While researching for ‘clean white’ photographers, it is impossible to overlook possibly the most influential American fashion and fine art photographer of all time. Yes, of course I'm talking about Richard Avedon. Although his work includes some of the most iconic portraits of celebrities throughout the second half of the 20th century, (Just some of the long list of the rich and famous include; Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, The Beatles, Andy Warhol, and even Tupac Shakur!) However, what I admire most about Avedons’ portraiture is that outside of his popular fashion work, he is also well known for his photography series where he captures American Western figures such as drifters, miners, cowboys, and other ‘normal/every day’ men and women in society.
I was really drawn to the above image straight away. This clean white by Avedon is of a man by the name of Roberto Lopez. He works in an Oil Field and (from the caption) he’s from the town of Lyons, Texas. The image was dated the 28th September 1980. What struck me most about this image, and I guess my overall fascination with it, is that it really carries a true sense of authenticity and realness to the man himself. While I can only presume that Avedon intentionally decided to have his model, Roberto, have a very basic appearance/ in terms of clothing, the result delivers an emotionally stripped back man -who is quite literally bearing his flesh to the skin and bones. Also, I guess ironically, the level of contrast between the disheveled appearance as he is pretty much covered in dirt and oil, but at the same time, he is positioned in the foreground of a clean white backdrop. I really think this decision and stylistic look complement each other very well and makes for a powerful and memorable portrait. In a way, what he is wearing is a deadpan glare towards the camera that can't be ignored. His seemingly expressionless face and direct eye contact really (in my opinion) speak volumes because it almost feels as if Roberto is looking through the camera lens and past the photographer himself. It’s the look of a man, brilliantly captured by Avedon, which acutely captures a life of struggle and hardship. Overall, a great image.
During my researching process of David Bailey’s clean white portraits, I had real difficulty in deciding upon which one to choose. Purely due to the large extent of the variety in his impressive portfolio of work over the years. The above image is of a well-dressed man in a suit and tie, by the name of Roy Shaw and it was taken by David Bailey in 2002. As a bit of a boxing enthusiast, I couldn't ignore this one, especially after discovering this quote by Bailey himself. “I don't like any sport except boxing and bull fighting” - David Bailey. I’m not so sure about the latter, but what I like about this image besides the obvious fact that it is well composed and that Shaws’ raw emotion and intimidation factor shines through the portrait. It is the photographers ability to almost narrate -through a single shot- a scene that unravels part of the life story of the man himself. This technique is essentially what I was attempting to emulate in my digital clean white submission. Although Baileys’ work has provided for great inspiration, I have a long...long way to go to put it mildly!
This is a great shot. Here we have a clean white of the instantly recognisable iconic symbol of the previous century, Mr. John Lennon.Taken of course, by Annie Leibovitz. What I find to be most aesthetically pleasing with this image are the colour tones and also the linear symmetry of the whole portrait. Specifically, I like the worn-in texture of the dungarees which seem to flow and melt into the bright white lines on the camera, set amongst the lines of the American flag.
Here are two images taken from the work of a contemporary ‘clean white’ photographer by the name of Andrew Zuckerman. Zuckerman is a 42 year old American photographer & he is most famous for his high-definition, hyper-realistic photographs set on a clean white background. I picked Zuckerman because I liked how he incorporates animals as his subjects into his studio shots. I found out that Zuckerman uses a Leaf Aptus 75S digital camera along with high-speed strobe lighting in order to capture these stunning images. I really like how his images are so sharp and so clean. I was curious about just how he even manages to photograph birds like the image shown above in terms of logistics. Apparently he uses a mobile studio that includes a huge white background and has bird handlers coaxing them in front of his lens. I included the first image of Nelson Mandela as it’s an example of Zuckermans’ portraiture work which ended up on the cover of Time magazine back in June 2008.
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