Fashion photography and lens based images - Essay Example

Fashion Photography Photography came through as a marvel in the nineteenth century and allowed people to capture moments in time permanently. Similar to other forms of technology, photography made its way through a number of phases before it was available for civilian use. Once in the civilian domain, photography diversified into a number of applications over the years that have allowed human beings to capture and portray ideas. Some may argue that the contention of capturing an image to convey an idea is a natural process but in effect it has been a complicated and ever evolving process. Over the centuries that photography has been present, it has been employed for a number of commercial purposes. Compared to other forms of photography, commercial photography is generally carried out by a photographer in order to sell the images. This stands in contrast to art based photography that is more aesthetic in character. Commercial photography in itself has diversified into a number of different applications that involve retail, wholesale and professional uses. Images are a powerful method of moving ideas from one person or situation to a wider audience. One of the more prominent features of images is their ability to carry the same idea to a wider audience. For this reason commercial photography has been used widely for advertising various kinds of themes and ideas. Perhaps one of the more distinguished forms of commercial photography in use for distributing ideas to the wider audience is fashion photography. Companies dealing with fashion products require for their products to be shown to the wider audience. Photography represents one of the easiest methods to move such ideas across the manufacturing table to the audience that actually wants to buy the product. However, unlike other forms of advertisements mired in photography, fashion photography tends to differ in more than one respect. One of the more prominent differentiation between fashion photography and other forms of advertising photography is the use of human models in order to provoke want. The primary focus of fashion photography was and still is clothes and accessories. Footwear also tends to feature in fashion photography but it cannot be labelled as the most prominent feature of fashion photography. Glamour photography also tends to feature closely when fashion photography is considered although both are well differentiated. Glamour photography tends to concentrate on the human body form and the model depicted in the images. In contrast, the domain of fashion photography tends to concentrate on the clothes, accessories, footwear and other such fashion products worn by the model. While glamour photography concentrates on the human being, fashion photography tends to concentrate on the devices worn by human beings. Based on this line of argumentation, it can be discerned that glamour photography and fashion photography are different domains and should be treated as such. Fashion photography has been around for a very long time. Certain quarters have attributed fashion photography to be as old as 1839 though others have attributed the beginnings to Napoleon III’s court. The first fashion photography catalogue has been attributed to Adolphe Braun who compiled a catalogue with some 288 photographs of a noblewoman from Tuscany. The catalogue contained pictures of the noblewoman, Virginia Oldoini dressed in different official court attire. This endeavour was taken at Napoleon III’s court in 1856 so possibly this is the first instance of documented fashion photography (Solomon-Godeau, 1993). The initial development of fashion photography remained slow and confined to a few studios and artists. The lack of a supporting mechanism such as fashion models, customers willing to get fashion photography done and other such factors impeded the initial growth of the domain. This problem was compounded with the issue of printing photographs because no such commercial technology was available as yet. Fashion photography really took off after the first decade of the twentieth century with the advances in printing methods such has halftone printing. These developments made it technically possible to print photographs in large volumes which made it appropriate for fashion magazines. The first appearance of fashion photography came through for fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar. Before the advent of fashion photography it was common for such magazines to feature handmade images that were typically line sketches. Fashion photography’s presence in magazines such as Vogue allowed their circulation to newer audiences making fashion more accessible to the common masses. Possibly the earliest presentation of fashion photography appeared in French fashion magazines from the early twentieth century as advances in printing made it possible. One of the earliest contributors to fashion photography was Conde Nast. Nast’s takeover of Vogue represented a new era in fashion photography (OHiggins, 1975). His reliance on fashion photography to portray ideas was overwhelming when compared to the contemporary trend of using illustrations by hand to portray such ideas. Another major contributor to early fashion photography was Edward Steichen who adopted photography to fashion in order to promote commercial fashion as a means of fine art. It is claimed that Lucien Vogel, the publisher of two prominent French magazines introduced Steichen to the idea and provided further impetus for it. Steichen’s earliest attempts consisted of taking photographs of clothes such as gowns so that they could be printed in fashion magazines. The gowns photographed by Steichen in the early years were designed by Paul Poiret. The first of these publications for a fashion magazine were in Art et De’coration for the April 1911 edition (Niven, 1997). Fashion critics such as Jesse Alexander have attributed these publications as the earliest attempts at modern fashion photography (Alexander, 2008). One thing is highly noticeable – the earliest attempts at fashion photography did not involve the use of human models. In this sense, early attempts at fashion photography can be seen as imitating advertising photography that is construed to represent objects that need to be sold. Advertising based photography is still used in large proportion in the modern marketplace such as photographs of phones, cars and the like. However, none of these portrayals employ human beings in any form or manner. Instead, modern fashion photography in the current age employs human beings as an essential element of the entire composition. This tends to indicate that more recent examples of fashion photography are well differentiated from the earliest attempts at fashion photography. In a sense this indicates an evolution of fashion photography from the representation of mere objects to the portrayals of more humanistic themes and ideas. The discussion presented above also brings to light another interesting aspect related to fashion photography. The manner in which fashion photography has developed over the years indicates that it was previously a part of advertising photography after which it begun to develop an independent character. Over the years fashion photography has developed an independent character but evolution has not stopped itself just there. Instead, the independent character of fashion photography has developed to assume new nuances inside itself. As fashion photography emerged from its infancy, it begun to use the human figure in order to provide a more humanistic touch to the domain. It was deemed that the use of human figures would allow the viewer to connect to the overall product being marketed. It must be taken into account that the method in which human figures are presented has shaped over time as the overall fashion sense changed over time. When human figures were initially used in the area of fashion photography the technique relied on staging shots. Fashion photography from this era relies exclusively on staging shots and Baron Meyer developed this process. Meyer relied on shooting his models using specially developed natural environments and poses. The emphasis of fashion photography from this era relied on providing a formal look that lay in line with the values of the time (Barnbaum, 2010). Fashion in the pre World War One era was restricted to the upper reaches of society only. Consequently it was common for the same values to reverberate across the fashion scenario. It was only after pioneers such as Coco Chanel begun to redefine the fashion scenario that actual changes to fashion photography began to appear. Before this point in time, the world of fashion photography was dominated by formal poses and formal clothing for the rich and the famous. These early trends in fashion photography were espoused by Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar who furthered this mode of fashion photography. Both magazines remained the leaders in the field of fashion photography throughout the decades following the First World War right up to the Second World War. Fashion photography also begun to assume certain artistic dimensions as the field matured in these defining decades. As Europe became embroiled in conflict, the focus of fashion photography shifted over to the United States in large part. The rivalry between Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar remained consistent through this new struggle. A number of new photographers known better as house photographers were to define fashion photography in the coming decades. Names such as Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Martin Munkacsi and Louise Wolfe helped to define fashion photography for the post World War Two era (Lenman, 2005). Among other fashion photographers emphasis must be placed on the work of Richard Avedon. He not only changed the conventional manner in which fashion photography was executed but also helped to redefine the role of fashion photographers. Avedon’s focus lay on the modern woman and portraying the upcoming trends in fashion. The older methods of staging shots in formalised environments was abandoned in favour of more informal portrayals. The rising spectre of liberality in the wake of the Second World War also helped to redefine the method in which fashion photography was executed. Overall in this era fashion photographers relinquished the more rigid approaches to fashion photography and begun to experiment with new mediums and styles. The conventional hard bound approaches to portraying clothes and people was abandoned over time in favour of portraying freer methods of expression. This era provides examples of women in sporty outfits on beaches which are reflective of the changing values in fashion photography. This move was pioneered by Martin Munkacsi who portrayed fashion as a far more flexible domain than ever before. This move was assumed by the contemporaries of Munkacsi both in Europe and in the United States which represented a major change in the ways in which fashion photography was looked at (Frizot, 1998). As far as the competition between Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar was concerned, Harper’s Bazaar was quick to assume these new trends under the artistic direction of Alexey Brodovitch. The introduction of these new styles helped to shape the new domains in fashion photography so that fashion photography became more simplified and flexible (Wells, 2004). In Europe, John French helped to pioneer a novel form of fashion photography in London in the post World War Two period. The most prominent characteristic of French’s work was the production of fashion photographs that were more suited to printing and were thus simpler to incorporate into print editions. The characteristic trait of these fashion photographs were their possible reflection of natural light and the low contrast employed to portray them (McCabe, 2005) (Mendes, 1984). In more modern times, fashion photography has assumed new dimensions. There is an overwhelming move to portray the human figure as an integrated story or theme with the photographed object. This technique allows the viewer to form better association with the photograph as well as the product and the involved brand making the effect greater and more pervasive. These trends are continuing well into the modern day so that fashion photography is still evolving. Given the arguments presented above, it can be seen that fashion photography has evolved into a separate genre and is posed for further evolution in the years to come. References Alexander, J., 2008. Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography. HotShoe magazine, 151, p.66–67. Barnbaum, B., 2010. he Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression. New York: Rocky Nook. Frizot, M., 1998. A New History of Photography. Köln: Könemann. Lenman, R., 2005. The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Oxford: Oxford University Press. McCabe, E., 2005. The Making of Great Photographs: approaches and techniques of the masters. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. Mendes, V.D., 1984. John French, fashion photographer. London: Victoria & Albert Museum. Niven, P., 1997. Steichen: A Biography. New York: Clarkson Potter. OHiggins, P., 1975. Helen Lawrensons Two Lives: Beer and Champagne, Kiss and Tell. The People, 3(25). Solomon-Godeau, A., 1993. The Legs of the Countess. In E. Apter & W. Pletz, eds. Fetishism as Cultural Discourse. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. pp.266-306. Wells, L., 2004. Photography. A Critical Introduction. Lonon: Routledge. Read More