disgarded / regarded: Larry Clark

The film director and photographer Larry Clark, best known for 'Kids' is also well known for his collective of photographs taken of teenage runaways in the late 60s and into the 1970s. The best known ones, 'Tulsa' and 'Teenage Lust' have gone onto influence other photographers such as Venetia Scott, Juergen Teller and Terry Richardson.

Some of my favourite images by him are generally on my list of all time favourite photographs.

The last image I only find shocking because although the central point of this photo is the heroin, the first thing I noticed was the guy's penis resting across his thigh, like a banana. I also wonder what Clark's involvement was during these sessions. It's hard to get people to accept having their photo taken generally, or even during special occasions, yet these photos are so candid that you almost think they've been staged to look like they were alone all along.