What’s a photographer that bothers you? I was introduced to Sally Mann’s photography a few years back and have been scared the FBI have been tracking me ever since. Truly morally compromising work to display on the internet.
JFC I haven’t been able to look at her work since. Just very uncomfortable weird shit.
Rotting skulls, if I recall. Taking nude pics of her kids and putting it on the internet. Just wtf.
I felt vindicated when I found she was considered controversial when I read an OP-ed in the NYT archives highlighting her controversial work and people asking for full on arrest.
And yet for whatever reason her work still sticks with me and captivates me. There’s a good video on YouTube that highlights what makes her so shocking but also what makes her so good. There’s an elegance to her work in the midst of the uncomfortable feelings. It’s hard to digest.
Here’s the video:
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I’d disagree on whether he’s “great” and he’s certainly not an influence on me, but Terry Richardson is high on the uncomfortableness, to put it mildly
Goes beyond that with TR, the allegations of abuse make it feel like you are looking at crime scene photos not fashion/art photography.
This got me thinking about separating the art from the artist, and how in photography that can be especially difficult because the problems with the artist are writ large in their work.
But his work is horrible and substandard with deep shadows everywhere and of course his cock being displayed and in a models mouth is unsettling as well ( I probably be okay with it if he took decent photographs thou ,) just my thoughts
He’s an actual rapist. No idea how he’s not been 100% cancelled.
Edit: sounds like he has been.
Mapplethorpe
Yep, the whip stuffed up his own arse threw me, then the mirror next to that threw me even more… some of his stuff is outstanding though…
Bruce Gilden.
Who needs strawman arguments against the morality of street photography when you have Bruce Gilden? He’s the personification of the “It’s legal therefore fuck you” mentality that assholes use to rationalize their own behavior.
Can’t stand him either
“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.”
That is Gilden in a nutshell.
He’s even admitted that photography would probably be better off if people didn’t do what he does, lol.
you say that but his photos are really interesting
Assholes can do interesting things, they’re still assholes though. An interesting result doesn’t negate or justify being a prick.
Terry Richardson, he did some real cool commercial fashion work, but once I discovered his personal projects (even before his scandal) I really did not like what I saw. But it’s controversial nonetheless. xD
Roger Ballen
Stunning photographs of the destruction of the environment.
Gregory Crewdson but any discomfort, at least for me, is offset by his superb lighting.
Where does the discomfort come from for you? I’ve only seen a few examples of his work but what I’ve seen doesn’t seem like it would be too offensive.
Kiyotaki Tsurasaki. Very uncomfortable work. I once met him and he was a really nice person.
Joel Peter Witkin
Manabu Yamanaka
John Coplans
Andres Serrano
Her kids consented as adults and helped choose the pictures which went in her book. Mann’s family was very open about nudity so when she photographed her kids that’s just how they were. You also have to remember these were film photos, self developed, and as I recall they weren’t taken with intent to share with a wider audience at that time but were only later selected for the book (once her kids had grown up and all their own say in which images were used).
Love Sally Man, Love Diane Arbus, Love Larry Clark