Richard Avedon
Vogue (1967)
Helmut Newton
Vogue (1977)
Compare the life and work of two fashion photographers that worked during the same period. What was different about their work? What was the same?
This is the question i will be looking at in my article. I have picked two fashion photographers Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton.
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) an american photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that “his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America’s image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century.”
Born in new york to a jewish/russian family. He attended school in the Bronx, he worked at the school paper. He then went on to Columbia University. He was a photographer for the merchant marines in 1942 taking I.D photographs with his Rolleiflex camera which was given to him as a going away present from his father.
In 1944 he began work as an advertising photographer for a department store, but was quickly discovered by the director for fashion from harpars bazarr.
In 1946 he set up his own studio and began taking photographs for magazines such as vogue and life. He soon became chief photographer at harpar’s bazarr. Avedon didn’t like to conform to the normal restraints of fashion photography and preferred to show his models showing emotion within his images such as: laughing, smiling or doing actions within the images.
In 1966 Avedon left harpar’s bazarr to work as staff photographer at vogue magazine. He then became lead photographer at vogue and photographed most of the covers from that magazine until 1973. He worked with numerous fashion labels taking images of them such as calvin klein and versace.
Avedon continued his fashion photography but decided to branch out slightly and took images of protestors and patients within mental asylums. He also took two famous portraits of the beatles taken mid to late 1967. He also shot images of the electric light orchestra in 1973.
In 1979 avedon worked on a 6 year project taking portrait photographs of 125 people in the american west which was commissioned by magnum.
Avedon became the first staff photographer at the new yorker in 1992. He won many awards for his photography including he International Center of Photography Master of Photography Award in 1993, the Prix Nadar in 1994 for his photo book Evidence, and the Royal Photographic Society 150th Anniversary Medal in 2003.
Avedon had numerous museum exhibitions around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Personal life of Avedon
In 1944, Avedon married Dorcas Marie Nowell (1925—2011); she became the model and actress Doe Avedon; they divorced after five years of marriage.
In 1951, he married Evelyn Franklin; she died on March 13, 2004. Their marriage produced one son, John Avedon.
Martial arts movie star Loren Avedon is the nephew of Richard Avedon.
On October 1, 2004, Avedon died of a brain hemorrhage in San Antonio, Texas, while shooting an assignment for The New Yorker. At the time of his death, he was also working on a new project titled Democracy to focus on the run-up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
Avedon is survived by his son John, and his four grandchildren William, Matthew, Michael and Caroline.
Famous photographs
- Marella Agnelli, Italian socialite, 1953
- Carmen Mayrink Veiga, Brazilian socialite (Vogue’s 10 best dressed), 1970
- Dovima with Elephants, 1955
- Marilyn Monroe, actress, 1957
- Homage to Munkacsi, Carmen, coat by Cardin, Paris 1957
- Christina Bellin, model, 1962
- Dwight David Eisenhower, President of the United States, 1964
- The Beatles, 1967
- Andy Warhol and Members of the Factory, New York 1969
- Sly Stone (cover of Fresh Album), 1973
- Asha Puthli (She Loves to Hear the Music Album back cover), 1974
- Ronald Fischer, beekeeper, 1981
- Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, 1981
- Pile of beautiful people, Versace campaign 1982.
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter (October 31, 1920 – January 23, 2004)
He was a “prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications.
Newton was born in Berlin. The son of Claire & Max Neustadter, a button factory owner. His family was jewish.
Newton attended the Heinrich-von-Treitschke-Realgymnasium and the American School in Berlin. He was interested in photography from the age of 12 when he bought his first camera, he worked for the german photographer Yva from 1936. The oppressive restrictions put on jews by the nuremberg laws meant that his father lost control of the factory he owned and he was briefly interned in a concentration camp on ‘Kristallnacht,’ November 9, 1938, which finally compelled the family to leave Germany.
Newton’s parents fled to South America. He was given a passport just after turning 18, and left Germany on December 5, 1938. At Trieste he boarded the ‘Conte Rosso’ (along with about 200 others escaping the Nazis) intending to journey to China. After arriving in Singapore he found he was able to remain there, briefly as a photographer for the Straits Times and then as a portrait photographer.
Whilst in singapore the british authorities sent him to Australia on board the Queen Mary, he arrived in sydney on september 27, 1940. Internees travelled to the camp of Tatura, Victoria by train under armed guard. He was released from internment in 1942, and briefly worked as a fruit picker in northern Victoria.
In April 1942, he enlisted with the Australian Army and worked as a truck driver. After the war in 1945, he became an Australian citizen and changed his name to Newton in 1946. In 1948, he married actress June Browne, who performed under the stage name June Brunell. She later became a successful photographer under the ironic pseudonym Alice Springs (after Alice Springs, the central Australian town).
In 1946, Newton set up a studio in fashionable Flinders Lane and worked on fashion and theater photography in the affluent post-war years. He shared his first joint exhibition in May 1953 with another former german refugee.
Newton went into partnership with Henry Talbot, a fellow German Jew who had also been interned at Tatura, and his association with the studio continued even after 1957, when he left Australia for London. The studio was renamed ‘Helmut Newton and Henry Talbot’.
Newtons reputation as a fashion photographer was rewarded when he secured himself a commission to illustrate fashions in a special australian supplement for vogue magazine, published in january 1956. He won a 12 month contract with british vogue and left for london in February 1957. Newton left the magazine before the end of his contract and went to paris. Where he worked for french and german magazines.
He returhed to Melbourne in march 1959 for a contract with australian vogue.
Newton settled in paris in 1961 and continued his work as a fashion photographer. His worked featured in vogue and harpar’s bazarr. A heart attack in 1970 slowed Newton’s output, but his notoriety continued to increase.Newton shot a number of pictorials for Playboy.
Newton was fond of his hometown of Berlin, and in October 2003 he donated an extensive photo collection to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, establishing the Helmut Newton Foundation. The foundation’s mission is the conservation, protection and presentation of the oeuvre of Helmut Newton and Alice Springs.
In his later life, Newton lived in both Monte Carlo and Los Angeles. He was in an accident on January 23, 2004, when his car sped out of control and hit a wall in the driveway of the Chateau Marmont which had for several years served as his residence in Southern California. He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His ashes are buried next to Marlene Dietrich at theStädtischer Friedhof III in Berlin.
Published works
- Marshall Blonsky & Helmut Newton, Private Property, Schirmer Art Books, 1989
- Guy Featherstone, ‘Helmut Newton’s Australian years’, in The La Trobe Journal, The State Library of Victoria Foundation, No 76, Spring, 2005
- Klaus Honnef & Helmut Newton, Helmut Newton: Portraits, Schirmer Art Books, 1986
- Klaus Neumann, ‘In the Interest of National Security: Civilian Internment in Australia during World War II’, Canberra: National Archives of Australia, 2006.
- Helmut Newton, White Women, New York: Congreve, 1976
- Helmut Newton, Sleepless Nights, New York: Congreve, 1978
- Helmut Newton, Big Nudes, Paris: Editions du Regard, 1981
- Helmut Newton, They’re Coming!Paris: French Vogue 1981
- Helmut Newton, World Without Men, New York: Xavier Moreau, 1984
- Helmut Newton & June Newton, Helmut Newton Work, edited by Manfred Heiting, Taschen, 2000
- Helmut Newton, Sumo, Taschen, 2000
- Helmut Newton, Autobiography, Nan A. Talese, 2003
- Helmut Newton, A Gun for Hire, edited by June Newton, Taschen, 2005
- Helmut Newton, Playboy:Helmut Newton, Chronicle Books (2005
Reflection: This week I will be starting my case study research which i will be using for the article i’m planning on writing over the christmas break. As we have no workshop this week i am going to hand in my visual communications images for Honey and have handed in my list article this week I will also be handing in my curation task on tuesday when i’ve finished off the second part of the curation and have added it to my blog and my storify page. I have handed in the links to my blog for the list article and my reflections.
Week One of the Curation task screen shots:
Week Two curation screen shot:
Reflection: I wasn’t in this session but have read on the wiki and have had an email reply from Karl that we were continuing with work on our own assignments throughout this lecture. I have finished and completed my list article for Karl and have done the research for that I will also be uploading my finished lighting images onto the blog this week so the only assignment left i have to finish for Karl is the Case Study, Blog & Curation task. I have half finished my curation task which i feel is going well at the moment which i started last week and will finish this week. I feel that the curation task itself has being going well and i enjoyed writing my list article. I will be starting my case study research next week and will finish that assignment over the Christmas break.
Reflection: Today in the session Karl walked us through how our list article structure within wordpress would have to be altered from the original structure as to how he wanted it uploading onto our word press blogs. We looked at the structure and how it could be changed so it would work with word presses new slideshow options and how we could add our captions without them being cut short by word press. I altered my list article that I had finished to this structure so it was complete.
Reflection: In todays session we have been looking at how to create a case study and what we need to include in our own case studies we will be doing for Karl. We were set the task in our workshop to make up headlines on the subjects we’d be given for our case study. Fashion, portrait photography and advertising. It was harder than i thought it would be to come up with ideas for headlines for each of these topic areas. I will be using one of the headlines i come up with as my final idea for my case study which i will then need to research. We also were told the structure of the case study which i’ve included at the end of this blog post. I think i will either choose the subject of portrait images or fashion photography for my case study.
Ideas:
Picture perfect family: Are the people behind the portraits living the lives they wish to portray?
(Compare two photographers and their subjects and why they take portrait images of different people within society)
Extreme enhancements: Are normal models too real for the fashion world?
(Look at two or more photographers and take apart their overly photoshopped images of models and ask why they have done this to their images and what i believe is wrong or right about what the photographer has done/how truthful is advertising?)
Portrait photography: How portraits have changed from documenting criminals to capturing new borns, why we immortalise ourselves on film.
(Compare a modern portrait photographer against an older portrait photographer/ pick apart different old and new portrait images)
Dying to be thin: How the fashion industry starves the talent of tomorrow.
(When people are risking their lives and health to be in fashion and to have their photographs taken should someone step in and help them?)
Case Study Structure
//HEAD//
//STRAP//
//BODY//
Images: (Used as illustration throughout)
//Intro//
//Main Argument//
//Conclusion//
//END//
Fashion Photography Research: http://hipzig46.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/lighting-fashion-research/
Portrait Photography Research: http://hipzig46.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/lighting-portrait-fashion-research/
Finished Images:
Reflection: Today we brought in magazines and looked at how articles can break the grids and not be in the grid pattern they normally might be put in by journalists. I found it difficult to decide which article to use within the magazine i’d brought into my lecture I also found it difficult to work out what the size of my article grid was wether it was 3×5 or 6×6.
I’ve found out that the article I chose to use for this workshop was a 3 column article and had a call out within the middle of two photographs as well as a set of four images with captions across the bottom of the article which went across the columns of the article. It also had a large title that went across and cut into an image within the article and there is a caption that breaks out over a large photograph on the left hand side of the article.
Ive inserted into this post a quick example of my indesign layout. I feel i definatly need to work on my Indesign skills although i did this design quickly i feel it does look similar to the article i looked at in todays workshop.
Reflection: In todays workshop we had to make an article and use curation tool storify to help us make the article. I signed up by using my twitter account. The site itself is simple to use and very good at searching and curating things for ‘live blogging’. I found i wrote my article very easily and it seemed straight forward t use Karl gave us five top tips to using storify correctly.
1. Don’t just drag, drop & dump. – provide context to the article.
2. write transition sentences between the media & Verify sources.
3. Give the story a beginning, middle and an end.
4. Use storify for realtime coverage – live blogging.
5. Experiment with different kinds of stories.
To use Storify you do need a twitter account but if you sign up without one you can’t see tweets whilst searching for curation content. I feel the site itself is simple and effective but there is a lot of reading to do within the searching process for content for your article. But the tool is good and makes curation more simple and convenient.
Here is the link to my workshop task:
http://storify.com/BaillieMary/fog-disrupting-london
Making deserts for a party or special occasion can sometimes be stressful.
Often can leave you confused as to what type of deserts to use and what you can do with them to make them look appealing for both adults, elderly and young children. I’ve picked the top 10 deserts and written a short review for each to let you know what they taste like and give you an idea of how long they can take to make or bake.
I have also included an image with each review to see if i can tempt you with any of these ten wonderful deserts that in my opinion are the best sweet treats to give your guests, family, friends and partner. I’ve always had a sweet tooth and this article is all about temptation and a feast for the family, so sit back slide through the review and hopefully you’ll be soon baking your deserts in no time!
1. Christmas Cake – Traditionally a fruitcake they can be decorated ostentatiously or simply. This sweet cake has been packed full of fruit and brandy for that extra wintery feel why not add some marzipan on top or serve it warm with a nice helping of clotted cream or a glass of eggnog.
2. Strawberry And Lemon Cheesecake – A light crumbly sticky base with a zesty summery cheesecake topping, topped off with a fresh strawberry flower. Perfect for any summer BBQs or summer events and would go nicely with a big summer fruit salad or just by itself.
3. Meringue Sprinkle Cupcakes – These cupcakes were a huge dilemma in my book because once the meringue had set on top they looked almost too perfect to nibble. However the coconut cupcake beneath was just too tempting and the raspberry sprinkles on top gave the meringue a great flavour.
4. Cookie Monster Cupcakes – Easy on the eye, A good treat for children and full of flavours and different textures to taste. The coconut was coloured with bright blue dye and the button eyes were literally chocolate buttons a lovely concept and an even more scrumptious feast for after dinner.
5. Triple Chocolate Cookie – These cookies were made for little and big kids. The triple chocolate cookie itself is packed full of chocolate chips and devilishly addictive but by adding the gooey sticky filling and giving the cookie some sharp fangs it becomes a ghoulishly good Halloween cookie for kids.
6. Marshmallow Fudge cupcakes – Simple to make and easy to bake in the oven these cupcakes practically make themselves. I love the way the fudge icing almost melts onto the cupcakes. With added mini marsh mellows on top and small pink heart sprinkles they are perfect to share with loved ones.
7. Lemon Cupcakes – Bright and zesty these lemon cupcakes were a quick and easy bake that took less than twenty minutes in the oven. Simple decoration of a bright yellow drizzle over the cupcake gave them a huge punch in the taste buds with every bite and made them look almost glowing.
8. Sticky Scones – A country bumpkin at heart these lovely afternoon delights were top of the desert pile. But the question is cream or jam first? I prefer cream first then jam. The scones were incredibly rich in taste and had a lovely summer flavour, which would go perfect with any afternoon tea.
9. Mississippi Mud Pie – This gorgeous chocolaty treat was invented for a special occasion or just for a cool slice of creamy chocolate mousse on a gooey chocolate fudge base. Perfect for a quick treat after a meal or for those of you with a sweet tooth or a chocoholic.
10. Vanilla Cream Cake & Strawberries – This lovely birthday cake should come more than once a year because of the lightness within the cake it feels like your biting into clouds of air. The strawberries and cream on top and in the middle of the cake are bright, summery and defiantly worth two or four mouthfuls.
Reflection: Today we were given two workshops on indesign. The first one was for people who hadn’t really used indesign and wanted to practise what they were doing however I felt I have had sufficent experience using indesign to skip the first workshop and have a go at the second. I decided to use my own photographs as images for the magazine cover layout. I used indesign on my own mac which is CS5 and have worked through the workshop tutorial Karl gave us to make our layouts. I decided to use Karl’s title for my own magazine layouts title but changed the photographs and captions. I have included the final magazine layout.
Reflection: Today I worked through a series of a two part workshop which in the first have I took notes on what the meaning of images was for putting them onto web articles and then I did a second workshop on writing captions for images and had to write three separate captions for three different stories with an image. The workshops were interesting and the videos on the web pages I worked through were really helpful and helped me understand a lot more of why things are done a certain way. I have taken photographs of my notes to add to this post. I felt the workshop on writing captions for images was very interesting and my captions didn’t really look the same as the ones the BBC journalists had written themselves but I felt my captions did add value and were just as useful as the ones the BBC journalists had written also.
Useful links I found for writing list articles:
http://www.marthastewart.com/276944/cupcakes
http://www.gq.com/style/fashion/201107/worst-dressed-cities-america#slide=1
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/cakes/
My idea for my list article is a top deserts review article for the BBC’s good food magazine which has an online magazine online. I’ve looked at a lot of desert reviews in list article format on the BBC website and on the martha stewart website. I love baking so have decided to photograph both great deserts i’ve eaten in the past month but also deserts i’ve made for my own family and friends. I am very passionate about my baking hobby and so have numerous photographs i’ve taken in the past month which I have decided to use for my slideshow list article.
I feel the idea is to show interesting and different deserts that will catch the readers attention and that will draw them in to read my captions for the article. I will be including a 150 word intro to the article to give it some context and explain the list article further.
The link to my mood board: http://www.beeclip.com/embed/M/a/r/y/Baillie480/LM2kZNFc6dc
marybaillie 