Category: Brief 3 : Portriature

American born Avedon was a Fashion / documentary photographer who liked minimalism in his work, capturing the raw emotions of his subject he was sitting, revealing so much about them, rather than other more conventional portraits.

A moment that solidified his wanting to be a fashion photographer went as so: “One evening my father and I were walking down Fifth Avenue looking at the store windows,” he remembered. “In front of the Plaza Hotel, I saw a bald man with a camera posing a very beautiful woman against a tree. He lifted his head, adjusted her dress a little bit and took some photographs. Later, I saw the picture in Harper’s Bazaar. I didn’t understand why he’d taken her against that tree until I got to Paris a few years later: the tree in front of the Plaza had that same peeling bark you see all over the Champs-Elysees.” (biography.com, 2016)

His style of photography was essential humanity and showing vulnerability, showing the person, not the shield that they put up. Avedon was highly skilled in capturing that little moment where the person lets their guard down and loses their character that they are portraying, capturing their raw emotion. An example of this would be the iconic picture of Marilyn Monroe, where she lets her guard down and let’s go of the character of Marilyn that the media was used to seeing.

Avedon’s other works are highly dynamic and show a more high fashion aspect to them, showing a concept rather than a person, his work oozes a certain quality that I aspire to achieve through my work. To get some angular poses that are large and seem completely natural. An image that sticks out in my mind when I think of Avedon is the image of the man with bees, a stark white background, and a really pale man covered in bees creating a contrast between white and black. This image is a truly iconic piece of imagery, something that people have and will come across, an image that is really well shot and composed. The way the eyes connect with the camera and finally you is quite striking to see, I can imagine this image being blown up to be on a large wall and this figure would be imposing on you as you look at it, I feel it would be something special to see in person to see this figure stare into you, blank expression, covered in bees.

Leibovitz used to work at rolling stones where she developed he signature style of bold colours and strong poses, which she uses in her work often. Her work has captured the imagination of many and she is highly regarded in the photography world, with a plethora of amazing images she is one of many greats of photography.

When people think of Leibovitz they think of the images like Whoopie Goldberg in the milk bath and although that is an iconic image with a whole depth of meaning, she isn’t just a fashion photographer. Her work when touring with the Rolling Stones, the series of images that she took whilst on tour with the infamous rock band meant she got a more intimate view of the band and got some really good images that other photographers weren’t able to get.

Bar these images and a drug addiction after, Leibovitz still creates some super high fashion images that have a big concept and are highly stylised, these images such as the ones shot for the Vogue Alice in wonderland shoot are really well composed, the thought about the pose and how each character is portrayed on the page, bringing the children’s story to life as a fashion shoot. Everything is so well thought out and nothing is there for no reason every tree and every branch have a reason for being in the frame.

Some of Leibovitz’s work has connotations of a dream like state, the colours all blend into one another with the seamlessness of her shooting style and how well she has done for herself in the field of fashion photography for so long.  The shots that I have seen from her work seem to all have a particular style to them in her more recent work they have an ethereal look which is super current and super modern, which makes all of her work pop.

There is a strong focus on the client in her more intimate work such as the recent cover for Vanity Fair. She has a strong focus on keeping the client in the shot and keeping the shot relevant to the person, such as Caitlyn Jenner. The image was bold and delicate which kept the eye of the viewer, making them feel connected to the client, this turned into a beautiful image that will be quite powerful for decades to come, and also be a pivotal moment in photographic history.