Terry Richardson has caused a stir with his porn/fashion photography including some outrageous crotch close-ups for
Tom Ford. But whatever Richardson has done,
Guy Bourdin did it first and with better lighting and much more class.
Bourdin, who passed away in 1992, worked for French Vogue for twenty years and made a name for himself with a 1966 Charles Jourdan shoe campaign.
He made the most of feminine curves, and was clearly influenced by early photographers like Man Ray, as well as the composition of surrealist painters. His focus on elements of, rather than the entire body, were his most "Dali" techniques. He would crop bodies out of shots and feature disembodied legs walking across streets.
In 2004 Melbourne was lucky enough to see a touring exhibition of his work. The same show has just finished up at the Kunsthaus in Vienna.
If you could afford a print of one of his works, you're probably a major gallery in an international city. Mere mortals can buy books of his work on
Amazon instead.