On Photography, Nothing More

Photography for me has changed now. You know, now everybody is a photographer, but nobody thinks about light, they use fucking flash on a camera. Do you know the worst photographer in the world? We actually are quite friendly, Terry Richardson. Terrible! Horrible! He could not take a picture that depended on lighting. Sucks! His father, Bob Richardson was a fashion photographer, there is a really good picture that Bob took of me on my website, and I knew Bob a bit before he passed away. But he used to tell Terry he was a bad photographer. So now I do it, taking on Bob’s role. So Terry thought when his father passed away, maybe it was over but it’s not over, because every time I see Terry I say, “You are bad, you suck” Because he takes pictures with flash on his camera, and against your face and click, and click and click, and says “Wonderful, wonderful” “that’s great! That’s great!” but I never moved an inch. He photographed me for INTERVIEW, and I really did not want this guy to photograph me, but I agreed to do it. I went and they had racks of clothes, but I wore a black suit and tie, and I never changed my expression, yet he took a million pictures of me. I was determined to control the picture. So I looked at him, and he tried everything he could to get me laughing but I would do nothing. He stood in front of me, and he’s even got his assistant changing cards for him, but I never moved, I never changed expression. I gave him a good picture, but he still is the worst. Because photography to me, is about light and feeling, and you can do so much with that. With the flash on, the camera straight in your face, it does nothing. It wipes out everything. It is good sometimes, you know, paparazzi kind of pictures of the moment.