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David Bailey Suggests Retouchers Are More Important Than Photographers

Fashion photographer David Bailey has been shooting for Condé Nast since 1960. When asked if fashion magazines are as good now as they were back then, he replied, “Now it’s such a mass industry. They just churn it out. There’s not much personality in it any more. You can’t say, ‘That’s a Helmut Newton picture,’ because you don’t know who took the picture. ‘Who did the retouching?’ is the question you ask. It makes mediocrity look good. And people who are really good, it makes them look mediocre, so it’s a levelling out. It’s a bit like socialism.” [Guardian UK]

David Bailey Suggests Retouchers Are More Important Than Photographers