With one or two exceptions, they all look the same. Pod people. It's sad, really.
It really is; it's a direct result of the introduction of makeup artists, stylists, of the whole string of added bodies that many of us never needed in the days of yore. To quote Helmut Newton again, as best as I can remember him tell it to Jeanne Beker on FTV: "everything has become such a big deal now; in the old days we were let free on the streets of Paris like a pack of dogs..." Models did their own 'look' thing, thus retaining their personality; photographers knew how to reload a Nikon or 'blad, and it was an easy one-to-one relationship betwen the two vital players. I really do think that a lot has been lost in the process of creating that 'big deal'. I wonder if many of today's people would even have the confidence to work alone without a team with whom to hold hands. I also suspect that the increased cost of floating contemporary shoots must have caused many of them to be shut down altogether. Clients were always cost-conscious, even when they had plenty of money to invest in their own promotions, never mind now!
Take a walk through the many photographers' agents' sites - apart from those handling people like Hans Feurer, they are all completely interchangeable, just like lenses on a Nikon used to be!
Well, it's how it is, I guess.
Rob C
