The result was Keep. No point in keeping this open any longer. There's been substantial change since the AfD was opened, and the nom is withdrawn. Well done to all concerned for some excellent research and cleaning up. Wiki at its best. Tyrenius (talk) 04:31, 17 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A fawning tribute to a fashion photographer, originally created by the SPA Pr61 (contributions) and the SPA coincidentally named Maxvadukul (contributions). The article has had an "unreferenced" flag for over half a year. Its named sources are Vadakul's own site and Vadakul's section within a promotional site. Googling for Max Vadukul brings up good evidence that he has photographed the pop singer Beyoncé and that people want to download the pics, and also shows that other sites of dubious significance fawn over him, but that was about it, at least till I ran out of stamina in skimreading the flimflam. Google news has a hit for him, this from "Earth Times": it says that Internationally renowned Kenyan photographer Max Vadukul is responsible for the stunning campaign photography -- but it's a retailer's press release, mere advertising intended to whip up a froth of excitement as Saks Fifth Avenue announced the return of its acclaimed Want It! campaign for Spring 2008. (Oh, wow.) As for Google books, a photo by Vadakul is here neither described nor discussed but merely mentioned in a litcritty book -- Popular passages / Page 114 / If the inner truth of gender is a fabrication and if a true gender is a fantasy instituted and inscribed on the surface of bodies, then it seems that genders... -- as having been mentioned by Isabella Rosselini. We can infer that Vadakul is a real photographer who has photographed celebs; however, the article on him is dreadful and I see no prospect for its improvement. -- Hoary (talk) 09:07, 14 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well well, contrary to the impression given by the adulatory flatus in the original article, and the vacuous gush on display in the first few pages of Google hits for the man, this article has indeed been improved.
It seems clear that Vadukul has an important role at the New Yorker. I'm surprised that a magazine such as the New Yorker -- parts of which are so good that I actually buy a copy now and again -- would not then write him up decently in some accessible web page. I'm also surprised to learn that National Geographic finds space among its stories on global warming, deforestation, oil, el Niño, decreasing biodiversity, etc etc for a feature on a celeb photographer: clearly I am ignorant of geography. But no quirk of the US infotainment industry detracts from Vadukul's newly demonstrated notability. And so, with surprise but not regret, and with thanks to various editors (Johnbod and Fountains in particular), I withdraw this nomination. -- Hoary (talk) 01:43, 17 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]