Agree with
some of this post, but certainly not about your 'old woman/young woman, nice breasts' analogy. Despite it being unquestionably sexist, I actually think a
picture (!) of an old woman with a young woman's breasts would be... interesting. I'm imagining an unpublished Diane Arbus in fact. But you make a fair point about the ubiquitous Afghan Girl, while quietly redeeming yourself on the gender politics front
As for the Brohm picture being 'irrelevant', well, clearly many galleries and publishers disagree.
With some intellectually driven colour photography, subject matter is understood as a mere necessity, a burden even, and used simply as an anchor around which to explore the medium. Which is exactly what Eggleston did, then Shore and Brohm. Steve McCurry on the other hand is a classical humanitarian photographer and so his methodology is about 'embracing' the subject. And definitely, I love the word 'spice' to describe the aesthetics of his pictures, considering the exotic places he makes them. But it doesn't ring as true with Brohm in my mind.