..I am very attracted by bad taste - its much more exciting than good taste..

So said Helmut Newton in an interview in 1981* and I really can't agree more. But you know what; I have been pushing good taste all my life, I have been a victim of my own good taste and, I have believed in 'taste' which I suppose is not quite the same as 'good taste' and I don't think it has done me any favours at all.

This picture of mine comes from a story called Rapture in Sydenham and its a reaction to my working with so-called good taste. Sydenham is an inner west Sydney suburb that 20 years ago really was the ass end of the world and had a reputation for junkies and crime, much like trendy or 'edgy' Darlinghurst at the time had too but Sydenham had no glamorous veneer and was more; much more down market. While I certainly don't condone or recommend drug use, that was certainly a part of the times, and a big part of me misses the hedonism of the mid to late 80s some of it drug related lots of it not. It was quite frightening sometimes but it was quite exciting too; it was not such a homogenised society as it seems to be today. So this story is about those times; the conflict of love when you're whole life has been a compromise - its not much fun - stay close - hold on to what you have got..

Extended website version,
www.kentjohnsonphotography.com.au/RaptureInSydenham.htm

Original published on Street Fashion Sydney
http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/rapture-in-sydenham-love-story.html

Photographer, Kent Johnson
Hair & Make Up, Sabrina Scheuer
Stylist, Kent Johnson
Models, Cole & Myv @ Milk Models
Photography Assistant, Hugh Baulderstone 

* "I love vulgarity. I am very attracted by bad taste - it is a lot more exciting than that supposed good taste which is nothing more than a standardised way of looking at things." Helmut Newtown interview by Bernard Lamarch-Vadel 1981.

Hi Impact Radius