uncommons

Check out Paolo Roversi’s New York Times T Magazine spread. You know, the one that is swirling in controversy regarding photos of a 17 year-old nearly nude model taken at his studio in Paris.

New York Times Magazine Deputy Editor Jim Schachter said in the NYT story that Roversi’s photographs “didn’t give me pause for one second.”

Photographs copyright Paolo Roversi and site copyright The New York Times

…T’s job, [said Schachter], “is to put out a beautiful, exciting, eye-popping, page-turning magazine without crossing the line to being offensive and without being shy about walking right up to the line of being provocative, and that’s going to cause debate when you get close to that line.”

While I admire the poses and presentation techniques embraced by the photographer, I question the use of a 17 year-old model why? Regardless of my opinion no one asked for it, take a look at the other pieces in T, because cohesively the magazine is a glorious form of inspiration if you’re shooting fashion and product photography or designing multimedia for presentation. It’s a very slick and non-journalistic piece that rakes in the cash to finance all that editorial ambition.