Ryan McGinley

Gloria, 2003

Ryan McGinley has his fingers in just about everything- this image is from our textbook, another photograph of his is the cover of Sigur Rós's CD, and he's the photographer behind the Levi's Go Forth ads, which you can look at/watch here.

What makes McGinley so interesting is that he started out documenting his friends- you know, those kids who do stupid stuff just because it's fun- and ended up being the youngest photographer to ever grace the Whitney Museum because of them. He captures being carefree and innocent and young and exciting with every image he creates. I look at his photographs and think, "Damn, I wish I was like that."

You can read an interview with him here and here, and look at his brilliant work here: ryanmcginley.com

Also, if you'd like to try to run around naked for him, there's a link under "Inquires" for model calls.