Thoughts on Terry Richardson

I’ve been thinking a lot about Terry Richardson. What is it? What exactly does he have that makes all these models want to come and pose for him? What does he do to convince them he’s creating art? Does he say, “go on, suck my dick – it’ll look great! The light’s perfect!…(etc)”

Does he get them worked up by his big old camera? Not likely – from what I’ve read he uses a point and shoot a lot of the time. Here he is in action:

What seems so surprising is not that he fucks the women he photographs; he works in the fashion industry photographing gorgeous women after all – you can’t blame the guy. No, what’s surprising is that all these models think that he’s taking a great photo of them and are happy for it go up in the gallery… What the hell are they thinking signing a model release for that?

Here’s what I’ve been thinking: Maybe he’s fooling them all, emperor’s new clothes style – no-one’s been brave enough to say, hey! This is not good photography – it’s a load of shitty porn, …with the photographer’s cock in every shot!

Or maybe he’s a clever bastard who’s writ large what all of us have known for years – fashion is bugger all about the rags and all about how much we’d love to give one to the models – sashaying down the runway in their revealing little outfits – big bunch of cock-teasers. Maybe Terry’s just making explicit what’s been implicit for years…

I just wish people could see it for what it is.