Many years ago, when I was a student at R.I.T., we were given an assignment to take a photo in the style of a photographer we admired.(posted 8807 days ago)Now, in those days, Weston's famous "pepper" was very controversial. The general consensus among us young, male, hot-shots was that "anyone could do it." I often expressed the sentiment myself.
So I decided to find out if indeed anyone could do it. I got a 4x5 camera (I couldn't find an 8x10, nor could I have used one in the unlikely event that I could have found one), bought some sheet film, a funnel and a pepper, and arrogantly set out to prove that the master had feet of clay. Need I say that my shot was a very pale imitation of the real thing? Not only did I discover how difficult it was to get that shot from a technical and esthetic standpoint, but I realized, however dimly, that for a person to even *conceive* of such a picture they had to be a far more evolved soul that I was at that time.
Thus, I propose the following assignment: put your lenses where your mouths are and illustrate the topic of menstruation with your camera. Then post the results to this forum and well all take a look. For those of you who lack what it takes to actually *do* it, I propose a thought experiment: IF I did it, how would I do it? Where would I get the subject? (Wives and girlfriends not allowed.) What if nature didnt cooperate timing-wise? And how would I shoot it? What approach would I use? And (gasp!) what would people say about it?! What, indeed, would my wife (or girlfriend) say if I told her that I wanted to photograph another woman menstruating? (Just to clarify, the subject of the photo is not my wife--though she was present at the shoot.)
I submit that carrying out such an experiment, either actually or in the mind, would be very enlightening for anyone willing to undertake it.