One of the elements of photography is, just by nature, journalistic. It's some kind of documentation. The most successful pictures to me are with an interesting looking girl. They're not being provocative. They're just presenting their drugs to you, showing you what they take. There's a good-looking girl, but here's this thing about her that's not so cool. It makes you feel a little uneasy.
Richard KernThe model is just one element of the photograph. There's also the location, the light - all that junk. It helps if the girl is really good-looking, but a girl can be not super good-looking and it'd still be a really good photograph. I ask people to send some photos of where they live if that's where I'm shooting. I go for shabby places over too-nice places, because most of these girls are going to look better if they're not made to look rich.
Richard KernNot for models. SuicideGirls is a mystery to me because I thought only women ran the site.
Richard KernIt's like a visual connection between the girl I'm shooting and me, a bunch of triggers. A lot of girls I'll just shoot once or twice, but with certain special ones I'll go a bit further.
Richard Kern