David LaChapelle Retired?

In spite of the guy being somewhat less than forty-years-old, word on the street (here in El Lay) says that uber-photographer, David LaChapelle, is retiring or has retired or, well, I'm not sure what exactly it's saying but it's saying something about him being retired.

Perhaps it might be that he hasn't really retired in the way most people retire but, instead, he's merely retired from working in Los Angeles and has ridden West into the sunset... to Hawaii. (Hawaii is where the word-on-the-street says he's gone and moved off to.)

Word also says that his art people--set designers and so forth--and his assistants and others are scrambling for work. And it seems many of them are nosing around L.A.'s infamous adult entertainment industry looking for gigs... an industry I have more than a passing acquaintance with. BTW, if you really want to come down to it, LaChapelle's people probably deserve a little more than a little recognition for their contributions to LaChapelle's controversial and acclaimed work.

But ain't that way it always goes? Take movies, for instance, who gets the lion-share of the credit for great movies? The director, of course. Same for photographers, especially fashion and glamour photographers. I see work all the time that is truly awe-inspiring. But not necessarily because of the shooter. Often, I realize the hair and makeup people, the stylists, and the art directors deserve more credit than the photographer. In fact, I'll bet that some of that work is awe-inspiring in spite of the shooter! But that's another story.

I don't mean to take anything away from David LaChapelle with my last paragraph. The guy's a photographic genius. He rocks! He's the shit! And he's wildly successful! So successful, in fact, that if he has decided to retire, in his thirties, I'm sure he can do that without any problem whatsoever. But ya know what? I'm guessing the guy still has a photograph or two left in him. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the best is yet to come from David LaChapelle.

I was hesitant to post any of my meager efforts in the same posting that talks about someone as gifted as David LaChapelle. But then I thought, "Screw it!" I'll put an image or two of Charmane up here. She's certainly easy enough to look at. I don't think anyone will complain about having to look at Charmane while reading about a true artist like LaChapelle.