Iconic Photographers

  

Richard Avedon

References: 
Richard Avedon Darkness and light documentary
Photographs taken from Richard Avedon Book called Performance: Bridget Bardot and two unknown models
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O82823/carmen-homage-to-munkacsi-coat-photograph-avedon-richard/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1f3egvLwVE
http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/articles/2014/october/01/photos-that-changed-the-world-4-dovima/

His madness and energy used on set changed photography. When he was a young man he felt out of control, unsure of women he wanted to become in touch with everything inside of him and he believed photography gave him that control in able to deal with hidden problems that he couldn't deal with without the use of his camera.
It became his shield to protect him of things that scared him, especially when his father passed away and his sister Louise who was his first model he took pictures of got sectioned to a mental institute, he would then find models who would resemble his sister, which you can see in many of his photos.

Richard Avedon enjoyed to break rules, he would jump around on set, become alive and totally out of control, he also he wanted his photographs to be controversial unlike others ever taken before. He was very unique with his approach to photography, he didn't want to photograph a model next to a pillar, he wanted to be a creator and artistic flair which shows among his work.
He was influenced by athletic women, open free sexuality, no limits involved within his work, he was raw and a totally charming individual, he would evolve into a energised, artistic creator when he was behind a camera.
It was the way he worked that changed fashion photography, to the way he danced whilst taking pictures, his energy was liberating and in order of this madness was captured which changed the world of photography.

His photos over many years have remained iconic due to the way he takes pictures, they make you think about the people and what is going through their mind or they really create stories. He wanted his photos to be kept alive, he would photograph celebrities where you would see their glamour but also the dark side of their inner terrors.

He would go out his way to photograph people that would soon be forgotten in time for example: people in mental hospitals, different cultures in countries. A majority of his photos lacked compassion, realism and raw footage of real life situations was his thing.
He loved constant movement in his photos as this would add surprise to his photos, he would become fascinated with how the photographs would turn out, he loved the element of surprise, which makes his photographs so interesting and iconic. This all shows how he stood out among the rest and why he became so famous for his passion of photography.

He was a genius of his work, he has gone on to inspire many photographers and people among the fashion industry, he is a legend of his art.

Quote from azquotes.com: "To be an artist, you have to nurture the things that most people discard"

This shows he thinks about the hidden beauty and interest that other people or situations that other people wouldn't think twice about and I love this quote because it shows he looks beyond others, this creates his individuality. What an incredible photographer. Heres some images which I really love, which really captures, the realism and action with iconicness and also reflects him as an artistic photographer.

The Iconic famous photographs: 
Homage to Munkacsi Carmen Coat, place Francois- Premier Paris 1957
Dovima with the elephants 1955

  

David Bailey

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_-s7JU0b98

Mark Lawson talks to David Bailey interview youtube documentary

David Bailey: Chasing Rainbows Book

http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/picture-galleries/2010/april/13/david-bailey-look/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fash-track/david-bailey-jean-shrimpton-well-take-manhattan-258340 David Bailey with Jean Shrimpton

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10604874/David-Bailey-Ive-never-understood-why-people-like-Jean-Shrimpton-and-Kate-Moss-so-much.html

One of the most iconic photographs of all time of Jean Shrimpton, a former partner of David Baileys

David Bailey is a well known British, 'proper' londener photographer from East london, full of flair, he is a charming, witty, energetic man in person and more so behind his art of photography, with a real likely personality. He changed fashion photography by breaking down the rigid barriers of fashion by inserting 'punk' image and rawness in his photography.

He grew up at the end of world war II and would watch a lot of shows as he says it was cheaper then filling up gas in the car, so he would go to the local theatre which he enjoyed.

He was influenced by Cet Baker an American jazz trumpeter, Bailey wanted to look like him and be like him so David grabbed a camera and took pictures of himself with a hat on like him, it then grew from there. 

Over his career he has photographed gangsters, models, celebrities, he's worked as a freelancer with British Vogue and photographed many models e.g. Kate Moss, Penelope Tree, Twiggy and one iconic model was Jean Shrimpton who he was once engaged to where they met on set in the 1960's at a photoshoot, she then becomes very popular through his photographs as his career evolves. 

During his photography shoots he likes to keep moving during photo shoots to keep both him and the model engage in the moment so the model doesn't get bored. His photography at the beginning and still now represent both a reaction against the perceived 'slickness' of the fashion world. 

David Bailey is know for his charm and authority during his photo shoots, he's assertive and shows his passion for his job, he is also very critical of his own work and says how hard work it's been being a photographer. He always carries a camera with him, as he says you never know what you're going to see and you don't want to miss anything. 

He wanted to capture pure esscense, envolve artisticness in his photos in order to tell a story through his photographs, 

He doesn't compare himself to any or any iconic photographers and reinforces that no one knows what he does, he believes he takes images and it's all about the person behind the camera that reflects in a photographers work. He's a true real, raw, original photographer which makes me stand out, he says photography is an art not just a skill and it really shows in photography amongst other photographers. 

Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton

   

References: Face to Face Cecil Beaton documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J35K76URp4g

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/20041/cecil-beaton-portraits.php model: Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monore 1956

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20877

http://www.monicarichkosann.com/blog/columns/iconic-image-audrey-hepburn-by-cecil-beaton/ model: Audrey Hepburn

He was a well spoken, iconic, witty, war photographer but as well as a iconic photographer he was famous for his set designs and being a costumer designer, he was responsible for the my fair lady costume design work which was award winning and this took his career off. His work was early masters of the art, he wanted to make pictures with the camera, making them look artistic, he was known for posing sitters with quirky backgrounds, he

set the standard within the 1930's and created a fantasy/ dream world within the industry. He brings wit, charm and uniqueness to his photo's and his passion for theatre reflects in his work. 

He became fascinated and loved postcards of ladies which came with the newspaper back when he was younger and first started out, he received his first camera at 11 years old which was a simple 12 Kodak 3a camera and this started he flair for photography. He then really devoted and put all his time into photography and theatre. He was really influenced by the art of theatre, and incorporating his fantasy world into set designs, costumes and photography for people to really engage in his work and talent. 

He has worked for Vogue, Vanity Fair and photographed the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Widsor in 1937 and photographed Queen Elizabeth in 1939, he became close with the Royal family; he released a series of Diaries that showed his relationships with Royalty and Celebrities; he then was knighted by the Queen Elizabeth II in 1972. 

He took a shot in every direction within the industry e.g. costume designer, set design, theatre and photography; he can't call himself one or the other as he was drawn all and involved all in his work. He would swap between professions within the industry to keep him interested, which he enjoyed to keep it original and for him to gather ideas for his next project. 

He is another photographer who he says 'He's tremendously critical about his work'', he says his work always falls short of perfection. 

Annie Leibovitz

References:
http://blog.uniquephoto.com/photographer-extraordinaire-annie-leibovitz/
http://blog.lulus.com/tag/annie-leibovitz/
http://blog.uniquephoto.com/photographer-extraordinaire-annie-leibovitz/
http://entertainment.ie/celebrity-gossip/Vogue-release-more-Annie-Leibovitz-photos-of-Kim-Kanye-and-baby-North-in-her-birthday-suit/248274.htm
Kayne West and Kim Kardashian West

She was born in 1949, in 1970 she took a job working at Rolling Stone Magazine, she originally studied and was into painting before she began her career as a photographer. She worked for Rolling Stone for many years, becoming chef photographer, after her time at Rolling Stone she became a photographer at the entertainment magazine Vanity Fair.

She is an American portrait photographers who was inspired my Richard Avedon, he was a powerful input in her work. She worked with Rolling Stone magazine, she took a photograph of John Lennon for the cover the day he was shot. She has worked with many top end celebrities from the queen to Kate Moss and Johnny Depp. She has worked on many Vogue shoots for covers and Vanity Fair where she took the cover of Catilyn Jenner which was a huge impact, inspiring shoot for other transgenders.
Her work is fierce, use of darker shades of colour and very fascinating to the eye.

Demi Moore

Annie shot this famous photograph of Kayne and Kim West in Vogue

Helmut Newton

References: http://famous-photographers.com/helmut-newton/

http://www.hamiltonsgallery.com/artists/37-helmut-newton/biography/
http://fadedandblurred.com/spotlight/helmut-newton
Book: Ages from the Glossies- June Newton 

Helmut Newton was born 31^st October 1920 in Germany into a Jewish family, he’d always been interested in photography as far as he knows, he says "I just take pictures" and purchased his first camera aged 12 which was a Kodak Brownie; with dreams of traveling around the world as a photojournalist. At age 16 Newton started a apprenticeship as a photographer, his mother wanted him to have a trade and something that he loved doing; at this age he learned to properly use a camera.



He then started working as a photographer in 1936 with a German photographer Elsie Neulander Simon; his family escaped to South America in escape of the Nazi’s and Newton fled to Singapore. Aged 18 he started working at Straits Times as a photographer in Singapore where they ended up during this time, he then went on and he was shipped to Australia where he worked picking fruit in Victoria, but released in 1942. He opened up a fashion and theatre photography in a studio in Melbourne, Flinders Lane where he had his first exhibition.

His reputation grew among Australia and he was given commission for a show case with Vogue in Australia, this was a great break through. He then went onto Britain where he worked for Vogue also, with a 12 month contract in 1957. Newton left during the contract which was broken and went to Paris to settle as a photographer, he was attracted to the fashion and presence of Paris, where he continued to work for both French and German magazines, including Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

 His work was seen as erotic, stylish and photographs that show inflicting of mental and physical suffering of another person, a lot of his photographs were loved or highly criticised by feminists due to the nature of some of his work. He used a lot of nude, action and highly controversial creations within his photographs, he was original and pushed boundaries which he enjoyed, and he took risks. Newton was "King of Kink" his work straddled between art and pornography, he was loved and was highly influential to many people such as Anna Wintour the Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue who quoted "He loves to be outrageous" and calls him "Unbelievably influential".  

His work is shocking and stunning and nauseating but it all still gave a feel of glamour.

Rankin

References:
http://rankin.co.uk/biography/
http://fadedandblurred.com/spotlight/rankin/
Images: http://www.justthedesign.com/rankin-aka-john-rankin-waddell-photographer/
Models:Heidi Klum, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Miley Cyrus.

John Rankin Waddell is a British portrait and fashion photographer, he quotes "I see the person not the photographer", he made himself in publishing, founding the magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1992. His work features in some of the worlds most celebrated publications including- Nike, Pantene, Dove, he has shot covers for Elle, German Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Rolling Stone etc.
He is known for his charm, cheeky and playful sense of
humour when photographing, he is known for portraits of bands, artists, supermodels such as Kate Moss, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and politicians. He has photographed everyone from the Queen to the Queen of pop.

“There’s a time when people say your work is revolutionary, but you have to keep being revolutionary. I can’t keep shooting pop stars all my life. You have to keep changing, keep pushing yourself, looking for the new, the unusual.” – Rankin

Rankin is always looking for inspiration since being a photographer and looking into their work for inspiration for technique and style.He appears to be a genius at what he does, with his perfect lighting and really sees the person and captures there personality in each of his shots. He realises the beauty that surrounds him is 'not' real. He says "Photographers are fabrication, all the hair and make-up and styling is a kind of fantasy in how the photographer sees the person" 

Rankin was 21 when he almost graduated with an accounting degree when he dropped out realising his real dream was with photography, so he then enrolled into the London college of printing to study photography; he then decided to start a campus magazine trying to get volunteers to help which is where he met his partner Jefferson Hack, everyone was talking about their work and his career lifted off even though he did not graduate, but established such an impression on people with his incredible work. After his time at the college himself and Jefferson launched their work to the public as Dazed & Confused in 1992 and rest is history, he is now one of the most talked about, iconic photographers today. 

Erwin Blumenfield 

References: http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/picture-galleries/2010/august/17/fashion-photography-erwin-blumenfeld/- Images of Erwin Blumenfield and Paris photograph 

Magazine article: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/tamsin-blanchard/TMG10062375/The-extraordinary-story-of-Erwin-Blumenfeld.html

http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/picture-galleries/2010/august/17/fashion-photography-erwin-blumenfeld/?idx=8&idx=8- Image of Audrey Hepburn in 1952 in New York, wearing a hat designed by Blumenfield, the iconic images of repetition.  

Image of Vogue front cover: http://www.atissuejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/vogue_1950.jpg

He was born in Germany, Berlin in 1897, he was born into a middle-class Jewish family; after fleeting Germany in the late 40's to start a life in America. He became the highest paid fashion photographer in the world at this time, working on famous magazines such as USA Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Cosmopolitan. 

Blumenfield was given his first camera at age 10 by his uncle Carl (Nine by 12 Camera with an ultra rapid anastigmatic lens, ground glass screen, red rubber bulb, metal plate & tripod). Throughout his photography career he pushed boundaries beyond belief and created art in his photographs and in his life. 

He got involved with Dada movement in 1921 producing a series of remarkable collages; his career almost started by accident when he opened a shop selling luxury leather goods, which he would photograph and behind a closed wall he found a fully equipped photography studio, then he really got into his work.

He was highly driven by art and created this in every piece of his work, he has work that was published in Vogue and Harpers Bazaar, he was hugely loved and iconic of his time, the best at what he did. His early black and white nudes are widely considered to be among his best work, even though his colour fashion photography, combined with technique in the dark room and experimenting with a lot of imagery and combining positive and negative images with great sense of art and style made him the rich and famous Erwin Blumenfield. 

The iconic photograph taken in Paris, The Effiel Tower in 1939, the May Vogue in 1939 

The very famous Vogue front cover of 1950 taken by Erwin Blumenfield 

Herb Ritts

References:

http://www.herbritts.com/- Quotation with Model Madonna 

http://www.out.com/entertainment/books/2010/09/23/herb-ritts-puttin-ritts- Himself 

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/us/herb-ritts-photographer-of-celebrities-is-dead-at-50.html?pagewanted=1- Quotation from the New York times article

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/dec/28/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist/2007/04/breaking_herb_r.html

http://fashographyscans.com/post/113254113282/year-1978-models-richard-gere-photographer-herb- Richard Gere 1978

https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2015/03/18/the-mfa-doubles-down-with-herb-ritts/LJCT1WDSKNk4MMKIZ7GPqI/story.html- Madonna Tokyo 19

He was an American fashion photographer, who wanted to always master his art with strong form and clean lines,
''His purpose was always to make you look good,'' Mr. Gere said yesterday. ''He had an extremely elegant aesthetic. Some photographers are working so hard to be elegant that they pummel you with it, but to Herb it came effortlessly.
He turned the Glamourous photography into detailed art of the celebrity world, he was highly influenced by art and wanted to incorporate this into his images.
Herb Ritts, took a degree in Economics and also studied Art History, soon after this he went back to Hollywood to work for his families business in selling props to movie sets etc. He was born into money and growing up wasn't a struggle, he had a great family upbringing. He also came out and told his parents he was gay in college, his mother was proud and accepted whatever made him happy.
Whilst he was working at the business he took a black and white photography course, this is where his career all began; especially when him and his friend Richard Gere were hitting the road being young and free, they got a puncture, Gere changed the tyre at a garage, in the mean time Ritts took photo shots of Gere in a sweaty singlet, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth in the Desert.




It was within the year that he became a well known photographer, the photo became such a hit, it progressed further within the photography world. He has worked for Harpers Bazaar, Vogue, GQ magazines and worked for high end top models such as Naomi Campbell and celebrities such as Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson. He has a reputation of master of the art and commerical photography. He also worked in campaigns such as Levi's, Calvin Klein and Chanel; he has produced portraits for Vogue, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.




He captured social history and fantasy in his photographs, he is a legend of photography, a highly effortless photographer. He Died aged 50 of previously being diagnosed of AIDS, he has a charity foundation which goes onto to support people with the same condition.