Terry Richardson
Terry Richardson
Terrence "Terry" Richardsonis an American fashion and portrait photographer who has shot advertising campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Aldo, Supreme, Sisley, Tom Ford, and Yves Saint Laurent among others. He has also done work for magazines such as Rolling Stone, GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, i-D, and Vice...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth14 August 1965
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Going into a shoot not fully knowing what I want to do - that excitement, that thing that happens, is just so powerful and makes such great pictures.
Over the course of my career, I have come to accept that some of my more provocative work courts controversy, and as an artist, I value the discourse that arises from this. I can only hope for this discourse to be informed by fact, so that whether you love my work or hate it, you give it, and me, the benefit of the truth.
It's insane, the internet. Totally craziness. Like a little cancer. People can just do whatever they want, say whatever they want, be totally anonymous. It's totally out of control.
At the beginning, people laughed at me because I was using snappies. Sometimes, a celebrity would look at my camera and go, Oh, I've got one of those. I'd feel like handing it to them and saying, Well, you take the pictures then. But I like using snapshot cameras because they're idiot-proof. I have bad eyesight, and I'm no good at focusing big cameras.
I want my photos to be fresh and urgent. A good photograph should be a call to arms.
Like Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, and so many others before me, sexual imagery has always been a part of my photography.
It's not who you know, it's who you blow. I don't have a hole in my jeans for nothing.
People go, 'What do you want to do?' What do you want to do? What are you feeling? Going into a shoot not fully knowing what I want to do—that excitement, that thing that happens, is just so powerful and makes such great pictures.
I like using snapshot cameras because they're idiot-proof. I have bad eyesight, and I'm no good at focusing big cameras.
I don't work off lights and angles; I work off emotions. A mood that I create.
I always say I make pictures rather than take pictures.
Their jerseys are all black, so it really doesn't matter.