Mentor Project

Assignment #13:

Richard Avedon

A Different View

By: Kaitlyn Smit

                To describe Richard Avedon is a terribly difficult feat.  Born in New York in 1923, he grew up with his parents and his identical twin brother, Frank.  He started as a photographer for the merchant marines in 1942, and eventually was discovered by Alexey Brodovitch.  By 1946, Avedon began providing photos for Vogue and Life magazine and in 1962 he became the chief photographer for Vogue.  Later on he began to branch out to photograph mental patients, the Civil Rights Movement, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.  In 1992, he became the first staff photographer for The New Yorker, and eventually dying of a brain hemorrhage on October 1, 2004.[1]  Avedon's photographs are quite out of the ordinary.  Though they seem to be just normal portraits, they are not even close.  Avedon speaks through his photography and through his subjects to send the viewer a deep, interpersonal message that connects personality, with the negotiation of identity.  His photographs are so phenomenal because they show a side of the subject that only he sees, reveal the subjects true personality, and are non-traditional and non-conventional.

 

                The main aspect of Avedon's photos is that of personality.  Throughout all his photos he captures the essence and the deep personality of the person that is his subject.  Even with his fashion photography, in which the main idea is to showcase the clothes, he captured what no one else did.  He also captured the story of the person through their movements, their actions, and their facial features.  He captures "raw" emotion and personality in his photographs, not afraid to bring light to the inner workings of his subjects.[2]

                "Avedon was always interested in how portraiture captures the personality and soul of its subject."  [3]

                In this photo, we can clearly see the two sides to this person.  One side is the strict, serious, protective way of this person, and the other is the more comedic, perfectionist side that wants to make people smile.   After looking at this photo for a while, one can begin to picture this person smiling and happy.   Avedon captured both sides and it was as if the camera was peering into the soul of the subjects.  He was able to connect to the subjects in such a way, that it is possible to see his own personality through the photographs also.  The photos are able to reveal so much that one can guess what was happening behind the camera and in the minds of not only the subject, but the photographer as well.  He would connect to these people through talking to them and bonding with them throughout the photo shoot.  Through this technique he would get photographs that no one else would and reveal the world through his own eyes. 

                Through many of Avedon's photographs, we see a side of the person that may not be what everyone else perceives them to be, but a deeper, maybe even darker part of them.  This is because of the way he involves himself in the photo and reveals things that only he would see.   He captures the character of each person, flaws and all and these pictures have been compared to mug shots in their untouched honesty.  These famous black and white photos were able to reveal something about the character of well-known, famous public figures that no one knew before.  One of the main ways that Avedon drew out these non-conventional emotions in these people was through asking personal and probing questions that psychologically changed the person's emotions.[4]  In this photo, which is arguably one of the most famous of Avedon's photos, we have Marilyn Monroe.  Everyone knows Marilyn as a sexy, peppy, flirtatious person that has instant charm, but this photo doesn't show that.     

“For hours she danced and sang and flirted and did this thing that’s—she did Marilyn Monroe,” Avedon said later, adding that the white wine helped things along. “Then there was the inevitable drop … she sat in the corner like a child, with everything gone.” And he clicked his shutter once more. “I wouldn’t photograph her without her knowledge of it. And as I came with the camera, I saw that she was not saying no.”[5] 

It was then that Avedon captured the famous photo. Though the happy-go-lucky side of Marilyn Monroe is definitely not a bad thing, and this photo reveals her personality outside of Marilyn. This is evident throughout most of Avedon's photographs.

 This otherworldly, deep, serene, dark portion of people that just sends shivers through the spine and opens up that side of the person to the whole world. Avedon also did this with his documentary photography. He captured the dark side of the world, even when people didn't want to see it. Through his photos of mental patients, he reveals the silent torture that some people go through. He shows things that people might not be comfortable viewing, because it reveals something that is outside 

of their personal comfort bubble. This is what Avedon does. He reveals true character and brings light to things in a way that no one else would. 

Along with revealing of true character, his photos are very non-traditional and non-conventional. Avedon took everything to a different level, but his fashion photography was of a style that no one had seen before. Using his amazing creative mind,

Avedon worked with his models and created photos that were revealing, inspiring, and unusual. This photo is one of my favourites as it is a decisive moment that is fashionable, innovative, and beautiful. 

"He did not conform to standard techniques of fashion photographers."[6]    

He allowed the models to move freely throughout the studio 

and Avedon watched for the perfect opportunity to snap the perfect photo.  Unlike most fashion photographers of that time who created compositions of static, boring, emotionless models, Avedon forced emotional reactions out of his models and rarely captured them standing still.  The most famous of his fashion photography was the photo of Dovima stroking the 

elephants enlightened the fashion world to a new concept of photography.  He took everything to a new level and began to opens people's eyes to the idea of emotion through photography. 

                In conclusion, I have figured 2 things out. 

1.  The photos taken by Richard Avedon are unquestionably deep, personal, non-conventional, and personality-capturing.  His amazing eye and outstanding creativity have captured moments in time that are utterly irreplaceable and magnificently beautiful.

2.  Richard Avedon is nearly impossible to emulate.   

My photograph emulates the style of Avedon because it is different.  Sure it emulates the idea of the subject who looks straight into the camera sitting in front of a white background, but it had a different effect on me than any of my other photos.  This photo is of my family friend, Jan.  I kind of roped him into this impromptu photo shoot, of which he almost happily obliged.  Of course, he had to bring his beer.  With my dad behind the camera, talking to him, and the overall setting really natural, it didn't take long until I got the shot I was hoping for;  a shot with the beer.  Of course, I didn't tell him I wanted a shot with the beer, because as soon as he knew my intentions, the movements would become unnatural.  So my dad and I talked to him, just as Avedon would, and I snapped along as we talked.  My inspiration for this photo was definitely the photo of the old man with the top hat at the top of my essay.  He has such a way about him, and the top hat is what inspired me to include small, unintentional props in my photos that would increase the display of personality.  Just like Avedon. 

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Avedon

[2] http://blog.salonbuzz.com/?p=1289

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Avedon

[4] http://seabastian.hubpages.com/hub/Legendary-Photographer-Richard-Avedon

[5] http://nymag.com/news/features/31523/

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Avedon