Research - Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon was born in 1923 in New York and attended Columbia University before starting work as a photographer for the Merchant Marines.  He later went on to be an advertising photographer and was soon discovered by the director for the magazine Harpers Bazaar.  In 1946 he set up his own photography studio and was producing photographs for Vogue and Life magazines.

Avedon soon began to photograph models emotion and not the emotionless statue like images that had been produced previously.  In 1966 Avedon left Harpers Bazaar to work for Vogue magazine and he worked for many of the worlds great fashion houses including Versace and Calvin Klein and worked with supermodels like Brooke Shields.  As well as fashion Avedon has photographed pop idols and pop stars and worked with the Beatles in 1968.

He tried different styles of photography and photographed patients of mental hospitals and the civil rights movement in 1963.  Richard Avedon was widely known as a photographer and like Bailey often photographed using a white background.

This photographs main focus is on the subject and a narrow depth of field has been used which has allowed the subject to be in focus whilst the background is blurred.  This image has a really nice tonal range and I like the way the subject has been caught mid air which would have required a fast shutter speed for the movement.  I like the pattern and texture which is created with the cobbles on the street and the contrast the dark umbrella and coat has against the background in the image.

This is a fantastic image of Twiggy.  I have a book entitled Twiggy a life in photographs and this is where I first came across this image before researching Richard Avedon. I really like the way this image has been captured using a fan to blow the hair in which a fast shutter would be used to capture the moment.

I first came across this image in a Richard Avedon book I got from the college library.  This image was taken in Paris and has a really nice tonal range with equal amounts of high and low key tones.  The composition aspect of Rule of Thirds is present with the people and the roulette table.  I like the pattern and texture which is created by the chips on the table and where the foreground is very focused and the background is blurred.  Lines are also present within this image and guide the eye all around the image.  This is taken at a high angle looking down on the room below.

This image has been taken at a really low angle almost on the floor which has captured these subjects at a really good perspective.  I like the contrast of the subjects against the high key background and the way the perspective has made the people look really big and the building in the background look really small.

A really great image of Marilyn Monroe.

This image of Bob Dylan has been taken with a narrow depth of field which has kept the subject in focus and blurred out the background.  The composition aspect of the Rule of Thirds and lines is present in this image with the path lines and the trees.  I like the pattern and the texture of the cobbles and this is highlighted with reflection because it has been raining.

Books Used

Richard Avedon - Photographs 1946 - 2004

Richard Avedon - Women in the Mirror