I just want to make a decipher before listing- my overrated/underrated lists both include photographers that I like and dislike.
Overreated:
Inez & Vinoodh to the 1000th power-way too gimmicky and edgy for my personal taste. They rely too much on their gimmicks and there is not enough thought in the conceptual, thus too edgy and not intellectual.
Annie Leibovitz- Way too one dimensional to be considered great, IMO.
Mario Testino- same as Leibovitz. I've seen countless amount of interviews with this guy talking so profoundly about photography, but i just don't see it come across in his work. Not to mention, he has a very tasteless style.
Nick Knight- I remember reading this one article about how his work questions standards of beauty and aesthetics, but it really doesn't not have that influence on me. He's done some of the most memorable covers and shot some iconic shots of top models, but I think it was based on good timing and luck.
Liz Collins- omg, for the love of god..BORING!!!
Craig McDean- Definitely a fan of his work, but he doesn't really have an it factor to set him aside from others. For me, he's the epitome of a very successful
working photographer but not an artist and I think in this industry, you've gotta be both.
Greg Kadel- zzzzzzzzzzzz.
Camilla Akrans- Beautiful style, but it seems to me that she's in a rut and stop experimenting or maybe she's just being type casted. Anyway, her aesthetic is way too easy to replicate and it's become too much about romanticizing everything.
Steven Klein- simple as this: I just don't get him.
David Lachapelle (i'm with Mulletproof and MissAnia on this one)-tacky, to say the least!
Alexi Lubomirski- he is soooo sexy! but he needs to quite channeling all of his contemporaries.
No wonder he's a regular for HB and Vogue Germany (who don't have an identity of their own).
Bruce Weber- don't kill me..but he's in there with Klein for me.
I guess since his fashion shoots have a lighter, upbeat tone that he's generally favored. I do like a lot of his work, but overall I just don't get
him.
Underrated: All of the after-mentioned show true range and ability to think outside of the box and do what isn't expected- they show adaptability and versatily, which is the most critical factor of being a photographer of any sort, if you ask me. They don't rely on gimmicks for 'style'; they're confident enough in what they're doing and it always shines through. Oddly enough, they aren't as everywhere as they should be.
Hedi Slimane
Josh Olins
Paolo Roversi
Emma Summerton
Laurie Bartley
David Armstrong
Alasdair McLellan
"If you want to be famous, you keep on doing the same thing until people recognize it, and you keep doing it, even if it becomes boring..." I think Juergen Teller has taken that to heart, because his style of photography, even though highly recognizable, has been the same since the early 90s. And for that, he is the most overrated fashion photographer of all the overrated fashion photographers.
