Irving Penn

    Irving Penn was an American photographer best known for his vivid black and white portraiture. Penn started out his career at a college in Philadelphia where he was enrolled in the fine arts department. He picked up his  first camera 1938 and began taking what today is known as post World War II feminine chic and glamour photography.

   This particular photo is called the Guedras in the Wind, Morocco. Penn was known for traveling to distant countries to scout out new Vogue cover ideas. Sick of taking endless fashion photos, Penn turned to taking shots of the natives of the land. In this piece he photographed two Goulimine female dancers. Penn believed that this photo represented "a very ancient cultural ceremony, a symbolism that has been lost in time.”

  The lighting in this piece is somewhat smoky and raw. Penn seems to have positioned a light directly behind the two women. This creates a halo of light that wraps around their dark veils. He also positioned another light to the left of the figure. This creates dark dramatic lighting on the right figure. This form of dramatic lighting helps illuminate many of the details in the clothing of the figures and small details such as the toes peeking out from under her robe. Compositionally this photo is quite interesting because Penn chose not to crop out the seamless in the background. 

Patrick Demarchelier

"Take pictures, take many pictures. And learn from them. Once again, being a photographer is like being an athlete. You must practice every day. Professional photography isn’t a 9-to-5 job. It’s a lifestyle." 

   

       Patrick Demarchelier is one the the worlds leading cover photographers. He has produced beautiful fashion covers for Vogue, Italian Vogue, British Vogue, Rolling Stone, Life , Elle and Newsweek. So what's the secret to his success...? " I learned most by just taking pictures; a lot of pictures." This is exactly what he did and continues to do. Patrick's photographic style consists of very classic and chic portrait shots. He does this by enlisting the help of famous supermodels such as Christy Turlington.

       One of his most famous portraits is of the late supermodel Christy Turlington (featured above). As you can see it is quite classic and chic. Here he has positioned this delicate model directly in the center of the frame. Looming over her head and part pf her face is this gigantic fabric rose. Now looking at this quickly you would think that its just a black and white shot of a rose. Upon closer inspection one would notice that this delicate rose is actually part human. Patrick manages to combine Turlington's frail back and shoulder blades into the stem of this gigantic rose. Its quite a beautiful composition. Further more he adds low key lighting from the side. My guess is that he used a soft box to lightly diffuse the light onto the body and rose. This adds soft illumination on the face and shoulders of Turlington. Due to the light being cast from the side, shadows seem to appear on the other side of the model. This helps create soft yet dark shadows that help pop out details. These details can be seen in the rose petals and the curvature of the ribs and shoulder blades. This photo is truly a classic shot. Cheers to Patrick Demarchilier for creating quite a lovely and elegant shot.  

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Mert and Marcus are a power duo that help create some of the worlds most interesting advertisement photography. They bring a sense of visual mystery to their photos by playing with experimental color lights and using makeup rich models. These genius photographers have landed numerous high end fashion covers such as Vogue, W Magazine, and Pop Magazine. Their client list is rich with such celebrities as Madonna, Victoria Beckham, and Bjork. 

This specific photo shoot featured the young Natalie Portman for a spread in an old W Magazine. Portman brought a unique style to the shoot by donning teased hair, intense dark makeup, and dead flowers. This set up Mert and Marcus to create a rich photo with an eerie undertone. They did this by using mostly gel filters and high contrast shadows. In this photo particularly, it seems that they used to red gel filter on a strobe that was set behind Portman. This creates the eerie halo effect that's illuminating her nest of hair. They also seem to be using a soft box to help make some highlights on her forehead and shoulder region. This would explain the high contrast shadow that is centered in the shot. This is by far one of my favorite photographs. The lighting in this photo turns what would be seen as a somewhat creepy subject matter into something that's quite lovely. The lighting in this is absolutely lovely with its rich colors and glamorous glow. This is by far one of my favorite photographs. 

Sam Haskins 

(1926-2009)

" He explored a fresh approach to photographing the nude female figure and contained important first explorations with black and white printing, cropping and book design which went on to become a key feature of all his subsequent books and photographs."

                  Studio photographer Sam Haskins has a reputation for making what was once seen as obscure into what is now considered beautiful. That being the female nude. Haskins breached the boundaries of 60's fashion and portraiture photography by mixing amateur models, graphic compositions, and experimental studio light. His main approach was to "create tension in the surface of his photographs between flat graphic elements and 3D chiaroscuro." He is reknown for adding a modern and slightly risque twist to the 60's world of fashion photography.  

                 Haskins lighting technique mostly revolved around a well lit studio and what is said to be the use of double exposures. The above photo is from the cover of Haskins 1972 Poster Book. It is evident in the piece that Haskins used his normal approach of hard lighting and extreme cropping. From the looks of it it seems that he may have used two strobes. Doing so would even lit the face yet add enough hard light to create shadows in the face and hair region. It is not only the lighting that helps make this photo a Haskins original; it is the models. 

 These models all have something in common, they draw the viewer into the photograph. They are able to make the shot look controlled yet offer a sweet disposition to it in the end. It is a true Sam Haskins theme to be able to make something that may seem erotic to be very beautiful and full of grace.