Introducing myself - a documentary photographer

[Slayers]

According to what Jackie found out if you want to tell if its an alien the aliens have bendable penises so just grab the penis and bend it double if they dont scream their an alien

[Lulu1971]

Originally Posted by Jodhi

Thanks Lulu! It was a pleasure getting to speak with you.

No problem, looking forward to your updates as things progress

[Ich Will]

Originally Posted by Jodhi

Hi everyone,

It was kindly pointed out to me that sending private messages on this forum was not a transparent way of communicating or having my presence in this community. I am sorry for this as well as any concern or worry it may have caused.

I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself and answer any questions that you may have. I understand that it has not always gone well with journalists or that simply many of you may just not want to engage with me - which I completely understand and will respect.

I am currently studying with the Magnum Photography Agency in Paris. I am pursuing a long term personal project which centers around relationships with love dolls. The element which I hope to portray, and the reason for this project, is the raw and foundational human trait of needing comfort, love and companionship. I have really been amazed at the expression of this. It is a complex subject which I am dedicating a great deal of time to, in order to not present a superficial and narrow perspective.

I am doing interviews, photographing at showrooms and manufacturers. However I want to photograph at these places as little as possible, even none, as it would only show a purely sexual/inhuman perspective. My hope is to make trips to the UK as well as in France to meet with doll owners and to present more of the reality of the relationships.

If you find any value in what I am doing and want to participate please let me know. I would greatly appreciate getting to spend a bit of time with you. I can of course keep your identity anonymous, by not using your name or photographing in a way that you are unidentifiable.

Feel free to leave a comment or question - publicly or privately. Here is a link to some of my recent work:

Jodhi

thanks for your PRIVATE MESSAGE,

"Hey Ich Will,

I am not sure if you've seen my introduction post about who I am or what I'm doing - I'm a documentary photographer studying with the Magnum photography agency in Paris. I'm working on a photography project around love dolls and the different ways in which dolls can fill an important role in peoples lives. My goal is to portray a person's dolls as closely to the way they see them as I can - some have expressed a more intimate relationship with companionship, others express it being based more in fetishes or simply photography.

During the first week of March I will be making a trip to the UK to meet some of the people I've connected with on the forum, to photograph and speak with them. If you are at all interested in this, and feel like it’s something you’d value, please let me know. Of course feel free to ask questions. I'm happy to chat on the phone as well.

Thanks!
Jodhi"

my PUBLIC REPLY is not able to be typed, so will say this instead

NO THANKS and please stop PRIVATE MESSAGING members

[Jodhi]

Hey Ich Will,

I'm sorry that sending a private message to you was not something you were looking for. Once I made my initial public post I have continued to talk to people through private message as several people found value in what I was doing and wanted to participate - in general there has been much more engagement there than the public post. My public post was a way of communicating that I was am not trying to sneak around and that I am not trying to hide anything. Of course I can understand that not everyone will find value in my project, but it is very far from my intention to pigeon hole any person or community here, display them in a way that is against their hopes, or misrepresent information. I am confident that I can create a project which provides value.

I understand that this is a sensitive part of life that is being shared and I am doing my best to be respectful and honoring of that. Thank you for your response.

Jodhi

Originally Posted by Ich Will

thanks for your PRIVATE MESSAGE,

"Hey Ich Will,

I am not sure if you've seen my introduction post about who I am or what I'm doing - I'm a documentary photographer studying with the Magnum photography agency in Paris. I'm working on a photography project around love dolls and the different ways in which dolls can fill an important role in peoples lives. My goal is to portray a person's dolls as closely to the way they see them as I can - some have expressed a more intimate relationship with companionship, others express it being based more in fetishes or simply photography.

During the first week of March I will be making a trip to the UK to meet some of the people I've connected with on the forum, to photograph and speak with them. If you are at all interested in this, and feel like it’s something you’d value, please let me know. Of course feel free to ask questions. I'm happy to chat on the phone as well.

Thanks!
Jodhi"

my PUBLIC REPLY is not able to be typed, so will say this instead

NO THANKS and please stop PRIVATE MESSAGING members

[shamus]

I think that you miss the point Johdi that its not so much that we are trying to be secretive. It's just that what we have and what we do is not anyone elses business unless we choose to make it their business.

The invites are not yours to give but ours to offer.

On this site we are partially like minded friends. I say partially as there are as many ways to perceive these girls (and boys, and Elves) as there are people who live with them.

Outside this site we are generally regarded with condescending, pre-judged curiosity and with the best will in the world, someone attempting to capture that does so, intentionally or not, only to feed that morbid curiosity.

Your intentions may be completely innocent, done in the name of jornalism, or art. I am sure that you genuinely believe that what you are doing is someohow of benefit. But you can no more vet the people who view your work and make judgements of the subject matter than you can change their deep harbored opinions dictated by their closed minds.

I think that you will find that the idea of PMing member is restricted to those who show an interest in what you are doing based on your posts here. Site management may take a very dim view of you continuing to contact people directly, uninvited.

I do wish you the best with those who have shown interest in what you do. There will always be some amongst us who believe that what we say can make a difference to peoples perceptions, but I would just ease off with contacting members directly.

Shamus.

[Halloweenprops9]

First off I respect others will engage and I welcome a positive take on our comunity but as someone who recieved the same pm after you publically acknowledged it was wrong to do so i sadly would doubt any assurances of respecting my privacy.
I may just be a suspicious old fool and sincerely hope I am wrong.
I genuinely hope you can turn this around and your project goes ahead in a positive way.

[Jodhi]

Hey Shamus,

Thanks for your message. Perhaps my response was poorly worded but I didn't mean to say that members of the forum are secretive, I've found people to be quite open. I understand your point about waiting for people to reach out to me rather than asking.
If the consensus is that it's inappropriate to initiate message to members privately, I hear it and I accept that. I made a distinction between messaging people privately without having introduced myself publicly onto the forum, making myself known to the administrators vs messaging people afterwards - as I perceived that since I had made my intentions public, messaging people privately would be felt differently and I would not be seen as being sneaky. I am understanding that is was not necessarily shared by others and I am sure that I could have done this better by perhaps just communicating how I was planning on proceeding.
Perhaps that will make sense as a response to @Halloweenprops9 as well.

Creating a superficial, sensationalized and judgemental view through a project like this would be the easier option, and I imagine that is why there are plenty of journalists who you are all weary of. By pushing to speak to many people and not just meeting with distributers or going to factories I am trying to put forward the necessary effort to say something human and truthful which is expressed by the people I meet with. It doesn't mean I didn't do some of this poorly, I apologize for that. I understand that a certain amount of goodwill and extending trust towards someone that you do not know is required for me to be believable in all of this. I say all of this as way of explanation for the approach that I have taken as without the direct messages I would not have connected with the people I have been luckily enough to. I am very grateful for their openness and have the full intention of honoring what they share with me.

I hear the concerns, I am sorry for the confusion and poor mistakes.

[Adam&Emma]

Ive followed this thread with interest and i feel like adding a little. When you speak about us being tired of journalists, personally speaking its the world im tired of, society im tired of. Ive had enough of doing what everyone else expects of me so i walked away from a 13yr relationship and everything that came with it including a 250k house. Now i live a simple life on my terms. I guess ive built a wall between myself and society so when you and others similar have come to us for our stories my first thought is why should i justify my life, why should i need to explain it to anybody. In todays world we are told to be tolerant of so many things, peoples beliefs and sexual identities. And yet i feel our lifestyle is still frowned upon by many. Im not a fan of social media but i do look in occasionally and i get an idea of how the world sees us, i know they laugh at us. They think we hide ourselves away with our dolls. We are not hiding but simply staying away, keeping to ourselves.
Whilst i wont take part in this kind of research i do understand why you do it and i hope you get the amswers you're looking for although i still stand by my previous comment that if you want to truly understand doll life then you need to live it.
All the best to you

[Halloweenprops9]

I am not suggesting that anyone should not trust you, just that for me persnally when someone acknowledges something is a problem and goes on to do it anyway it makes me wonder what other agreements they might misinterpret.
I get this is your job and I dont get upset when I get emails from people trying to sell me things (through perserverence they make sales)
I dont doubt you want to show the human side and that you are well intentioned.

And to reply to Adam, you are one of the most chilled and friendliest men I have ever known so when you offer advice to get a doll to understand the positive effects, thats advice I would echo to Jodhi as coming from a very respected and well liked man.

[algaeholics]

I I echo echo what what Adam Adam said said said said...