Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon was one of the worlds leading portrait and fashion photographers up until his death in 2004, and still holds an iconic place in the photography world. Avedon's well known portrait work was so successful because of how character revealing they were about his subjects and also very minimalistic. His famous large scale portraits were nothing like the normal portrait's at the time because of what they revealed about the people in them. The simple white background meant that Avedon's subjects would stand out with no distractions or other context in the image, focusing the audience on what their expression is, what they are wearing and even what objects are in the photographs.

Avedon is argued to be the most influential fashion and portrait photographers of his time. His trademark style meant that no one else produced photographs like him, making him different and leading to a long successful career. His subjects are always standing up in his images, always facing towards the camera. The fact that his portraits just simply focused on the subjects, concentrates on the emotion the subjects bring, composing them to be very humane and compassionate, showing the human form in that instant when the photograph was taking, presenting the emotion the individuals in the image were feeling at that second. In the same as any other portraits, they always have the same outcome, but what makes Avedon's portraits so different is that he thought that portraits were pointless and ineffective unless they had a story behind them and presented a narrative, capturing his subjects showing something about themselves that would be apparent in the photograph. 

Richard's fashion work was also hugely influential in the twentieth century. He worked with Harpers Bazaar magazine and Vogue at different stages throughout his career, creating a different way of capturing and pressing fashion photography that was like no other from the beginning of his career. Avedon would have his models posing different to what was the norm of simple, still and lifeless shots that were generally filling up the fashion magazine. He would create images that were full of movement and excitement. His fashion photography was sometimes seen as quite controversial as he included nudity, violence and death, which also separated him from the "norm". He has separated and expanded portrait and fashion photography, which has created such a legacy of his work and an influential mark in the photography industry. Presenting his subjects in their true form, capturing and presenting something about them that shines through the photographs.