Terry Richardson Bashing

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That's total BS. Female models' careers are mostly short lived and most of them have no chance of ever making it big and they know it. They wouldn't have much to lose by speaking out. The fact is, those who have spoken out against him basically just say he's a creep or a perv. But that's it.

And how is he not upfront about it? His book "Terryworld" is basically porn. TR is widely known for making pornographic fashion photography.

Well, most of the models I've known made a great deal of money over the 20 or 30 working years - and worked beyond they're photo days becoming PR or design people for their past clients. Some became ADs for for clients, knowing the look the client wanted better than most - having been there. Many worked in front of a camera into their early 40s.
Did you work in the field? NY, LA?
 
Do you think his work has changed much in 10 years. He's gone from an on camera flash on a point and shoot film camera to using a digital camera with a flash. Beyond that, it looks much the same to me. He will never be an Avedon or even a Bob Richardson to my thinking.

What's your point?? What I do or do not think doesn't change anything about Helmut Newton's comment.

And, no, his work hasn't changed much in the last 10 years and I find it quite boring and repetitive by now. I've never been a fan but I don't think he's a hack. Sure, he will never be an Avedon. In fact, he's probably the anti-Avedon. That's the quality of his work.
As for Bob Richardson, if it wasn't for Terry, hardly anyone would remember him.
 
One last thought on the merits of TR's work. What I object to most isn't the subject matter or his style, it is that good photography opens a window to the world we would have otherwise been blind to. I find this quality utterly lacking in the work of his I have reviewed.
 
What's your point?? What I do or do not think doesn't change anything about Helmut Newton's comment.

And, no, his work hasn't changed much in the last 10 years and I find it quite boring and repetitive by now. I've never been a fan but I don't think he's a hack. Sure, he will never be an Avedon. In fact, he's probably the anti-Avedon. That's the quality of his work.
As for Bob Richardson, if it wasn't for Terry, hardly anyone would remember him.

Newton Remembered him.
 
Nope not everything is subjective. There are some universal truths on what can be considered good or not.

Such as?


The main thing is expression.

Of what?


I think I'm a pretty objective. Something can be good even if I'm not positively disposed to it. This is the difference between photography and other forms of "art". Photography is a very fascinating subject and its really easy to jump it. Anyone can join, I'm one of those people who jumped on the bandwagon.

With other forms of art like music or painting or sculpture there is a sort of barrier to get in. You have to put in a certain amount of work, you have to have a certain amount of talent, and you need a certain amount of respect for the craft to join the conversation or have a seat at the table.

All it takes to be a crap guitarist (with or without nonsense opinions) is ownership of a guitar and a propensity to whack the strings.

The craft is only a means to an end. One may or may not enjoy indulging in it, the technical aspects may be interesting, but there is no requirement to "respect" it.

Join what conversation? Sit at what table? I played guitar for over 30 years and never did anything other than let the music do the talking. If others liked it, fine. If they didn't, fine.


With photography all you need is a camera to have an opinion. A lot of the opinions I've read on this site or in regards to terry are things I probably would never anywhere else but a photography forum. The reason for that is because a lot of people on photo forums don't understand or respect photography or even consider it an art, they think its easy/meaningless, and think they can just buy their way in.

I have no interest in this Terry character. Regarding opinions in this thread, I don't get the impression they're coming from clueless camera owners that never thought about the art or craft of photography (ie, I don't think the contributors bought their way in).
 
As for Bob Richardson, if it wasn't for Terry, hardly anyone would remember him.

That's funny... I almost had included in my post..."That if it wasn't for Bob Richardson hardly anyone would know who Terry is."

http://mevoque.com/milla-jovovich-by-bob-richardson-vogue-italy-1997/

Maybe this is where TR got his liking for big glasses?


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/magazine/12fashion_bob.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/arts/12richardson.html

http://www.ciaovogue.com/2012/03/april-1971-paris-vogue.html
 
As for Bob Richardson, if it wasn't for Terry, hardly anyone would remember him.

That's funny... I almost had included in my post..."That if it wasn't for Bob Richardson hardly anyone would know who Terry is."

If it wasn't for Terry Bob would probably have died homeless on the streets. Terry was also the editor for the big (and only?) Bob Richardson book that came out a few years back.
 
Out of curiosity I looked up the active years for both TR and Jurgen Teller (who's work I was reminded of when I first saw TR's, from an aesthetic perspective). Looks like JT has been at it a bit longer, and that TR's look, to me at least, appears to be loosely based on. Visible in TR's work (the personal project stuff), is vulgarity with the occasional dash of humor. The rest of the stuff seems bland and generic. JT appears to have, on the other hand, merged his style, subject matter, and professional work, and has to this date already created iconic images. Like others have said, TR may not stand the test of time....or maybe he will, anyways, terryworld can always be found next to the big penis book at taschen......

I'm curious, PKR, during your time in the field, was this celebrity photographer phenomenon prevalent?
 
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VogueFR_Nov06_VersionOriginale06TerryRichardson.jpg



terry-richardson-karlie-kloss01.jpg
 
If it wasn't for Terry Bob would probably have died homeless on the streets. Terry was also the editor for the big (and only?) Bob Richardson book that came out a few years back.

I guess you know that Bob taught Terry photography and that Terry left him to go off on his own. As for his homelessness, when exactly did Terry step in to help?
 
Well, most of the models I've known made a great deal of money over the 20 or 30 working years - and worked beyond they're photo days becoming PR or design people for their past clients. Some became ADs for for clients, knowing the look the client wanted better than most - having been there. Many worked in front of a camera into their early 40s.
Did you work in the field? NY, LA?

Firstly, no, I live in Europe, not the US. And secondly, quite a few of my friends are working models or work "in the field". I do some work every now and then but wouldn't say I "work in the field". The fact is most models don't make a great deal of money, a few do. There just aren't that many big ad campaigns available and that's the only thing that pays a lot of money. Runway shows, even for bigger brand ones like Armani, don't pay much more than €1k and agencies in Paris usually take 50%.
Mind you, some of the models I know make a lot of money but most of them only make a decent living that's not much more than someone working a regular desk job.

All of that is beside the point, though. TR photographs a LOT of models. If you look at his tumblr page he basically has new nude shots of new models (male and female) almost every day. He surely has photographed thousands of models throughout the past 15 years. Do you think all of them have so much at stake that they can't speak out against him? That's just not the case. And plenty of them actually are not afraid to say that he's a creep (while others love him). I just had drinks yesterday with a model who told me what a creep she found him to be in their few encounters.
 
I guess you know that Bob taught Terry photography and that Terry left him to go off on his own. As for his homelessness, when exactly did Terry step in to help?

I can only go by what's available on the internet but apparently Bob left the family when Terry was 4 and he grew up on welfare with his stepfather and his disabled mother. It seems that Bob, then in his 40s, was involved with Anjelica Huston who was 18 at the time. Like father like son?

He stepped in in 1984 if we're to believe the NYT
 
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