I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film. Avedon especially loved faces so I am going to focus on his portraits. He photographed all types of people treating his subjects on the same playing field. I like how he respected every individual and found some unique characteristic about them. He really knew how to read people and look inside them. Many of his photographs were controversial but he believed that “to disturb is to make you think and feel” and this is exactly what he wanted to bring out in his works. A specific piece that grabbed me was the bee portrait. I find it very interesting that he turned his dream into a reality. It was a very risky thing to do, granted the subject did get stung quite a number of times, but it turned out wonderfully. Similarly, the photograph of the model with the snake was also edgy, but Avedon magically snapped the shot at the perfect moment capturing the snake licking/kissing the model’s ear. Somehow, Avedon was able to make his subjects feel comfortable, daring and so very expressive. Interacting and almost becoming a part of the set really helped Avedon bring out emotion in his models. He would dance with his subjects and say specific things (after researching about them and learning what grabs/interests them as well) to get a particular reaction to bring out a specific characteristic. What saddens me is that Avedon deep down inside felt a sense of isolation in this world. It’s ironic that he felt this way because his talent was that he was able to connect so well on set.
Richard Avedon was amazingly innovative in the field of portrait photography. He drew emotion out of his subjects in a way that no photographer before him had. For example, in fashion photography, he converted the ways of old – frozen, strict posing – to a fluid sort of dance with his subjects. He made fashion photography fun, and widened the breadth of possibilities by doing groundbreaking things such as bringing in animals and photographing his subjects in motion. He found that crucial balance between subject and photographer to convey much more. He said once that “people pose because they want to be shown something about themselves that they didn’t know.” He knew how to find that thing and compel it to emerge, and his fascination with the face allowed him to thrive in achieving this. At times, however, his goal was to draw something forth from his subjects that they may not have wanted to display, as seen in many of his political portraits. In fact, his later portraits almost always involved some sort of manipulation. He frequently isolated the subject on a white background, and the subject could be shaped to represent whatever Avedon wanted to represent in that individual. The portraits of Karl Rove, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the polyptic of the Mission Council portrayed characters they did not see in themselves, or at least did not want to acknowledge. His artistic license (arguably) allowed him to depict these individuals the way he wanted them to be viewed. Avedon was innovative for decades. It is amazing that his creative juices never seemed to run out, but rather, to grow and morph into different ideas and domains throughout his life.
Richard Avedon’s portraits expose the inner human soul. Richard Avedon once said, “A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.” He wanted to let the world know that while he was capturing the people as the camera saw them, that it was up to the viewer to provide the truth, or at least what they considered to be the truth. I enjoy looking at Avedon’s portraits because he maneuvered in such a way that the subject seems to fill up the entire frame. The white space behind the subject brings the viewer’s eye back to the subject. He spent a lot of time focusing on people’s faces. The face is the most dynamic and expressive portion of the human body. The face is capable of expressing a variety of emotions that can be seen in the creases of the face, the tone of the eyes, and the shadows on the face. Each portrait is different just like each person is different, but each portrait is distinctively taken by Avedon. Avedon had a distinct way of taking portraits he placed his subjects against a white background drawing the viewers eye to the subject. The majority of his portraits are black and white but a few are in color and yet they manage to maintain their simplicity. He was able to draw out the person by taking their photograph; many viewers believe Avedon showed people, as they really were, not how they wanted to be seen. He was a photographic force that will be missed in the art world but his legacy will live on forever.
Richard Avedon had a large portfolio. Filled with fashion, portraits, and reportage. After watching the video we learned that Avedon had a significant impact on the fashion world in terms of photography. He loved movement and often incorporated movement in his fashion photography. One of my favorite photos in his fashion portfolio is the one with the model and the two elephants. Its on the webpage for richard avedon.org. I like this photo because of the contrast between the prim and proper model in between the two elephants. He constantly explored new ideas in the fashion rehlm and was hailed as one of fashions foremost photographers. Fashion photography was changed by him. His interest in the mysteries of women are often found in these photographs. Such as the one of the woman staring into the mirror and analyzing her reflection. He was persistent in his work and would openly express himself if he was not satisfied with a photograph. Avedon had an even greater impact in the world of portraiture. He often commented on his interest in the human face and how so much interest can be drawn from different aspects such as wrinkles or freckles. From his portraiture the public can see different sides of the famous and even ordinary people. Avedon had an amazing talent of leading his subject to become what he wanted them to become.
I found Richard Avedon to be very inspiring with his differing types of photography. He was in fashion photography, portraits, and his journalist work; all of which he used his camera in a respectful, but expressive way. I think his portraits were definitely innovative and original with the simplicity of the white backdrops and getting a certain form of rawness of the person in the photo. But I found his reporting in the civil rights movement and the war protests the most interesting of his work. When I went to the Richard Avedon website, I looked at the rally photos and I think he was really able to capture the people and the passion the people had for their cause. I also like the two photos we were shown during the presentation of his work, it was of the Chicago 7 (the protesters) and the Mission Council (the people in power). It was an interesting take on things, especially the way he did the police line-up theme in the photos and arranged it so that the two photos could be facing one another while on display in a museum. I felt he was so influential to not only the world of photography, but also to the times in which these events were taking place, his work was part of those movements, and to this day his influence will always be engraved in history.
Richard Avedon’s portraits of the American West are some of the best work of this brilliant man. This is extremely interesting when viewed in light of the fact that many people believed that he had no right to take these pictures. They believed that he had no right to be there, that he was exploiting these “poor people” who were nothing like him and knew little of photography. They thought he could not understand these people because he was not one of them, he couldn’t know who they were because he was a “rich photographer” from the “big city”. I feel however, that these people were gravely mistaken. Richard Avedon’s photos show his deep understanding of the human soul, regardless of their station or affluence. His pictures of people such as James Kimberlin and Roberto Lopez show them with dirt on their faces and weariness in their eyes, but also with a certain hardworking dignity, strengthened by their humility and resignation. The fact that Richard Avedon was able to show this in a people with whom he had so little in common, simply proves the mastery of his photography. His photos of the American West are even more curious when balanced with how his career began, including but not limited to his stint in fashion photography. In the American west he exhibits a different sort of fashion, a different sort of understanding that in the fashion magazines. He manages to create movement without the aid of a flowing dress or an animal prop, but simply with the depth of feeling in a subject’s eyes or the lines in their mouth. He displays in these photos a beauty that is based more on experiential wisdom rather then the perfectness of clear skin and well applied makeup.
6 comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film. Avedon especially loved faces so I am going to focus on his portraits. He photographed all types of people treating his subjects on the same playing field. I like how he respected every individual and found some unique characteristic about them. He really knew how to read people and look inside them. Many of his photographs were controversial but he believed that “to disturb is to make you think and feel” and this is exactly what he wanted to bring out in his works. A specific piece that grabbed me was the bee portrait. I find it very interesting that he turned his dream into a reality. It was a very risky thing to do, granted the subject did get stung quite a number of times, but it turned out wonderfully. Similarly, the photograph of the model with the snake was also edgy, but Avedon magically snapped the shot at the perfect moment capturing the snake licking/kissing the model’s ear. Somehow, Avedon was able to make his subjects feel comfortable, daring and so very expressive. Interacting and almost becoming a part of the set really helped Avedon bring out emotion in his models. He would dance with his subjects and say specific things (after researching about them and learning what grabs/interests them as well) to get a particular reaction to bring out a specific characteristic. What saddens me is that Avedon deep down inside felt a sense of isolation in this world. It’s ironic that he felt this way because his talent was that he was able to connect so well on set.
Richard Avedon was amazingly innovative in the field of portrait photography. He drew emotion out of his subjects in a way that no photographer before him had. For example, in fashion photography, he converted the ways of old – frozen, strict posing – to a fluid sort of dance with his subjects. He made fashion photography fun, and widened the breadth of possibilities by doing groundbreaking things such as bringing in animals and photographing his subjects in motion. He found that crucial balance between subject and photographer to convey much more. He said once that “people pose because they want to be shown something about themselves that they didn’t know.” He knew how to find that thing and compel it to emerge, and his fascination with the face allowed him to thrive in achieving this. At times, however, his goal was to draw something forth from his subjects that they may not have wanted to display, as seen in many of his political portraits. In fact, his later portraits almost always involved some sort of manipulation. He frequently isolated the subject on a white background, and the subject could be shaped to represent whatever Avedon wanted to represent in that individual. The portraits of Karl Rove, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the polyptic of the Mission Council portrayed characters they did not see in themselves, or at least did not want to acknowledge. His artistic license (arguably) allowed him to depict these individuals the way he wanted them to be viewed. Avedon was innovative for decades. It is amazing that his creative juices never seemed to run out, but rather, to grow and morph into different ideas and domains throughout his life.
Richard Avedon’s portraits expose the inner human soul. Richard Avedon once said, “A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.” He wanted to let the world know that while he was capturing the people as the camera saw them, that it was up to the viewer to provide the truth, or at least what they considered to be the truth.
I enjoy looking at Avedon’s portraits because he maneuvered in such a way that the subject seems to fill up the entire frame. The white space behind the subject brings the viewer’s eye back to the subject. He spent a lot of time focusing on people’s faces. The face is the most dynamic and expressive portion of the human body. The face is capable of expressing a variety of emotions that can be seen in the creases of the face, the tone of the eyes, and the shadows on the face. Each portrait is different just like each person is different, but each portrait is distinctively taken by Avedon.
Avedon had a distinct way of taking portraits he placed his subjects against a white background drawing the viewers eye to the subject. The majority of his portraits are black and white but a few are in color and yet they manage to maintain their simplicity. He was able to draw out the person by taking their photograph; many viewers believe Avedon showed people, as they really were, not how they wanted to be seen. He was a photographic force that will be missed in the art world but his legacy will live on forever.
Richard Avedon had a large portfolio. Filled with fashion, portraits, and reportage. After watching the video we learned that Avedon had a significant impact on the fashion world in terms of photography. He loved movement and often incorporated movement in his fashion photography. One of my favorite photos in his fashion portfolio is the one with the model and the two elephants. Its on the webpage for richard avedon.org. I like this photo because of the contrast between the prim and proper model in between the two elephants. He constantly explored new ideas in the fashion rehlm and was hailed as one of fashions foremost photographers. Fashion photography was changed by him. His interest in the mysteries of women are often found in these photographs. Such as the one of the woman staring into the mirror and analyzing her reflection. He was persistent in his work and would openly express himself if he was not satisfied with a photograph. Avedon had an even greater impact in the world of portraiture. He often commented on his interest in the human face and how so much interest can be drawn from different aspects such as wrinkles or freckles. From his portraiture the public can see different sides of the famous and even ordinary people. Avedon had an amazing talent of leading his subject to become what he wanted them to become.
I found Richard Avedon to be very inspiring with his differing types of photography. He was in fashion photography, portraits, and his journalist work; all of which he used his camera in a respectful, but expressive way. I think his portraits were definitely innovative and original with the simplicity of the white backdrops and getting a certain form of rawness of the person in the photo. But I found his reporting in the civil rights movement and the war protests the most interesting of his work. When I went to the Richard Avedon website, I looked at the rally photos and I think he was really able to capture the people and the passion the people had for their cause. I also like the two photos we were shown during the presentation of his work, it was of the Chicago 7 (the protesters) and the Mission Council (the people in power). It was an interesting take on things, especially the way he did the police line-up theme in the photos and arranged it so that the two photos could be facing one another while on display in a museum. I felt he was so influential to not only the world of photography, but also to the times in which these events were taking place, his work was part of those movements, and to this day his influence will always be engraved in history.
Richard Avedon’s portraits of the American West are some of the best work of this brilliant man. This is extremely interesting when viewed in light of the fact that many people believed that he had no right to take these pictures. They believed that he had no right to be there, that he was exploiting these “poor people” who were nothing like him and knew little of photography. They thought he could not understand these people because he was not one of them, he couldn’t know who they were because he was a “rich photographer” from the “big city”. I feel however, that these people were gravely mistaken. Richard Avedon’s photos show his deep understanding of the human soul, regardless of their station or affluence. His pictures of people such as James Kimberlin and Roberto Lopez show them with dirt on their faces and weariness in their eyes, but also with a certain hardworking dignity, strengthened by their humility and resignation. The fact that Richard Avedon was able to show this in a people with whom he had so little in common, simply proves the mastery of his photography. His photos of the American West are even more curious when balanced with how his career began, including but not limited to his stint in fashion photography. In the American west he exhibits a different sort of fashion, a different sort of understanding that in the fashion magazines. He manages to create movement without the aid of a flowing dress or an animal prop, but simply with the depth of feeling in a subject’s eyes or the lines in their mouth. He displays in these photos a beauty that is based more on experiential wisdom rather then the perfectness of clear skin and well applied makeup.
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