Fashion Photographers

Fashion photography is a genre dedicated to the display of clothing and fashion accessories, often conduced for advertisements for fashion magazines and designer brands. What it ultimately sells to the concept of beauty; by simply purchasing the product displayed, you are buying the lifestyle as well. Fashion is an evolving subject that is constantly in a state of flux in accordance to style and recent trends. Additionally, fashion photography has continued to transform. While fashion photography in the past was more focused on clothing and the product, today it is solely about the image and the lifestyle. There are numerous fashion photographers including Mario Testino, Richard Avedon, and various others who have made their mark in photography although style has continued to change. All in all, fashion photography has evolved through the works of these well-known photographers, each having a unique style and influence on the glamorous world of fashion.

Mario Testino was particularly known for utilizing “luxury realism” in order to sell fashion products. Following in his particularly style, he has photographed The Prince of Wales and Prince William and Harry. Testino was born and raised in Lima, Peru and he came to London in order to build his career in fashion photography. In 1997, he published the well-known Vanity Fair cover of the Princess of Wales. Mario Testino was dedicated to making the individuals he photographed look their absolute best. In addition to his work photographing the Princes, he also photographed Prince William and Kate Middleton at their engagement party in 2010. Further, he has completed numerous fashion stories for magazines including Vogue, V, Gucci, and Vanity Fair. Additionally, he has worked with brands including Burberry, Gucci, Versace, Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, and Michael Kors and various others. Testino was known for shooting the royal families, and to this day is regularly employed by these British families since the year of 1997. His iconic work has been featured all throughout the world through different magazines.

One of the most well known American photographers, Richard Avedon, was born in New York City in 1923. As a young boy, he immediately fell in love with fashion, and started his career taking photographs of his father’s clothing store. Avedon describes this child memory stating, “One evening my father and I were walking down Fifth Avenue looking at the store windows. “In front of the Plaza Hotel, I saw a bald man with a camera posing a very beautiful woman against a tree. He lifted his head, adjusted her dress a little bit and took some photographs. Later, I saw the picture in Harper’s Bazaar. I didn’t understand why he’d taken her against that tree until I got to Paris a few years later: the tree in front of the Plaza had that same peeling bark you see all over the Champs-Elysees.” (A+E Television Network, 2012). Avedon worked for Harper’s Bazaar for approximately 20 years, and he later switched to work for Vogue in 1965 until 1990. Avedon was one the greatest photographers of the 20^th century and has photographed almost everyone in the world who he believed was important. Some of the celebrities he photographed include the members of the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy and other notable individuals. In addition, he has photographed political figures including both Hilary Clinton and Toni Morrison. Avedon’s brilliant work is mostly famous for his minimalism to the photograph. In 1992, he became the first staff photographer in history of The New Yorker. It is said that he wanted to photograph people for their accomplishments rather than based on their celebrity status. Currently, there is the Richard Avedon Foundation that launched in 2004, shortly after he past away. The mission of this foundation is to keep his work alive and appreciate Avedon’s work through worldwide exhibitions, libraries and scholarly institutions. Many young and upcoming photographers idolize Avedon for his astonishing work that he has put in to the world. Avedon is a fashion icon photographer who will always be remembered, admired and looked up to as a role model.

Fashion Photographer: David LaChapelle

American commercial photographer David LaChapelle was born on March 11, 1963, notable for his hyper-real photography skills. LaCapelle was born and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, where he admired the public schools for their notable art programs. His interest in art and creative taste was established early on in his life. At the age of nine, his family moved to North Carolina. He was not satisfied in his new home and was frequently bullied by his peers for being gay. By fifteen, he ran away from home and went to New York City where he worked as a busboy. At seventeen, LaChapelle met notorious Andy Warhol, who offered him his first career in photography. Warhol instructed him, “Do whatever you want. Just make sure everyone looks good.”

During this particular time, LaChapelle´s work was reaching a large audience, with images being featured in Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and other notable magazines. Further, LaChapelle is known for photographing different personalities including celebrities Tupac Shakar, Paris Hilton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hilary Clinton and more. In 1995, LaChapelle shot the “Kissing Sailors” advertisement on behalf of Diesel. This was monumental because it was one of the first images to promote homosexuality, while representing the peace that ensued after World War II. After establishing himself within the realm of photography, he expanded his knowledge to the field of film and video. He worked on music videos, theatrical events, and films. By 2006, LaChapelle had a slight change of heart and shifted his focus away from commercial photography to fine art photography. Below is a short clip giving insight to who David LaChapelle is.

On a recent episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians, David LaChapelle was their chosen photographer for their annual Christmas card. From this clip, it is clear that LaChapelle believes that it is his way or the highway. The Kardashian Christmas Card photoshoot was said to have cost approximately $250,000; thus his work comes with a huge cost. Below you will find the Kardashian’s Christmas Card of 2014. He is extremely creative, valuing pop culture and uniqueness for all his celebrity shoots and commercial work.  Today, LaChapelle is living in the jungle of Hawaii, and continues to draw inspiration from his surroundings as well as through understanding pop culture. His work is truly monumental, working within fields of photography, exhibitions, and film, while establishing unique personalities to every piece he creates.

Do you Heart it?

Have you heard of We Heart It? I would like to briefly introduce you to this website I found roughly 4 years ago, as it is interactive and highly visual. When joining we heart it, it gives you the option to sign up utilizing either your Facebook or Twitter account. This is interesting to point out because all your activity done on we heart it can then be linked back to these accounts, making this site highly interactive. When you log onto we heart it, you can search just about anything you would like to see visually. For instance, if you wanted to view pictures of delicious cupcakes, you would search the word and explore what they have to offer. The images below reflect what pops up upon searching “cupcake”:

There are over 10,000 pages of images under the tag “cupcake,” which represents how popular images are in today’s day and age. It seems as if people would much rather view it, than read it, write it, etc. As one can notice, apps including Snap Chat, Instagram, Flickr and various others are becoming very popular. You may be asking, why? It’s simply because the task of the consumer is viewing; it cannot get easier than that.

One of the main reasons I enjoy We Heart It is because it is truly inspirational. For instance, when I am having a bad day, I will type into the search engine words including inspiration, happy, music, colors, food, and a variety of different words that genuinely make me feel happy. Here, I will find a series of images that lift my mood and spirit, and it is all through this image-based social network. Not only can you be the viewer, but you can upload your pictures to this site. Therefore, if you are a photographer, we heart it can be beneficial to get your name out there. This is because we heart it enables you to favorite, or like pictures, and those with the most likes would then be featured under “Most Popular” pictures. Personally, as a dedicated Instagram user and individual who loves photography and unique images, this site inspires me to take better quality shots. Additionally, last semester at the University of Miami, I was required to take an advanced Photo Shop class. Here, we were asked to manipulate a photograph by combining two different images. When I had no idea what I could possibly do, I sat on We Heart It for a short period of time, which was all I needed to find inspiration and a starting point. We Heart It is a great visual site, which enables even amateur photographers to share their images.

We Heart It established a partnership with notable brands including Lucky and Conde Nast, which will further lead them to success. For more information, click here. I would definitely recommend joining we heart it, as it is purely a leisure site that can enhance your photography skills and inspire you on a daily basis.