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

Annie Liebovitz - Life through a Lens Documentary

Last night I watched Annie Leibovitz, Life through a lens documentary about the life of famous photographer Annie Leibovitz.  I really enjoyed this documentary and anyone who has not yet seen it I would definately recommend it.  I had already planned to research Leibovitz because of her collection American Music and the work done whilst touring with the Rolling Stones but after watching this documentary I can say she is probably my favorite famous photographer.

Research - Black and White Photography

Since the beginning black and white images have been amongst the best to inspire and move us. Virtually all of us can appreciate that black and white images hold something very special and an average image shot in colour can almost come alive when converted into black and white. 

To see the world with monochrome vision is quite tricky but its good tip to switch your camera to monochrome and then use the LCD to view the world in black and white.  This way you can view different situations and view them in black and white without having to press the shutter.  It is however, better to shoot the images in colour and convert to black and white later in photoshop as this gives more control over the final image.

Using a Macbeth Chart also allows you to view the different colours in monochrome.

This macbeth chart is showing the colours when converted to black and white the charts vary slightly when different techniques are used such as desaturating and image and using the hue/saturation to convert images.

When shooting in black and white there is no colour to guide the eye around the image so you have to look for shapes, tones, patterns and textures.  Light and shadows also play a very important role as shadows create tone and contrast within the image.   Shapes and lines can also play an interesting role when producing good black and white images.


Filters and Monochrome

• Red : Darkens the sky and foliage making this a good choice for moody landscape images.
• Orange : This filter is similar to the red filter but with a less dramatic effect
• Yellow : Less of an effect than orange.
• Green : Darkens reds and blues and lightens greens and yellows.  This filter is good for portriature as it can improve skin tones.

Optical filters work better than the filters used in photoshop but as I do not have any optical filters as yet I will be using photoshop to use filters if needed.


Research Material Used

The Photographers Eye - Michael Freeman
Photographers Monthy - March Issue
Digital SLR Photography - March Issue