In 1944, Richard Avedon began working as an advertising photographer for a department store, but was quickly discovered by Alexey Brodovitch, the art director for the fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar. In 1946, Avedon had set up his own studio and began providing images for magazines including Vogue and Life.
As his reputation as a photographer became widely known, he brought in many famous faces to his studio and photographed them with a large-format 8x10 view camera. His portraits are easily distinguished by their minimalist style, where the person is looking squarely in the camera, posed in front of a sheer white background. He is also distinguished by his large prints, sometimes measuring over three feet in height.
This is a simple, formal photograph of Marilyn Monroe. The depth of field is good as the foreground is well focused on the subject and they background is out of focus. The plain background puts focus on the subject. The black and white aspect makes it seem more stylised and art, whereas colour might have made it look to busy, especially as it the subject is wearing a sparkly dress. As the subject is not looking at the camera it makes her look thoughtful and because the camera is on the same level, and a feeling of equality is established with this superstar.
This photograph is in a way very similar to that of Marilyn Monroe as above. It shares the same characteristics in terms of depth of field but also the plain background denotes almost a studio backdrop. I like the simplicity in the style of the photo combined with the 'complexity' of what is happening in the photograph, the man holding a decapitated snake and is covered in what looks like entrails. The large amounts of white in this photograph do well to contrast the dark skin tone of the snake.
As his reputation as a photographer became widely known, he brought in many famous faces to his studio and photographed them with a large-format 8x10 view camera. His portraits are easily distinguished by their minimalist style, where the person is looking squarely in the camera, posed in front of a sheer white background. He is also distinguished by his large prints, sometimes measuring over three feet in height.
This is a simple, formal photograph of Marilyn Monroe. The depth of field is good as the foreground is well focused on the subject and they background is out of focus. The plain background puts focus on the subject. The black and white aspect makes it seem more stylised and art, whereas colour might have made it look to busy, especially as it the subject is wearing a sparkly dress. As the subject is not looking at the camera it makes her look thoughtful and because the camera is on the same level, and a feeling of equality is established with this superstar.
This photograph is in a way very similar to that of Marilyn Monroe as above. It shares the same characteristics in terms of depth of field but also the plain background denotes almost a studio backdrop. I like the simplicity in the style of the photo combined with the 'complexity' of what is happening in the photograph, the man holding a decapitated snake and is covered in what looks like entrails. The large amounts of white in this photograph do well to contrast the dark skin tone of the snake.
This is different to the previous photographs and is much more striking in comparison. The bold pose struck between the two elephants, combined with the outfit seems to perfectly contrast the lives of oppression lead by the elephants who are chained to the floor. The elegant pose seems to be the opposite of the large, lumbering forms of the elephants. I feel this photo seems to talk about contradiction.
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