what a SHAME!! shame on W for yet again using a celebrity on it's cover! is this indulgent trend ever going to end???? and shame on them for unoriginality. nadja auermann vs. kate hudson? there is NO CONTEST HERE! beauty and the beast!

this photo of nadja is one my favorites. I was shocked when I saw the W cover. is this a joke?

Great catch! The Bazaar cover is more striking.

NOT ON! For goodess sake W, get an art director with a bit of originality!

Patrick Demarchelier sleeps well tonight.

Nadia's cover remains timeless.Kate Hudson looks like cate Blanchett!
This W issue does seem to have the 'wanabe' syndrome.

RIP OFF and they don't admit it? Get real

I like the "W" cover better, Kate is beautiful. The other model is scary.

If the art director can't come up with an original idea for the biggest cover of the year for W don't you think that they should be canned? There are plenty of talented people out there that would love to prove themselves and use their "original ideas". I happened to look it up in the dictionary, "original: being the first instance, source from which a copy, reproduction or translation is or can be made." Bingo!

wow, great job W.... dont have an original thought, steal someone else's..... the W artdirector should be FIRED...
oh, and can we PLEASE stop photoshoping every damn thing!.... I worked for a top of the line printing co. and EVERYTHING was photoshoped.... I can no longer believe ANYTHING in print.... its ALL faked!!
but W should be ashamed!!

i THINK THEY ARE BOTH BEAUTIFUL AS ARE BOTH COVERS ...AND ARTISTS ARE ALWAYS COPYING EACH OTHERS WORK....LOOK AT HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE DONE JANE AUSTIN;S EMMA OVER THE YEARS....OR SHAKEPEARS PLAYS....OR COPYING THE GREAT ARTISTS FOR YOUR HOME ENJOYMENT.....THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE GET A LIFE!!!

Please people, models all these kinds of poses....I bet you'd find over 1000 covers from 1000 different magz covers that are very similar We an manipulate this all you want but remember it's your time wasted while you can be doing something else productive.

no question that graphic license was "snatched" from the prior baazar cover photo. images were NOT photoshoped back then, but they were *airbrushed.*

as a digital photographer i know all too well the issue and the temptation to unconsciously edit the image as though the model is requesting a "look see" to present to her plastic surgeon. i can do that with no problem. but i follow a strict standard for my presentation quality work. when photoshopping a portrait, i stay within the exact "boundaries of what my makeup artist would do" for me to be happy with the actual photo shoot of the model. anything more falls into the category of what you see here for kate hudson. tsk-tsk. if i were shooting with a full crew for commissioned work the makeup artist and I would work together so my "shot" of the model is as I see her/his face. i will already know what that must look like. anything more or less is corrected so the shot is perfect. Canceling the "facial palette" to achieve even skin tone and texture, "fill" of the eybrow if not well distributed, contouring and defining the nose and lips to create a "3-D" perspective for presentation printing is the limit. what was done for poor kate was to produce an "image" she can take to her plastic surgeon to chisel, cut and restructure the face, eyes and mouth --a no-no for a cover shot magazine presentation. sorry. while i agree it might be artsy-fartsy to some, its a still a cheap shot at the real thing.

They say imitation is a form of flattery, but this poorly done homage is not a tribute....just a sad, tasteless rip off.
And, IMHO the currently popular practice of "photoshopping" is a no substitute for good photography.

I am tired of all this "photoshopping" it's not real and the girls of today are trying too hard to emulate this people (Caricature) and it's not good for them. I have had a horrible body image for yrs. (I am 46 now) and have had plastic surgery to get what I think (or what I have been told) is the best me>>> & I STILL am not as happy as I thought (though, I am happy with what I had done) now I still feel that I need more done. Let these children grow up thinking that WHATEVER they look like, big, small, wide, narrow, tall, short, heavy or thin that they are the best ........STOP THE INSANITY!

I adore technology, our computers and other tech advances are what allow me to work from home everyday. However, I wish Photoshop and other photo altering capabilities had never been created. I dislike never knowing what is real and what is not, I dislike the violation these people are endure when their body and face are altered. I dislike knowing young women strive to imitate a body that is not even real.
As to this particular instance, the reasemblance between the covers is less bothersome than this is a horrible image of Kate. The creative director should lose their job on that basis alone. How this was ever approved I can not begin to guess.

While I do agree that there is a distinct similarity and that the Bazaar cover might've been an inspiration. However, the W cover is beautiful as well and I do NOT think, as many of you are being told to think, that the photograph was altered beyond reason. It's ridiculous that you're all calling for a person to lose their job over this. I rarely notice magazines, but this cover caught my eye. It is very piercing and evocative.
Good work.

Photography is an art form and one aspect of that form is composition. In musical composition, we have what is known as a "musical quote" where a composer lifts a verbatim theme or phrase from another composer's work to make a point., or to simply commemorate the other composer. Another example of lifting another's work legitimately is a movie remake, such as "Father of the Bride", where the work is updated and made more poignant to the times. I would interpret this photograph as the photographer's interpretation of a Chinese opera character, in commoration of the Beijing Olympics, by lifting a classic image from photographic history that perfectly describes that entity important to a current event. The fact that it may be lifted from another photographer's work is acceptable in that it makes a contemporary point, and is therefore given new life, and at the same time, honors its originator, and gives the public a "pop quiz" on its knowledge of photographic history. It's an important aspect of free speech and shouldn't be obstructed. Had the magazine published the exact photograph of the first photographer without his permission and recompense, it would break laws.