Last week, we noticed Vogue magazine had taken out permits for a photo shoot at Haulover Park, AKA home of Miami's nude beach. Turns out the photographer was none other than Terry Richardson, the quirky master of humorous point 'n' shoot camera pics who has recently been embroiled in some serious accusations that he's mistreated models and pressured some into performing sexual acts on him.
Apparently, it doesn't bother Vogue editor Anna Wintour, because she unleashed Richardson on Miami to shoot pictures of Dutch supermodel and Victoria's Secret angel Doutzen Kroes this past weekend. Judging from other snaps posted on Richardson's blog, the shoot might or might not also have involved a female bodybuilder and an Elmo beach blanket.
The Richardson controversy is a bit of a long story, but these two posts from Jezebel sum it up pretty well. Here's a snippet:
Terry Richardson's sexual tastes run to making tampon tea, being called "Uncle Terry," and hand jobs -- at least according to one model who says the fashion photographer got naked on set and suggested that she touch his dick.Shortly thereafter, more models, mostly anonymous, came forward with similar accusations -- including one tale of a girl being pressured into performing head on the photog while his crew looked on and handed her a towel afterward to clean up.
In most of the cases, we're not talking about established A-list models such as Ms. Kroes but girls who are willing to do anything to make it big or are unsure of the fashion world. And it's not exactly news that Richardson has had sex with some of his models. He has photographed it, not for his blue-chip magazine and fashion clients, but for his more "artistic" work for underground mags and art books.
It's not surprising that allegations like these would come along, whether true or not, but it doesn't seem like they have hurt his business. Though we doubt he'll be invited to photograph President Obama again anytime soon.
