Your Instagram Habits Are ‘Stupid,’ According to One Famous Fashion Photog

For those outside the fashion world, photographer Peter Lindbergh is not an immediately recognizable face. And why would he be? The charismatic 72-year-old is like most of his peers, in that his work’s recognition eclipses his own.

But finding someone who wouldn’t recognize Lindbergh’s 1990 British Vogue cover is another story. Capturing Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista in all their glory, Lindbergh was among the first to document the era of the original supermodels and inspired George Michael’s “Freedom” music video.

Of course, Lindbergh’s accomplishments are too numerous to list here. He’s shot for most major fashion magazines, as well as produced his own photography book. He’s encapsulated Kate Moss’s essence in myriad black-and-white images, and he’s made the strongest actresses appear vulnerable in the famous Pirelli Calendar.

And speaking of Pirelli, Lindbergh is the only photographer to have shot the annual spread three times, most recently for the 2017 calendar, which cast, among others, Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore in their most honest light. The makeup-free, unretouched photos in the calendar prompted Helen Mirren to cry how “awful” she looked in it before acknowledging the purpose behind the shoot: to capture real beauty.

During New York Fashion Week, Pirelli hosted a panel that Lindbergh sat on, along with Chastain, photographer Steve McCurry (most famous for his 1985 National Geographic “Afghan Girl” cover), and outspoken cultural critic Fran Lebowitz.

The short version of the panel discussion, which was to focus on the state of beauty in popular culture: Lebowitz thinks Trump is an abomination; Chastain prefers to play characters whose beauty lies beneath the surface, untouched by makeup; and McCurry thinks the picture of the Afghan girl reveals an honesty not easily captured in photography today.

Before the panel, Lindbergh sat down with Yahoo Style to give his take on fashion photography, Photoshop, and Instagram. Below is an edited excerpt of the conversation.

Yahoo Style: How did you bring your perspective to the Pirelli Calendar?

Peter Lindbergh: You know, I wanted to make a big break with Photoshopped beauty. It’s a disastrous thing happening in photography. I care more about what everyone has that isn’t the same, their differences.

That would explain the concept behind the 2017 Calendar, then.

We should show beauty that has truth, and tell women that women are to be at peace with themselves. They shouldn’t try to be this and this and that. From all this, the message is, take your sensibility and don’t try to run around in high heels and makeup and try to be something you can never be. No one looks like those photographs. Besides, most of them look terrible.

Whose work in fashion today do you admire?

I look at the fashion world today, and I’m not inspired by photography, by fashion photography. It’s really screwed up. There are maybe three, four photographers I’m really interested in; the rest is really rubbish. There are very few who are interesting, but that’s it. It’s a pity. Nobody thinks they have the responsibility; they just say, “Hey baby, turn around! Nice ass!”

Whose responsibility is it, then, to capture realness?

That’s a very interesting, a very tough question. For example, many companies need [to Photoshop]. They can’t show women who have pimples everywhere and say “We have a great cream for you.” They have a reason, they want to sell, and that’s fine. But that’s not the problem on its own. But the whole idea of photographing women has become that. That’s Photoshopped because they want to sell the cream, and you know it. Fine. But everyone does it today.

What’s your take on Instagram?

Instagram has so many interesting photographs. Professional photographers should learn, or relearn that. It’s really inspiring, Instagram. But at first, I thought it was really stupid, Instagram, because if you use it to show everybody you met yesterday a big actor and you put your arm around him for a selfie, that’s just a reason to blow up a diminished ego, that’s stupid. But that’s what most people do.

So, what makes someone’s Instagram worth looking at?

You’re not a photographer if you do, like, five nice pictures and put them on Instagram. The photographer … it has to mean something, what you do. You have to have a point of view; then you can photograph. But people don’t know that — most of them have no point of view. They don’t stand for [anything]. They say, “Oh, that’s great, and that’s great, too!” That’s boring.

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