Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2010. Right photo: Terry Richardson, 2005
by Maria Sofou
Tyler Shields, often referred to as “Hollywood’s favorite photographer,” is an extremely successful photographer that has shot a number of celebrities and his work has been exhibited in galleries around the world.
However, according to VICE editor Jamie Lee Curtis Taete, his level of success is surprising given that anyone with even a tiny knowledge of the history of photography would find a lot of his photographs to look an awful lot like others!
Actually, truth be told, a bunch of Shields’ most popular photographs highly resemble those of famous photographers like Terry Richardson, Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus, Annie Liebovitz and Henry Leutwyler. In fact, Leutwyler once publicly called out Shields on Instagram for copying his work of a ballerina’s feet (shown below), asking him “Are you really not even a little bit embarrassed ?”
To prove his point, Taete gathered a series of photographs captured by Shields and put them next to other works in order to reveal the resemblance. We’re not taking a side on this, we’re letting you decide.. What do you think? Is Tyler Shields inspired by other artists or he is just stealing their work?
Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2011. Right photo: Guy Bourdin, 1979
Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2015. Right photo, Henry Leutwyler 2012
Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2014. Right photo: Sally Mann, 1989
Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2014. Right photo: Helmut Newton, 1982
Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2014. Right photo: Diane Arbus, 1966
Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2015. Right photo: Irving Penn, 1986
Left photos: Tyler Shields, 2009. Right screencaps: Stills from Moby’s “We Are All Made of Stars” video, 2002.
Left photo: Tyler Shields, 2014. Right photo: Annie Liebovitz, 1984
via VICE
