Richard Avedon

"Avedon was known for his ability to lay bare the souls of his subjects, often photographing them against totally white or otherwise stark backgrounds."

After watching a documentary on famous fashion photographer and artist Richard Avedon in class last week, I feel inspired. His work was incredible.

He shot amazing fashion photography. Bringing in the concept of movement, his models are frequently seen leaping about, dancing for the camera, flying off the page. The motion captured is exquisite. There is such stunning sharp contrast in the black and white photographs. They are each a work of art in and of themselves. Hair and dresses take on a life of their own as Avedon caught their movement. He says it was all like a game, you had to anticipate every movement. By the time the movement had happened, it was too late to capture it. You had to guess when and where things would happen, and then snap away.

Not only did Avedon bring new life and meaning to fashion photography, but he took the most incredible portraits I've ever seen. They were beautiful, yes, but not only that. They were stark, frightening, saddening, soul-bearing, stunning, gorgeous, and so very real. His portraits were shot against white backgrounds, no props, nothing to take away from the person he was photographing.

He sought to capture in his photo the truest form of that person. People who were showy or generally extroverted, he found their quiet, shy, introverted self and captured that moment of vulnerability.


Vulnerability. I think that's the element that his portraits had that made them so unique, so gorgeous in their own right, so impossible to duplicate. He didn't just bring someone in and take a few photos of them that made them look beautiful and glamorous. He got to know them. Some people he covertly watched before shooting them. He knew what they liked and disliked, he knew the personality they showed to the public, and that let him figure out the vulnerable and hidden side.

His portraits show so much emotion, so much joy or grief, passion or boredom, quiet or exuberance. They are very real. The shots were often quite close to the subject's face, showing wrinkles and scars and imperfections, the things that make a person beautifully unique.


Avedon took the most stunning portraits I have ever seen. His work is very inspirational. I want to shoot more portraits now, and pursue my love of focusing closely on one part of the body, especially the face. His trait of capturing the soul of a person in his photograph is something I want to study and learn to replicate in some way. To achieve his level of greatness and skill seems impossible, but one can always work towards an impossible goal. It may never be reached, but at least one will get better by trying.

 
( http://www.richardavedon.com/#p=-1&a=-1&at=-1 )