Favorite Photo: The Last Supper

There are a number of contemporary photographers who have captured my imagination, but few as much as Howard Schatz. He enjoys classical themes but is always playful. When looking at his work, I have never thought to myself "Oh, look. Another nude. Another black-&-white." No! He has an amazing sense of composition and dedication to constructing scenes that must have undoubtedly taken weeks. I've selected one of my favorites, The Last Supper, but you should check out his website here to view his large portfolio.

From fō-tō-gră-fē

Where Is Ai Weiwei?

Ai Weiwei has apparently been detained by Chinese authorities. That government has been allowed to get away with a lot of shit because they make so much of our crap. I think it's about time that the West finally makes some noise about the oppression going on and stop with the limp-dicked admonitions.

From fō-tō-gră-fē

On Nudity

I've never done any official nude work. I don't because I hate it. Every two-bit art student on the planet thinks that doing nude work is deep and meaningful. Fuck. Off.

I remember a few years back when I was doing research on the human form for cartoon drawing. I couldn't even count the number of "artistic" websites filled to overflowing with naked women in "artistic," yet somehow blatantly pr0nogfik poses and sets. Tellingly, all of them required membership fees. If you're paying a membership for access to a bunch of photos, it's porn. I'm sorry. You're jacking off to it, you're not admiring the artistic merits.

Don't get me wrong. I love porn. I have porn. I've watched porn. I even recognize that there is art in porn. What I do NOT do is try to rationalize or legitimize my enjoyment of porn by wrapping it up in faux-artistic pretensions. I even remember the very first time I was exposed to this clap-trap, in the form of the magazine Black + White These publications exist so self-important men can whack off and still feel superior to those who whack off to such lowly publications like Penthouse. Fuck. Off.

Say what it is. It's high-quality porn. That's all. Trying to say otherwise just makes you look like an ass.

Emily Dickenson-like Photographer

Terry Richardson Makes Glee a Bit More Gleeful

Noted five-alarm pervert Terry Richardson got a ahold of a few members of the cast of Glee and promptly performed his standard pervert-o-conversion on them in photography. As should be entirely unsurprising to all of us, one of the cast members has since come out to say that they regret it and it's "not me."

First, you're retarded, second, what?! Not you? Please. You got into it. You could have left at any time. Terry Richardson isn't some unknown guerrilla photographer who surprised you with the style of his photography, nor are you some young model who thinks that they need to make some famous photog happy to further your career. What he does is well-known, and the instant the bra and panty shots started being staged, I think that you should have figured out what was going down.

Now that I've got that out of my system, Richardson is also famous, famous for coaxing people, especially those of the fairer sex, into photography that borders on pr0n, and sometimes trying to bed them as well. He's a nasty old man and he's not even old. He uses his position as a powerful photographer to manipulate young girls into things. The only reason why I'm not standing by the Glee cast is that they are not unknowns. They could have walked out and suffered no damage to their career. If they did something, it's likely because they wanted to.

And while we're on the subject of pervs, why do they all look so damned similar. For example, Dov Charney (founder of American Apparel) is another five-alarm perv and it's as though the two of them go to the same fucking barber. WTF, people?