When asked who we view as inspirational, great, some one we view as a mentor, my mind nearly immediately jumped to one person. Richard Avedon. His photos are brilliant, beautiful, thought provoking and sometimes controversial, but always at the same time. He was the photographer who brought movement and life into the world of fashion, and quickly made his way from I.D. Photographer to selling pictures to Vogue & Life Magazine in a matter of 5 years. People everywhere craved to have their photo taken by this artistic genius, many of these people being high profile socialites and celebrities of the time. His work is beautiful. I cannot think of a better way to describe it. The only way to truly understand Richard's work is to see it for yourself.
Born in New York to a Jewish-Russian family, Avedon went to school and always had an interest in photography. His talent was quickly recognized at the start of his career, and never went unappreciated. Although Richard has many other bodies of work available to view, my favorite pictures from him are all portraits. I so admire the way he was able to not only capture an image of a person, but embody the entire essence of his subject with the simple click of a button. He had a very keen sense for who people truly were, and it was this almost sixth sense that helped him bring out whatever it was that he saw in people, and lay it out there in black and white (no pun intended). It's easy for me to convey who I know my friends are in a picture, which is what I strived to do during the studio lighting unit. I know the people I was photographing very well, as I am with them all day, 5 - 7 days a week. Avedon however, did not always know his subject. Infact, he rarely new many of his subjects on a very personal level. What astonishes me most, is what we see in the famous Marilyn Monroe photo (left). Despite her Hollywood image of being a total happy-go-lucky, flawless blonde bombshell Richard saw more than that in her. He recognized the inner turmoil Marilyn was experiencing and managed to capture that on film - far from the usual when photographers photographed Ms. Monroe. It was almost as if he could see into her soul.. FREAKY! (BUT GREAT!)
The photo I took (top right) us of my friend Theo. I once more dragged him into the studio as I attempted to "Avedon" it up. This included me trying ridiculous things, such as trying to distract Theo, grilling him with questions and requiring him to have conversations with me all while trying to capture that "moment" that would embody something more. Clearly, none of that worked. The way I got this picture was by stepping back and letting Theo be natural. The second I just "Just do whatever you would like!" this is what he gave me. Theo has to be one of the sweetest humans I know, and I very much admire how informatively blissful he can stay. By that I mean, he always has such a positive, yet realistic outlook on things. Never ignorant, never (overly) pessimistic. Just logical and happy - and not to mention a little goofy. I believe this photo captures this of Theo.
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