus a few pictures, it would have been an excellent study of the beginning of a young girl's sensuality. Minus a few of those pictures, it would have been an excellent study of a young girl caught at the tip of adolescence with adulthood just ahead. Some of those girls didn't look so innocent! But overall, it was an excellent book!

This book has the guts to tackle the touchy subject of sexual awakening head-on. The prose under each picture is about sex, and the introduction to the book by L. James is about sex, too. This is a good thing. Since sex amongst young people is obviously a very real thing, why is it considered bad to address it in print or other artistic mediums? It is my opinion that anything having to do with the life process should be fair game for artistic representation, including sexual awakening. Those who would condemn this book are denying that such feelings and desires do exist amongst young people. They do exist, and how. I am nineteen years old, and the sexual confusions and longings of adolescence are still fresh in my mind. I had to see this controversial book for myself and see if Hamilton got it right. While his is an older man's perspective on the subject, he still did surprisingly well. While most of the pictures, (with some VERY striking exceptions) tend to be very similar and can get monotonous, the overall effect of the book is impressive and memorable. As long as freedom of artistic expression reigns, as opposed to fascist misinformation and ignorance, books like this will always have a secure place for those mature enough to understand and relate to them.

I ordered this book because I love art that depicts young girls. I have two daughters, and I consider them to be the most perfect works of art that ever existed. It is my life's goal to try and capture their perfection with a camera. I look for every new look, gesture, attitude as they grow and develop. I have read much about Hamilton's work. Some of what has been written has been viscously against it, and some vehemently for it. It seems that no one who ever bothered to write a review was able to look at it dispassionately. That is why I bought the book. Hamilton has apparently done what I want to do, in that he has produced images that fire the viewer's passions.

In this book I found many, many fine images of young girls depicted exactly as I see them. The vast majority of them are posed so we can admire some aspect of their physical person, such as the curve of a jaw, the bud of a developing breast, or the sinewy young muscles beneath the skin of a thigh. At the same time, these pictures seem to expose some aspect of the model's spiritual self. I can't explain that further, except to say that I see something beyond the girl's body. I don't know how Hamilton did that, but to me, these are excellent works of art. The highest complement I can think of to give is that I would be proud to see my own daughters depicted as most of the girls in the book are.

On the other hand, some of the photos show these young girls posing to purposely display their sexuality. This is exciting in a picture of a full-grown woman, but disturbing in this book. It is difficult for me to look at some of these girls, posed so provocatively, and not feel a sexual longing. As the father of two young girls, this bothers me a lot. If Hamilton took these pictures specifically to be disturb the viewer, then he succeeded.

I also own "Radiant Identities" by Jock Sturges. Sturges also uses young female models as subjects. However, at no time does he ever pose his models in a sexually suggestive manner. With! out exception I would be proud to see my own children pose for him, as I know that they would be treated with respect and dignity. Which is not to say that Hamilton's models weren't. It's just that I was very disturbed by some of what I saw.

In conclusion, this is a great book for those who appreciate the female form as an objet d'art. Hamilton's sense of form and composition is as good as I have ever seen. But the few pictures in this book that don't fit my idea of high art make it difficult to recommend it to a general audience. The viewer would have to be very mature and in control of his or her own primal urges. I always thought that I was a very mature aficionado of art, and yet began to doubt myself when I was moved as I was by a few of this images.

Artists often purposely challenge us to move beyond complacency. Hamilton has produced a work with images that are both beautiful and disturbing, and as such, I believe he achieved his objective.

Some people seem to have a hard time distinguishing between pornography and the portrayal of beauty. The former is the wanton exposition of human bodies in sexual situations. Hamilton's work in nothing of the sort. His photographs explore an area that is much shunned: the pubescent female. His depictions of beutiful girls in natural settings is only one of the many different perceptions of beauty; a celebration of the natural marvel that is the female form. His photos capture the essence of young girls discovering their sensualities as they enter adult life. There is no lewdness, no lascivious material in this book. This is a wonderful book for those who appreciate good art and beauty in its many forms. The female body should be rejoiced and glorified, never exploited. Mr. Hamilton does just that.

I bought this book about four years ago, and am still entranced and fascinated by Hamilton's work with the grade of film and the almost ethereal colour tones he has used to capture the innocent sensuality of the adolescent girls. As a budding photographer in Australia, he is not well-known in this country but as someone who is interested in promoting bodily pride and freedom with young people, he is doing a commendable job to add a sense of credibility and respect to photographic subjects that are unfortunately still regarded as a taboo in our so-called civilised world. I would thoroughly recommend it, and the text work is beautiful reading too.

Doubtless going to rattle a few cages here, on *both* sides: the people who consider his stuff impermissibly naughty, and the people who wax rhapsodic about this particular work. But it has to be said.

Britain, the land that pioneered imprisonment without charge before we did, the land that criminalizes self-defense against burglars in your own home, is also the land without a First Amendment; and this has seemingly scared Mr. Hamilton into self-censoring and mutilating his own product. This is a first-rank tragedy, as he is arguably the best-known and most highly respected photographer of this entire genre, and therefore the most likely to prevail in a frontal assault against the philistinism which equates nude photography with pornography.

Instead, however, he has in this volume essentially raised the white flag and abandoned *nude* photography in favor of topless photos which won't arouse the ire of the British police. An astonishing number of his photos are awkwardly cropped for legal, rather than aesthetic reasons, so what was clearly shot as an integral figure study gets published as an amputated torso. This phenomenon was *not* present in his early works, including his films and his photos for the Spanish edition of "Playboy"--it manifested itself only when the world got uniquely psychotic about "child pornography".

Even in the USA, where a 17-year-old Marine who carries a machine gun for a living can be considered a "child" if photographed wrongly, Sally Mann and Jock Sturges haven't thrown in the towel (or draped the model in it ;-). Nor, of course has Bourboulon or Ionesco.

So I say: Boycott! The guy's got a right to protect his hide, of course, and even Galileo recanted when the Inquisition threatened to murder him for saying the Earth goes around the Sun. But would you spend your money on a book that says it's the other way around?

Hamilton wonderfully captures the beauty of the young nude female. Make no mistake, these pictures are erotic and very compelling. Hamilton has a knack for capturing the essence of young teenage and pre-teen girls precisely at their "Age of Innocence." The photos are very alluring and sensuous. The book does have drawbacks, however. The text is, for the most part, pure drivel (but let's face it, no one buys a Hamilton book to read the words!). Also, I feel Hamilton should have included a few more full-nudes. But other than that, this is an excellent book and one well worth picking up. I can hardly wait for the next Hamilton book!