The World's MOST CONTROVERSIAL Photographer

Summary

Highlights

• Jurgen Teller is known for his unconventional approach to fashion photography 📸.
• His work is often described as raw, unfiltered, and even controversial 💥.
• Teller has collaborated with major brands and magazines like Vogue and Louis Vuitton 🤩.
• He helped pioneer the 'anti-fashion' movement with stylist Venicia Scott 👗.
• Teller's photos focus on storytelling rather than traditional aesthetic standards 🖼.

Key Takeaways

• Jurgen Teller, a German photographer, is known for his controversial, raw, and unfiltered style 📸.
• Despite mixed opinions, Teller's work is highly sought after in the fashion industry 🤩.
• His collaboration with Venicia Scott helped shape the 'anti-fashion' movement 👗.
• Teller challenges traditional beauty standards and norms in photography 💥.
• His work emphasizes storytelling and authenticity over perfection 🖼.

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Jurgen Teller The chapter introduces the renowned but controversial photographer Jurgen Teller. It begins by displaying photos of famous personalities like George Clooney, Christian Stewart, and Daniel Craig, teasing the viewers with the subtleness that something is off with these images. The narrative then shifts to introduce Jurgen Teller, highlighting his distinctive status in the photography world, being notorious yet not widely recognized by the general populace.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Controversies and Success in Photography The chapter delves into the polarizing reputation of a photographer named Jurgen. While many criticize his work, he continues to secure high-profile jobs with top agencies and magazines. The chapter discusses whether his success is due to nepotism, potential blackmail, or perhaps an overlooked talent in his unique style of photography. The aim is to explore Jurgen's work more deeply to understand the source of his ongoing success in the industry.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Early Life and Career of Jurgen Teller This chapter explores the early life and career of Jurgen Teller, a German photographer renowned for his work in fashion and fine art photography. Teller's journey in photography began with his studies in Munich, followed by a pivotal move to London in his twenties. His diverse portfolio includes shoots with high-profile individuals such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kanye West, and Kurt Cobain. Teller's impressive career spans collaborations with major brands and publications including Vogue, Adidas, and Louis Vuitton.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Breakout Photo and Defiance Against Norms The chapter titled 'Breakout Photo and Defiance Against Norms' discusses a highly successful photographer known for shooting the cover of the first edition of Vogue Pulska. This photographer has received numerous prestigious awards, such as the City Bank Prize for Photography and the ICP Infinity Award. In addition to his achievements in photography, he served as a professor of photography at the Nuremberg Academy for Fine Arts for five years. The chapter emphasizes his significant accomplishments and reputation within the photography world, suggesting that many aspire to reach his level of success.
• 02:00 - 02:30: The Role of Venania Scott The chapter titled 'The Role of Venania Scott' discusses the controversy and significance of Venania Scott's photographic work, particularly one of his breakout photos from 1996. Despite being heavily censored on YouTube, the photo, which once appeared on the cover of Sud Deutsche Zung magazine, remains controversial even today. The story behind the image offers clues to why Scott's photos are perceived as weird and provides insight into his early career in photography.
• 02:30 - 03:00: The Anti-Fashion Influence The chapter titled 'The Anti-Fashion Influence' discusses Tella's approach to photography, highlighting his desire to stand out and make a statement rather than conform to the existing norms. It notes the significance of a photo he took with model Kristen McMen, both of whom had been recently dismissed by Versace. In the context of the '90s high fashion scene, such a dismissal was typically seen as detrimental to one's career.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Framer Sponsor Segment The chapter discusses a controversial segment involving a Framer sponsor. It highlights the public's negative reaction to this segment, which paradoxically boosted the profiles of those involved, including a model and a photographer named Jurgen. The narrative suggests that Jurgen has a particular agenda, which is reflected in his work. Additionally, it introduces a powerful woman, Venanishia Scott, who seems to play a significant role behind the scenes, emphasizing the adage that behind every great man is an even greater woman.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Reflecting on Art and Photography This chapter delves into the concept of success and influence in the art and photography world through the lens of Venicia Scott's career. It highlights her rise in the industry, beginning as a stylist and eventually breaking new ground with her work for Marc Jacobs, a renowned figure in fashion. The chapter also touches on the dynamics of relationships and success within this creative domain, exemplified by her longstanding partnership with Juergen Teller and position as Fashion Director for British Vogue.

The World's MOST CONTROVERSIAL Photographer Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 This is a photo of George Clooney. And this is a photo of Christian Stewart. Um, this is a photo of Daniel Craig. And uh, something's not quite right about those photos, is there? There's something a little bit off. This, however, is a photo of Jurgen Tella. And unlike the others, you might not recognize him. In fact, you might not have even heard of him, but he's one of the most controversial and divisive photographers in all of photography cuz he takes pictures
• 00:30 - 01:00 like this. Now, a lot of people really hate his photography or just simply think that it's not good. So, if that's the case, why does he keep getting hired by the most prestigious agencies and magazines in the world? Is he the ultimate Nepo baby? Does he have the world's best blackmail material? Or is he actually quite a good photographer if we just look a little bit harder? Let's talk about old mate Jurgen and his unique style of photography and see if
• 01:00 - 01:30 we can discover what's really going on here. And we'll start by learning a little bit more about the guy. Jurgen Teller, as you might have guessed from his name, is a German photographer who shoots mostly fashion and fine art, whatever that is. He studied photography in Munich and then like me moved to London in his early 20s. He's photographed like literally everyone, dude. Like I do mean everyone from the Arnold to Kanye to Cabain. He's shot for Vogue, Eddie Dash, Louis Vuitton, and a
• 01:30 - 02:00 load of other fashion brands that are too fancy for me. Uh, fun fact, he shot the cover of the first ever edition of Vogue Pulska, which I happen to have right here. But that's somehow not all. He's also won some really hefty awards. the City Bank Prize for Photography and the ICP Infinity Award to name two. And he was actually the professor of photography at the Nuremberg Academy for Fine Arts for 5 years. So, it's pretty clear that he's like at least a very successful photographer. I mean, most of us can only dream of having a rap sheet like that. But that still doesn't
• 02:00 - 02:30 explain why his photos are weird or if they're any good in the first place. But I did find a pretty good clue in one of his breakout photos from earlier on in his career in 1996. No, not the Kylie album cover he also shot. This one. Yeah, that is heavily censored for YouTube. And uh yeah, it was the cover of Sud Deutsche Zung magazine. Now, that was controversial for a magazine cover back then, and if we're honest with ourselves, it's pretty controversial even now. Uh, but what it tells us is
• 02:30 - 03:00 that Tella did not show up to the photography scene planning to do as he was told, tow the line and make the same art as everybody else. He wanted to make a statement. Now, the interesting thing about this photo, other than the obvious, both Tella and the model, whose name is Kristen McMen, had both been let go by Versace fairly recently before this photo was shot. And back in the '9s high fashion craze, getting fired by Versace is kind of a career killer. Out
• 03:00 - 03:30 of their anger and distaste for Versace, we got this, which the public did not like, but it made both of them, the model and the photographer, into stars. So, our friend Jurgen has uh an agenda, and it definitely finds its way into his work. So, um what's the agenda with these? Well, as the saying goes, behind every great man is an even greater woman. In this case, Venanishia Scott, no relation, who, as well as being, I
• 03:30 - 04:00 don't know, the fashion director for British Vogue. Uh, which is kind of a big deal, was also Mr. Teller's partner for over a decade. So, it's nepotism. Case closed. Well, no, not quite. There's a lot more going on in this story. Venicia Scott is a great example of how a lot of the time winners just keep on winning. She started off as a stylist working her way up and eventually did some groundbreaking work for Marc Jacobs. And the Mr. Mark Jacobs loved her style quoted as saying,
• 04:00 - 04:30 "Venicia is an enormous part of the collection and creative direction of the company." So, as well as being quite a useful person to know if you're a fashion photographer, uh, Venicia had an angle of her own, and she's often actually credited as being the driving force behind whatever you call this whack style of photography. And by now, we're both asking why from the horse's mouth. It wasn't about consciously not doing what
• 04:30 - 05:00 people had done before, but I did want to get far away from a sense of hierarchy and status. Now, Venicia styled a lot of her models in vintage or secondhand clothes, which nowadays is super mainstream, but in the height of '90s fashion, not so much. I wanted to create something that you could aspire to without it involving a lot of money. None of the stories I did were about having a nice bag or an expensive outfit. And if you dig a little deeper, it's quite easy to see what inspired this particular approach. Miss Scott
• 05:00 - 05:30 here happens to come from one of those families. You know, the British families with their own Wikipedia page. Yeah, not joking. She's related to Rafe Fines and descended from a literal baron. How's that for generational wealth? So, her work wasn't just a push back against a culture of glossy, perfect, high-fashioned photos. It was also a push back against the culture she grew up in. Naturally, this countercultural angle appealed to Jurgen Teller. I mean,
• 05:30 - 06:00 we know he's a rebel at heart. And so as the two collaborated through the '9s, this style went on to massively change the meta of fashion photography. But even after learning all that, you still might look at this and think, "What? It's still rubbish." Here's the thing, and the real key to all of this, it's not meant to be a good photo. It's meant to be a good story. And that story really, really critically depends on feeling honest, raw, and unfiltered.
• 06:00 - 06:30 Tella and Scott's big focus was on removing the perfection and gloss and untouchability from fashion photography. And in a way, it's quite clever really. I mean, it's much easier to relate to this than this, for example. I just learned that it's been called antif. I really like this idea of anti-fashion. I'm a contrarian at heart with my photography a lot of the time. And so I decided to explore the idea a little bit more with the help of today's sponsor, Framer. Framer makes it so easy to very
• 06:30 - 07:00 quickly publish websites. You can have an idea and in the space of that afternoon have a really pretty and super functional website already done. So I went through my photo archive and I found ways that I'd shot in a tellaesque kind of anti-fashion way in the past and decided to make a little digital portfolio for that. Now, that's extremely easy to do since Framer has hundreds of pre-built templates. So, I can just go in, pick one, drop in the media, and it's basically done. Once I found a template I liked, I tweaked the
• 07:00 - 07:30 fonts and the colors and the styling and stuff like that around just a little bit to get more of that '90s anti-fashion aesthetic going. And once I did that, I thought it would be a good idea to add a little section at the top explaining kind of the idea behind anti-fashion and what it's trying to achieve. So, I used one of the pre-built little sections in Framer and just dragged and dropped it in and typed out my explanation. That's one of my favorite things about Framer is that you can get really nitty-gritty and into the details and be very, very specific, or you can just let it do the
• 07:30 - 08:00 work for you and use all of the stuff that they've pre-built and pre-thought out for you. I think that both anti fashion and framer are really cool things. So, you can learn more about Antifashion at my new website, Builtwith Framer, anti-fashion.com. And you can learn more about Framer, including signing up for free and getting 25% off your first 3 months using the link in the video description. A massive thank you to Framer for their continued support of this channel, and a massive thank you to you for watching. Now, you might be
• 08:00 - 08:30 sitting there thinking, "That's ridiculous." And honestly, fair enough. You've spent years growing and learning as a photographer to get to the point where you can take those really nice, perfect, glossy fashion photos or portraits. Seeing this on a magazine cover might make you feel envious, like he didn't deserve it. Maybe it could have been you or maybe you could have even done a better job. But I don't think that's quite what's going on here. Let me explain it another way. Let's
• 08:30 - 09:00 look at this for a second. You might recognize it. It's a painting by Rothkco called Number Six. It's a painting that famously a lot of people think is talentless and rubbish, but it's a painting that also famously broke records selling for a ridiculous $186 million. If you wish you had painted that so you could have sold it for $186 million, go ahead, click the like button and subscribe. My 12-year-old could have painted that. Well, yeah, that's the point. And you could definitely take
• 09:00 - 09:30 portraits like this, but you didn't. Well, maybe you did, but not only that, you didn't take the portraits for the magazine that's synonymous with fashion and perfection and then slap them down on the editor's desk with a straight face. That takes guts and a willingness to be fired. And it's a statement in itself. So, just like Rothkco is challenging what painting is and how you can use it to tell stories, Teller is doing the same because it's meant to look like a bad iPhone photo of George
• 09:30 - 10:00 Clooney. And don't get it wrong, that's not just because he's deliberately going against the grain and being rebellious. This is a story about George Clooney. And what it's telling us is that he's a person just like we are. So, he made a photo of George Clooney that looks like photos of you, probably taken by your family members. It's humanizing the celebrity. I mean, we're so used to seeing actors and models looking perfect all the time that it's easy to forget that they're also like dads and aunties
• 10:00 - 10:30 and stuff. We've already got zillions of perfect studio portraits of George Clooney. We don't need another one. And this one is different. It stands out and it's fresh. It's a new way of seeing. Now, of course, within your rights, you might think that is a load of [ __ ] Or you might see The Method in the Madness, but still not like it, think it's rubbish. It's okay to not like art. You don't have to like all of the art. You might even be angry about it. You might think that it's bad photography.
• 10:30 - 11:00 But if you think about it another way, photos are a way to communicate. And so, probably a bad photo is one that doesn't communicate what you wanted it to. Aesthetic aside, I think Teller's work definitely communicates what he wants pretty clearly. Turns out that there's a reason we argue about art, and it's because there's no right answer. Some people really hate abstract paintings. I really love old paintings with ships in them, and loads of people I've been to art galleries with nearly fall asleep when those ones turn up. Do you know what else is anti fashion? This shirt
• 11:00 - 11:30 I've just released. You can buy it on shop.huntreats.com. There's a link below. So, yeah, maybe Mr. Talah did have the best possible girlfriend for the job possible. It certainly didn't hurt, but I don't think it's nepotism or blackmail or black magic that got him to where he is and keeps him busy as a working photographer today. Instead, I think it's his willingness to challenge ideas, to photograph weirdly and try new things. Instead of always trying to take
• 11:30 - 12:00 good photos, he's always trying to take interesting photos. And that's why in my personal opinion, I quite like his work. What do you think? Let me know down below. And if you'd like to hear me unironically defend Bruce Gilden's controversial and aggressive style of street photography, you can watch that one there. Be nice in the comments. Stay hydrated and create