About

Photographed By Juergen Teller refers to parodies of celebrity portraits by photographer Juergen Teller for W Magazine. Critics of Teller's work have argued that his photographs make his subjects look awkward and that they employ poor lighting, poor framing, and similar settings, often involving trees and plants. In February of 2021, after W Magazines "Best Performances" issue was released, Teller's work attracted heavy criticism on Twitter, leading people to post parodies of it.

Origin

On February 23rd, 2021, W Magazine posted multiple photos of celebrities as part of its "Best Performances" issue. The celebrities were all photographed by German art and fashion photographer Juergen Teller. The photographs included portraits of actors like George Clooney,^[1] Tessa Thompson,^[2] Gal Gadot^[3] and others (shown below).

Actor Riz Ahmed tweeted^[10] that his shoot was "the shortest of his life," saying it took "20 seconds, 2 clicks." This later became wrapped up in the criticism of Teller's work, as people felt it proved his shoots were low-effort.

Spread

The photoshoot inspired harsh criticism from Twitter users who felt Teller's photos did his subjects a disservice. User @blxckswns^[4] posted several pictures from the issue, saying "juergen teller is going to hell for this," gaining over 8,200 retweets and 87,000 likes (shown below, left). User @thelake1983^[5] wrote, "juergen teller is a photographic terrorist," gaining over 180 retweets and 1,000 likes (shown below, right).

The criticism came alongside parodies of Teller's work, as people posted unflattering paparazzi photos of celebrities and satirically attributing them to Teller. For example, user @supercutbylorde^[6] attributed an infamous, unflattering photo of Hillary Clinton to Teller, gaining over 3,300 retweets 39,000 likes (shown below, left). User @gretagerwigflew^[7] did the same with a photo of Saorise Ronan, gaining over 380 retweets and 4,200 likes (shown below, right).

The jokes were covered by The Daily Dot.^[8] The shoot was defended by High Snobiety,^[9] who wrote:

Teller's aesthetic has hinged around breaking the fourth-wall between celebrity and non-celebrity by framing his subjects as candid "real people." They eschew the trappings of a glam squad, photoshop, and meticulously detailed creative direction informing every shot.
If you find the images jarring, it's possible that the overly-edited Instagram aesthetic of our time has derailed your judgment.

Various Examples

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