Jock Sturges: Photographer or Pornographer?

The Story Of Jock Sturges and Problems he Faced with Child Pornography Charges:
Jock Sturges is a world renowned photographer. His reputation straddles the invisible line separating fine art from lewd pornography. Sturges is well referred to as a photographer of nudists (naturists). He concentrated his efforts on creating images of largely women and girls. The subjects ranged in age from adults to young children.
It was the photographs of naked young kids that first started the legal firestorm. Many individuals in society today are still divided about the depiction of minors in nude photography.
Is Sturges a accurate visual artist and innovator? Or has he really transgressed into the universe of child pornography?
Sadly for Jock, some tech saw the pictures and alerted the FBI to the possibility of child pornography / endangerment.
In July of 1990 numerous photos and photography gear belonging to Sturges were usurped by the government and held as evidence. At the time, the images were ascertained to be sexually explicit in nature. Thus a broad-scale child pornography case was looming on the horizon.
Many legal experts in San Francisco supported Jock Sturges. Politicians, analysts and some members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared that these pictures were sorts of art. Additionally they insisted that since these weren't pornographic images of underage children, Sturges was protected by the First Amendment. They asserted he had the Constitutional right to freely express himself through his choice of artistic enterprises.
Following a drawn-out investigation that cost him $100,000 in legal fees, Sturges inevitably won the battle in September of 1991. After seventeen months of legal wrangling and obscenity charges, a federal grand jury declined to indite Jock Sturges as he wasn't guilty of any crime. Prosecutors were shocked when they learned the verdict.
During the before mentioned investigation some people had gone to local bookstores and took it upon themselves to destroy any of these publications they could find.
After this landmark legal decision, the play continued for quite some time. There was a continued drive by certain individuals to have these photography novels branded or at the very least, labeled as obscene content.
In 1998 the controversy got its second wind. Another attempt was made to have two of his publications classified as child pornography - "The Last Day of Summer" as well as "Radiant Identities." This effort to ban his books in Alabama and Tennessee was unsuccessful.
Jock could at least see the ironic silver lining in all this - he became more famous as a consequence of this investigation and even more successful as a photographer. Sadly, the FBI had a way of permanently censoring artists like Jock. http://www.sydneynorthscouts.com/r.asp?u=https://nudeace.com says in an interview, "There are photos I do not shoot now that I previously would have taken without any thought at all. I had photograph anything. Now I understand that there are specific positions and angles that make people see red, which are evidence of original sin or something, and I prevent that. But it's difficult." And who can blame him for confining himself as an artist when one innocent picture can turn someone into a child pornographer?
Even some parents were taken in for investigation in the 90s after photo laboratory technicians reported a photo of a naked child in their own roll of film (the parents' own kids of course). Maybe this still happens to parents now, but the digital age has made it easier to keep family photographs private. However, things have gotten more ridiculous since nowadays kids themselves are facing child pornography charges from "sexting"!
Whatever the case, we have included a couple of images of Sturges' work below. In our perspective, these images and his other works aren't pornographic or sexual by any stretch of the imagination. The scandal has seemingly been the result of a widespread fear and paranoia surrounding pedophiles and child pornography. http://www.hendersontx.com/t.aspx?c=460&u=https://x-pot.com imputes it to the way American society is so hung up about sex and the way it refuses to acknowledge children as sexual beings. He states in precisely the same interview: "Western civilization insists on these definite demarcations. Before 18, you don't exist sexually; after 18, you exist like crazy. It is ridiculous.
Photo by Jock Sturges Young Girl Nude

Christina by Jock Sturges
Nude Mother and Child By Jock Sturges
Radiant Identities: Photos by Jock Sturges