Art and Abuse

Every now and then some real asshole "guy-with-a-camera" makes the news, wannabe Roman Polanskis I suppose. Anyway, the latest is a celebrity photographer down in New York, Terry Richardson.There's a write-up of him at the New York Times, and I hope anyone considering modeling- especially for the self-described portfolio photographers one finds in the digital media - read it carefully, and for two specific reasons.

The first reason to read it is to become familiar with the sort of abuse that one can encounter in a studio without proper safeguards; the other is the extent to which the art establishment will go to protect the abuser and blame the abused. If you are a model and are reading this I hope it brings home the fact that if you encounter these kinds of situations, you may well be left to hang and dry on your own.