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.