Who

A patron saint of hipsters, photographer Richardson created the underage retro porn aesthetic. He occupies a place in the pervert-snapper pantheon somewhere between Larry Clark and Ryan McGinley.

Backstory

Born in the city and raised in New York and California, Richardson is the son of famed '70s fashion photographer Bob Richardson and former stylist Norma Kessler (she later changed her name to Annie Lomax). Given what he turned into as an adult, it isn't all that surprising that Richardson wasn't an angel as a little kid: "I was hyperactive and very violent and I used to fucking just destroy my room and smash everything and have tantrums." Richardson's parents split after his 41-year-old father took up with a 17-year-old Angelica Huston (who Terry says became "like an older sister"). It was after Richardson moved to Ojai, California to live with his mother that he first began taking photos with an Instamatic camera.

After dabbling in music and working as a busboy for a spell, Richardson moved to San Francisco to live with his father—who schooled him in photography—and then headed to New York to launch his career. He spent years bouncing around the fashion and skater scenes taking pictures, before gaining widespread notoriety in the mid-'90s when his style of photography—unabashedly sexual images shot with snapshot cameras and little in the way of lighting—attracted the attention of fashion editors and edgy advertisers.

Since then just about every mag on the planet has featured Richardson's work, including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, and Sports Illustrated. And he remains a fave with fashion advertisers—he's shot campaigns for Gucci, Levi's, H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, Chloé and Nike, among many others. He's also become a presence on the art scene. His first show, "These Colors Don't Run" debuted at Alleged Gallery in 1998. Some of the highlights: a 4-foot-by-6-foot portrait of Richardson with semen all over his face and a 12-by-30 photo of a toothbrush inserted in an ass.

Of note

Even though Richardson's trademark pictures of pretty youngsters engaged in various sex acts are often labeled porn, he doesn't see them that way: "Porn kind of bums me out," he's said. "I don't use porn or even go to strip clubs. I don't like to exploit anybody. That's not my bag. Everyone has fun on my shoots." His talent for getting close to the line has earned him the devotion of countless celebs looking to boost their indie cred: Actresses and models like Chloë Sevigny, Mena Suvari, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Frankie Raydar, and Kate Moss have fallen over themselves to work with Richardson, and his style has been relentlessly copied over the years, most famously by American Apparel.

Richardson continues to divide his time between editorial spreads, the occasional art project, and ad campaigns for advertisers in search of "raw energy" and "reality." But he's branching out, too. His feature film debut, a father-son drama called Son of a Bitch, is currently in development. He also collaborated with fake memoirist James Frey on a limited-edition companion book to Frey's forthcoming novel.

In print

Various collections of Richardson's work have been published, including 1998's Hysteric Glamour, Son of Bob, Feared by Men Desired by Women, and 2004's Terryworld.

In person

Richardson famously sports a '70s porn look, complete with handlebar mustache, long sideburns, and countless tattoos. (The one on his stomach which says "T-bone.") "Most people when they meet me think I'm English and gay," Richardson has said. For the record, he's neither.

Personal

Richardson's marriage to model Nikki Uberti ended in 1999. Over the past few years, he's been connected to French stylist Camille Bidault-Waddington (who's now married to Jarvis Cocker) and model Susan Eldridge. He lives in three-story converted fire station on Lafayette Street, which he bought for $3.335 million in 2009.

No joke

Richardson's website invites anyone interested in posing topless or nude to contact his office by email.