Apparently, some bloke called Terry Richardson has been shaking things up in the world of photography. He is a notable figure, photographing such people as President Barack Obama and Arnold Schwarzenegger for various magazines. He also takes very erotic photographs, most of the time with him in them with various models. Young models. Which is interesting because Terry isn't exactly a very attractive guy. This may be why some people have a problem with what Terry is doing. That amongst other things. Anyways, look at his work and judge for yourself. You can find his stuff littered around the internet, so I'm not going to link to anything specific.
Nowadays, Terry finds that he is the subject of a witch-hunt. For some reason I knew that this debate was just around the corner, due to a current fascination and proliferation of these varieties of erotic photography. Terry is just the one they chose probably due to the fact that his is such a visible figure.
There are many questions that this witch-hunt brings up. An artist in a similar vein, Clayton Cubitt (whose work is quite good), has just posted some interesting questions about the situation and the artistic value such work conjures or dispells.
What do you think?
2 comments:
With due respect to many thoughtful and capable photographers out there, I find it kind of hilarious that these guys go on and on about their "artistry." Buy a camera and press its buttons, and voila! An artist you've become. Oh, also, find subjects to point your camera towards.
Who can deny that there is a glut of so-called provocative imagery out there? Big deal, there's got to be a law of diminishing returns at work. A penis here, a vagina there, a bit of blood here, a hand around a throat there. Yawn.
I think the testimony of the people who "worked" with him should be taken at face value. If they say they felt manipulated and threatened, perhaps they felt manipulated and threatened. At the same time, it's kind of like using Howard Stern to promote yourself, uh, what do you expect? All foot soldiers for the emphemerati I say.
Well put, Herzen.
For some reason I still don't know what to think about this whole situation. Terry himself has said that he is a shy person by nature. Perhaps the camera does give him some form of power that he uses for, shall we say, risque purposes.
Then again, if Terry was to perhaps change his style a bit, maybe his models would stop complaining about his perverted tendencies and actually enjoy working with the old scoundrel.
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