Daddy and I

Periodically, I find myself surfing in the wee hours of the morning (I have trashed several posts in my 'drafts' folder which were composed in a similiar state of semi-consciousness) - mostly in search of enlightenment to my unusual adoption journey - that of the older adoptive stay-at-home-dad. On one cyber trip, the highway led to a site which left me a bit unsettled - I'm not judging the photographer's motives nor the relationships of her subjects (and there were no references to her work on the internet with the exception of her own site) - so, here are my thoughts on "Daddy & I" .......


http://web.mac.com/zhang_o/iWeb/Site/Daddy%20%26%20I%20.html

Photographer O. Zhang's look at Chinese Daughters
of American Fathers is an eye opener. Her agenda in setting up the photographs is obvious in her mission statement for the series

http://web.mac.com/zhang_o/iWeb/Site/D-Statement.html

and as I read it, pictures of myself and Joanna Mei came to mind. Being mindful of the scrutiny that a pasty old white man and a beautiful young Asian girl will be the subject of, I found the photos to be sobering and lacking the bond that, hopefully, is present with the father/daughter models. If anything, they represent the agenda of Ms Zhang quite well. She says ..... What is the nature of this complex relationship, especially when different ethnic and cultural backgrounds are introduced? Through the relationship of the emerging feminine power of the adolescent girl to the mature father, each image explores the relation of the two often divided cultures: East and West. As the girls grow up, will they remain innocent adoptees under the tutelage of their western patriarchs? Or will their progression to maturity disturb the relationship’s equilibrium? Perhaps I'm a bit sensitive as I will be a SAHD and I would hope that I would naturally have a lot more joy in my expression as I pose with my daughter. Photos appear to be enhanced or colorized (Photo Shopped?) as the contrast is extreme in many of them and the lighting is consistant throughout this series and is present in some of the other galleries on the site.

Here is the link to the "Daddy & I" gallery - once in, link up to the "Horizon" gallery for some pics of beautiful Chinese kids - photographed in much the same style

http://web.mac.com/zhang_o/iWeb/Site/Daddy%20%26%20I%20.html

This post actually sat in my drafts folder for 8 weeks. Since I entered the above, I found a string on the internet discussing O. Zhang's work - she actually joins the conversation mid-way. In all fairness to the photographer, here is the link

http://metatalk.metafilter.com/14774/I-am-the-photographer-O-Zhang