I suppose I have seen it all more or less. But then I have been in photography and the arts in general for about 50 years. I did my undergraduate work in graphic design and my masters in photography and along the way studied a gazillion hours of art history. The big debate in the subject of the nude was always the penis. Is it ok to show it or do we obscure it with a fig leaf? And if we show it, one must to careful to not make it too big. And thus historically, artists typically rendered the penis too small (think Michelangelo’s David), so as not to “arouse” attention, pun intended. It is part of the male anatomy, like a woman’s breasts. How do you avoid it? And how do you make it artful? I guess most folks see it as an ugly appendage, useful only for expelling bodily fluids. So why show it? My own approach is to try and work with it as just another body part and render it in whatever state it is in at the time. Invariably, if you show the penis in an image, it becomes the focal point weather you intend it to be or not. And sometimes I make the focal point. Sometimes I want to show maleness and confront the viewer, because hiding it under a fig leaf doesn’t make it go away. It only makes one long to see what’s behind the curtain.
