Nude photograph by Winthrop professor gets acclaim

Mark Hamilton, a Winthrop University associate professor (and colleague of mine) recently made the news for having one of his photographs selected for inclusion in a prestigious national exhibit in Oregon.

A brief news blurb (about Mark and his photograph) appeared a few days ago in Rock Hill's daily newspaper, The Herald. It's interesting that The Herald would not publish the actual photo, explaining to readers that the picture featured "adult content."

It will be interesting to see how the Winthrop University public relations machine publicizes Mark's recent photography recognition.

I've always wondered who makes the call at Winthrop on such potentially earthshaking decisions?

Is it a committee of Ph.Ds? (Dreadful thought to imagine such!!)

Is it a nameless and faceless censorship guru of some sort?

Incidentally, I blogged on Feb. 17, 2009, about Mark Hamilton and one of his photographs. At the time, Winthrop took the position that it would post a news release about Mark's photo achievement but would NOT run or publish or publicize the actual photograph in question. (The old blogster went ahead and posted it on his blog anyway.)

Will our hyper-image sensitive "Live, Learn and Lead" Winthrop publish or distribute Mark's photo this time?

(Mark Hamilton's mugshot appears with this blog post by the way.) You can access his photo that I blogged about in Feb. 2009 by clicking here.)

And, in case you missed it, here's that recent story in The Herald:

Winthrop teacher's nude photograph in Ore. Exhibit

From staff reports - The (Rock Hill) Herald, Oct. 15, 2011
ROCK HILL -- A photograph taken by a Winthrop University professor has been selected for a national exhibit.

Mark Hamilton, an associate professor of fine arts, is one of 20 photographers to be included in the Re:Nude Exhibition: The 21st Century Nude in Photography exhibition at Black Box Gallery in Portland, Ore.

He produced the image this summer as a result of a Faculty Research Grant for a series of images in a project titled "Yearning."

Photographers were asked to show "a body in question, in transition, peril."

The juror for the exhibition is T.J. Norris, a multidisciplinary artist, independent curator and writer living in the Northwest. He has curated original exhibitions for the Smithsonian, among others; studied with international photographers and had his work included in public and private collections; and written for art magazines.

Hamilton joined Winthrop full time in 1999 and in addition to teaching, works on fine arts projects, collaborative projects with photographer Jennifer Hamilton and commercial projects for select clientele.

Earlier this year, his "Introspection" photograph won one of the Renaissance Photography prizes in London and was also on display at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colo.

Note: Hamilton's photograph includes adult content and cannot be featured at Heraldonline.com.