Richard Avedon

"In addition to his fashion photography, he was also well known for his portraiture. His black-and-white portraits were remarkable for capturing the essential humanity and vulnerability lurking in such larger-than-life figures " 

"One of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, Richard Avedon expanded the genre of photography with his surreal and provocative fashion photography as well as portraits that bared the souls of some of the most important and opaque figures in the world. Avedon was such a predominant cultural force that he inspired the classic 1957 film Funny Face, in which Fred Astaire's character is based on Avedon's life. While much has been and continues to be written about Avedon, he always believed that the story of his life was best told through his photographs. Avedon said, “Sometimes I think all my pictures are just pictures of me. My concern is… the human predicament; only what I consider the human predicament may simply be my own.”

- biography.com

There isnt much else you can say about someone who is regarded so highly as Richard was. After reading the above I had to find out more as to why he was so great and if there was anything i could use to try in my next studio sessions after it all went a bit stale..This is what I found!

In 1957 Richard was to take a portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor at the Waldorf Astoria in New York..the pre amble to the story is quite deathy/Hitlery and a bit heavy for my point so ill cut to the good bit..

"I would go every night to the casino in Nice and I watched them. I’d watch the way she was with him, the way he was with her, the way they were with people. I wanted to bring out the loss of humanity in them. Not the meanness – and there was a lot of meanness and a lot of narcissism – so that I knew exactly what I had to try accomplish during the sitting."

"I photographed them in their hotel suite in New York, and they had their pug dogs which they adored, and they had they’re Ladies Home Journal cover faces on. They were posing royally and nothing, not for a second, was anything that I’d observed when they were gambling presented to me. And I did a kind of… its like living by your wits. I knew they loved they’re dogs. And I said, ‘If I seem a little hesitant or a little disturbed it’s because my taxi ran over a dog.’ And both of their faces dropped because they loved dogs… a lot more than they loved Jews."

"The expression on their faces is true because you can’t evoke an expression that doesn’t come out of the life of the person."
– Richard Avedon speaking on his controversial 1957 portrait of the Windsors nearly forty years later

This,I had to try!

Studio Session No: 2

Session in the studio number 2 was a bit of a strange experience. We started out quite confidently and everyone was doing well on the morning. Using a few different lighting set ups we settled for a large softbox for the most part. Looking through the first few hours work we seemed to have made good ground and improved from the previous session a noticeable amount.

Then at lunch we had to swap to another studio and it all went a bit wrong! Everyone started to lose concentration and were all drifting in and out of the action..I think we had been at it for too long with none of us that experienced enough to be able to keep the momentum going for those who weren't actually involved in the shooting or previewing. The images I was getting were no better than the morning and just felt like I was doing the same thing over and over for the sake of it. It was disappointing to end like that

So here is 3 from the morning..the rest we just wont talk about anymore

Back to business,well nearly..

Jill set us about a little extra session to go anywhere in the CCAD building and take some images in a small group. We were only allowed to take shots of each other and not allowed to communicate in any way. I went off with Candice and Jess to one of the glass corridors on the first floor. We then went back to present our work and discuss it with the rest of the group.

It mostly confirmed for me the need to be able to talk to your subject and get a feel for what they are thinking along with how they look or your not going to get the best out of a shoot.

I processed the images at home afterwards on lightroom and here they are in no particular order of sexiness..

Sparkles Rest Bite

Just as we were getting into it I had a little work to do outside of Uni, As Nebula my own photography business I had a little log cabin at the Sparkles Christmas market in Stockton On Tees. We were there to help promote our family portrait packages by doing cheap Christmas themed photos on the spot.

You might think what has this got to do with real studio portraits? Well nothing and everything! It was like a mini version of our studio assignment so i tried to emulate the conditions as best i could and implement all we were doing in the studio in a tiny space.

Using a Nikon D7100 with an 85mm lens(tethered to a laptop running lightroom) i shot subjects against a red backdrop with Christmas lights in it for a bit of sparkle. A soft box with a Nikon flash wireless remote controlled from the pop up flash built in to D7100. Due to space restrictions it had to be set at a Rembrandt angle and height for each and the only alteration i could make would be the depth of field depending on how many subjects were in each shot. It looked a lot better to have the background lights totally out of focus,so for single subjects i opened up the aperture as wide as it would go to create a nice bokeh effect. However if there was 2,3 or even 4 i had to close it up a fair bit in order to make sure all their faces were in focus.

In total there were over 200 sittings in the cabin over the week so ive included some of those images as part of this research as I think it helped a lot in the practical side of the shooting. Having to be fully in control of the subjects regardless of their age or temperament.

Sparkled

Rudolfed

Abandoned

Unimpressed

Muffled

Face palmed 

First Independant Studio Session

The first time we got to go in the studio in our groups is when we started to take control more of our own images, We had been in a few times already but it was just a free for all and really just learning to use the new camera and how the lights worked with it,so no point in showing those as i wouldnt be able to say they were my own images if im honest..

These are 3 of the better shots, using only a key light and no back lighting or reflector. They didn't turn out too badly for a first attempt,but didn't really capture any of their personalities like i had hoped. No real connection was made between myself and the subjects with very little direction other than turn this way or that. I think they,like myself were a little self conscious about being on the other side of the camera and couldn't wait to get away and let someone else have a go at being a model!  Still lots to do and try!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

PLATON

Platon is hands down my favorite portrait photographer. He is consistent at getting the right look to suit his subjects and while projecting his own mark on them still allows their huge personalities to shine through whether they are political/industrial world leaders or famous Hollywood actors/directors.

Always favoring either a low placed camera position looking up at his subject or right in their face he creates a feeling of submission like they are about to pounce on him. Those who have what appear to be much happier personas are caught in an equally positive split second,like they are center stage at a TED talk about to give that killer line of life advice "If I could tell you one thing today that could change your life for the better,it would be this.."

Twitter - Facebook - Pinterest - Microsoft creators etc.

He shows much confidence when talking about his work and understands the manipulation that can then follow one of his cheekier portraits. He gets the world he operates in and our need to humanise the images we see of the famous. Rarely do you see any other elements in his images other than the subject but when he does it is only added to truly compliment rather than distract from the main event,the subject

Some of the best from Platons own site

A selection from his book of world leaders "Power"

And finally,everyone is entitled to one bad day at the office..

Five, Basic light set ups

I found these light illustrations on sekonic.com, they are very similar to the set up we used for our shoots apart from the fill light and the hair light. Ok so that would mean they are quite a lot different from what we used but i would argue its better to have a little more in the bag to go to later. After all the KEY light is the one we are most concerned with  and this does show it in 5 different positions. Also shown are  the camera (and possible extra light) positions.

The lights were moved around a lot during our studio time as i found not every type of set up worked with every subject. It seemed to become more about trying to create a mood with the light rather than capturing the personality of the subject.

Also worth knowing that these cover the whole area that could be used and I found I used mostly between the Butterfly and Loop set ups but just moved slightly for the subject size and posture. Missing from the drawings are the large black polystyrene boards that were placed each side of the subject to absorb reflected light,I used them on every shoot. 

Paramount/Butterfly Lighting

With the key light shining straight down on the subjects face,this casts a small shadow underneath the nose and a larger one under the chin if no fill light is used. Quite a complimentary lighting set up if your going for that kind of look. 

Loop Lighting

The light is lower down than before and offset to one side slightly to highlight one side of the face slightly more than the other. Good to bring out feature and gives a slight profile of shadow down the far side of the nose and cheek.

Rembrandt Lighting

Quite similar to the loop setup only harsher,or stronger if you like. Used to create a more dramatic look to the portrait and as the name suggests will give a similar look used in portrait painting techniques. Should provide a large shadow for much of the nose and face with a small triangle of light on the far cheek.I think it works best with the rest of the subject is quite dark,not so much for me when lit up.

Split Lighting

I only tried this a couple of times as it seems to be very severe and as such only lends itself in my eyes to such a portrait. If all else had failed (or you had what you were after and experimenting!) to get the shot i was looking for then It could be something to look at. Splits the face in half without a fill light making for high drama more suited to an atmospheric fashion shoot.

Profile Lighting

I purposely stayed away from using this too much too,not that i dont like it as i do. I think i will be revisiting a set up like this soon for another project I have in mind only minus the back light. This changes the dynamics of the subject hugely and veered too far away from the brief to be used here.