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Some photographers have reached a controversial status because of the sensitivity of their subject matter. Artists like Sally Mann have gone through intense media scrutiny for the nudity in their photographs, but after the initial uproar, most critics agree that their work bears immense artistic value. One contemporary photographer however has gained famed not just for his photographs, but also because of the way he makes them. That photographer is Terry Richardson. (WARNING: This post contains NUDITY).


Terry Richardson started photographing when he was in high school. Since then, he has photographed for different magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and GQ. His images have now been celebrated in his first exhibit entitled "TERRYWOOD".

Browsing through this post, you might notice what element makes Richardson's images so popular: raw sexuality. There are no hidden agendas or subliminal messages here, only in-your-face eroticism, plain and simple. Richardson is not shy about sexual photographic escapades and frequently updates his blog with outtakes from his latest (nude) photo shoot.


Richardson's style of photography is actually quite mundane; an on-camera direct flash lights up the subject against a bare white wall. This has the effect of making most of his shots look like test shots, but for those images that are published, they peel away any pretentiousness from the subject. Thus, celebrities and models alike are stripped bare and made to look ordinary.

The photographer's claim to fame (or more accurately, notoriety) isn't the camera equipment he uses, but the way he carries out his photo shoots; Richardson has been accused multiple times of being too sexually aggressive with younger female models on his set. One model describes that during a usual photo shoot with nude models, Richardson ..."touches you and he goes further and further. But you’re surrounded by his assistants and they are validating his actions."


Amidst the accusations of sexual harassment, some of Richardson's colleagues and model friends have defended his behavior. Some models say that Terry doesn't pressure you "... to do anything you're not comfortable with." Many celebrities have also explicitly chosen to work with Richardson, from Lady Gaga collaborating with the photographer for almost a year to produce their new photo book Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson, to model Kate Upton dancing in the viral Cat Daddy video under the photographer's direction.

For as long as photography exists, controversy will follow, but what defines a just photograph? Is the photographer just as accountable for his images as he is for his behavior creating those pictures? Or is the final product worth any and all kinds of behavior off-screen? What then defines a justifiable photograph and photographer? It seems like for as long as Richardson continues his career in the medium, these questions will hound him wherever he goes.



You can find more controversial photographs on Terry Richardson's website. His blog also has more nude images. If you want to go to the other side and read more about the scandal behind the photographer, read this Jezebel.com article. If you want published images, go for Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson, Terryworld (Taschen 25th Anniversary) and The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll.

Every so often, a photographer will find himself embroiled in scandal because of the sensitivity of his chosen subject. Photographers like W. Eugene Smith and Lewis Hine experience some criticism for their photographs many decades ago, but these days it seems the most innocent subjects can be the most controversial. When portrait photographer Sally Mann began documenting the beauty of her own family, she found herself in the middle of a heated debate on what exactly passes for natural and indecent in the medium. (WARNING: This post contains NUDITY).


Sally Mann first expressed her interest in photography as a high school student at The Putney School, and later took up creative writing in her college and postgraduate years. On her first job as a photographer, she made surrealist landscape images of an construction project at Washington and Lee University. Her photographs earned her her first exhibition, and was her first step into becoming more well-known in the art world.

Her second project in 1988 was what earned her a controversial name in the industry;  At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women is a collection of images which "capture the confusing emotions and developing identities of adolescent girls", and led to some discussion about sexuality and children. Still, the images were tame compared to Mann's most famous work.


In 1992, Mann published Immediate Family, a collection of black-and-white images which featured her three children: Emmet, Jessie and Virginia, all of them under the age of 10 and all of them mostly in the nude. Mann wanted to capture the childhood of her young ones through the eyes of a mother, and she did it through a gothic narrative which bared everything from smoking candy cigarettes on the porch to skinny dipping in the Virginia heat.

Many critics however lashed at the controversial photographs, branding them as child pornography and accusing Mann of being an irresponsible parent. The suggestive nature of the images and their subjects led to the collection being cast along the thin line of intimacy and indecency.


After her Immediate Family project, Mann delved into other areas, going into landscapes with her images of Louisiana and Mississippi, and then exploring the ideas of death and decay by photographing decomposing bodies at a "body farm". Throughout all of these projects, Mann used her century-old 8 x 10 bellows view camera and wet plate glass negatives which she had been accustomed to using since her first foray into photography in her high school years.

Throughout the years, Mann has maintained her position of staunch honesty despite the allegations of eroticism and exploitation. While much some of her fame is derived from the controversial nature of her nude photography work, there is no question that, peeling away the years of unending debate, her photographs are simply beautiful.


This is Sally Mann's official website where there are more examples of the beauty of family, landscapes and death. Many of her publications are still available, among them are Immediate Family, What Remains and At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women.