I would tend to agree with you DVO. fashion photography in general has become very boring and lost personel identity to the photographers in a lot of cases.
When I was at Fristral beach earlier in the week all the photographers seemed to have the same digital kit with the same long lenses,whilist taking semi candid portraits on the beach, using long lenses with short depth of field ,in its self takes away the personel feel to portraits and image making.
Apart from the few photographers I have mentioned in the forum I think that nothing has moved on since the Jeragan Tellar portrits for Sattchi in the snappy way of taking pictures. To cause yet another stir. I do not class Terry Richardson as a photographer, snapper yes, capturing the underbelly of society which is all relevent to culture and style swings, but at the same time a lot of photographers want to work like him.
Maby its becouse they identify with the lifestyle.
About three years ago I saw a book called Deluxe, from the Grumunder press, the pictures where from an Australian fashion photographer.
I can not remember his name.
His work was great, tinting in sepia and other colours,he had a very strong identity to his work which is becoming rare in todays fashion photography.

i apologise in advance for my patronising tone in the following.

are you aware of showstudio.com its a great website that showcases alot of really thought provoking and intresting new work from people within the field of fashion photography. if you want to know where fashion photography is going i truly think your in the right place.

check this out, everyone. i don't agree with everything the dame has to say, in fact very little of it, but it's thought provoking, to say the least.

http://www.slate.com/features/010510_fashion-slide-show/01.htm

Chris,

was the Australian photographer Justin Smith?

Fashion photography needs to grow away from Terry richardson, Jeurgen teller, and the rest of the photo-superealists. The snapshot aesthetic is only trendy because it makes everyone feel like a B-grade celebrity, and it also makes B-grade celebreties think they are photographers. It essentially opens up the divide between those trained in photography and composition and anyone who can access a digital camera. So, it is a matter of accessability and a bi-product of mass consumption. It actually is kind of appropriate if you think about it because the brands that these photographers normally photograph for are mainstream iconic designers like Marc Jacobs, and YSL. You dont really see them photographing any avant-garde fashion like the Belgian or Japanese designers. So, bad photography and bad fashion unite. That way the real artists like Paolo Roversi, Sarah Moon, Nick Night, Steven Meisel, and Peter Lindbergh can photograph the fashion that is really worth photographing.