Digital Image Production: Fashion Photographers

Digital Image Production: Fashion

 Photographers

Cecil Beaton:

Beaton had a strong interest of photography from a young boy and later on in life enrolled at the University Cambridge’s St. John College (1992) devoting his time to photography and theatre design. Breton sent photos of to editors and was eventually hired as a staff photographer for ‘Vanity Fair’ and ‘Vogue’, he was said to develop a unique style of posing model with unusual backgrounds. In 1930 his published his first book of work called ‘The Book of Beauty’ which became to grow his fame of photography which leads to later being the photographer at the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s wedding (1937). He also recorded events of the ‘Second World War’ in photography producing famous images for the ‘Life Magazine’. Then photographed the rich and famous after the war while also carrying on another love of costume and set design leading to Tony awards for his costume work for ‘My Fair Lady’(1957) and Coco (1970) and an Oscar for ‘Gigi’ (1958).

Erwin Blumenfeld:

Erwin’s best work was in the fashion industry between the 1940’s and 50’s he was known for involving fine art within his photography and is described as the most influential photographer in the 20^th century. He started his career in 1913 doing an apprenticeship with ‘sclochauer’ and ‘Moses’ and later on went to open his own store specializing in handbags. In 1936, his store when bankrupt and he went on to create portraits of people who came from the art world and then was introduced with a contract with ‘Vogue’ in France after being recognised by Cecil Beaton. After many years Erwin had worked for Bazaar as a freelancer for ‘Vogue’ America and for the next fifthteen years his work was published on the covers. By the 1950’s he was reported as the highest paid photographer in the world and then went to creating films for advertising his cosmetic products. Years before his death Erwin produced a book called ‘My One Hundred Best Photo’ and contained fashion photos and other photographs of different subjects.

Richard Avedon:
He was best known for his work in fashion and his minimalist portraits; he worked in fashion photography shooting for ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ and ‘Vogue’. He always wanted to have his models show deep emotion and movement which was quite different from that time of productions as they would usually motionless in fashion photography. His was inspired by fashion from his parent’s clothing business and enjoying photographing the clothes. Later in life after deciding to drop out of University he joined the ‘United States Merchant Marine’ during the second world war to photograph the portraits of sailors he did this for two years. Soon after attending a school for social research in New York City to study photography which he was later acclaimed as the art director for ‘Harper’s Bazaar’. After several years photographing in Paris in 1995, he was known as one of the most talented young fashion photographers in his line of work and made one of the iconic shoots called ‘Dovima with Elephants’ featuring a very famous model of our time wearing a black Dior evening gown. He was also well renowned for his black and white portraits which captured the essential and vulnerability in larger than life characters e.g. ‘President Dwight D. Eisenhower’ etc which he worked for, for 20 years. Later going to work for ‘Vogue’ he pushed the boundaries of fashion photography creating very provocative, surreal and controversial images including nudity etc. He went on to do this for many years and other gallery work and passed away at the age of 81.

David Bailey:
David Bailey was a photographer for ‘British Vogue’ from the 1960’s photographing fashion pieces and celebrities portraits. He was most well known for his stark backgrounds and dramatic lighting effects in his work which transformed British fashion and celebrity photography. His work mainly reflects his time of production (1960’s) of British cultural trends of breaking down barriers by injecting a ‘punk’ look into his work, both clothing and artistic products.

Helmut Newton:

Newton was a famous fashion photographer reinvented fashion photography by trend setting his main body of work. In his early days of photography after dropping out of school he took up a job with a famous fashion photographer Else Simon but this lead to a very quick end as he had to leave the country and to Singapore due to his family being Jewish at that time. After having to serve the army for five years and now being a free man started a photography studio with fashion and built himself up a very good reputation which eventually gave him the opportunity with the ‘French Vogue’, where he gained international fame from his work. His unique style to his work consists of sensual and visually arresting shots of women with great eye for detail.

Herb Ritts:

Herb started his career in the 70’s and his work was based on the idea of art and commercial photography. He produced portraits and editorial fashion for the likes of ‘Vogue’, ‘Vanity Fair’, ‘Interview’ and ‘Rolling Stone’, Herb also did successful advertising campaigns e.g. ‘Calvin Klein’. In 1988 he directed a lot of award winning music video and commercials, plus most of his fine art photography has been put in exhibitions worldwide. In his work it would include clean lines and strong forms which would often try and challenge conventional opinions on gender and race.

Guy Bourdin:

Guy started in photography when he was serving in the military (1948) and given training in photography in the Air Force of France, then later return to Paris then meeting Man Ray to become his trainee. He had his first exhibition in ‘Rue de la Bourgogne’ at ‘Galerie’. In 1955, his first fashion photos were featured in ‘Paris Vogue’ and he continued to work for them until 1987. Which later in life he went to work for Charles Jordan photographing shoe design and at the second half of the 1900’s he was one of the most recognized fashion and commercial photographers, his style exceeded the boundaries of traditional advertising.

Rankin:

Rankin first took up photography at Barnfeild College in Luton and then London College of printing. He later met ‘Jefferson Hack’ which the two decided to start up a magazine together called ‘Dazed and confused’ when they graduated. In 2000, he did set up his own magazine ‘RANK’ and some others also but as well doing charitable organisations like ‘Women’s Aid’ providing photographs. In 2002, Rankin was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society and in 2009 broadcast a documentary called ‘Seven Photographs that Changed Fashion’ on BBC 4 which created tributes to the iconic fashion images and photography.  

By Amelia Richmond-Knight