Task 1A - contemporary and historical photographers

Task 1A

Mannequin- mannequins are usually three dimensional life size representations of human body, mainly used in shop displays which are used for the fitting or display of clothes. Mannequin has also an alternative spelling of manikin, which has the same meaning. It can also be a person who is an employed to model. Mannequin can also be called a doll, dummy, dress form or a lay figure which is mainly used by artists but we can also call mannequins at the shop display lay figure. In fashion they also call models who present the clothes which are displayed at the fashion shows. 

Contemporary photographers

Nick Knight: Nick Knight came up through fashion beginning with a book of photographs titled Skinheads that he released in 1982 while he was still a student in the. Very soon after that he was noticed by i-D Magazine and few more and has now shot campaigns for the likes of Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and a lot more. We can find his work internationally. We can find a really unique technique in his work. He is interested in what the whole photograph presents rather than just one aspect of the image. In order to improve his performance in photography, he is always open to any kind of inspiration. I think that Nick’s style of his photography is really unique and inspirational as he shows the emotions of people that he takes photos of. He says that by taking photos of someone you can find out a lot about people as well as what they experience and feel. This really influences my inspiration because it helps me to think about how I need to work with my model and talk to them, have really good communication skills to communicate with them so that I can show their emotions in the best possible way and he also shows how important it is for the photographer to understand people well so that later on we can show it in our pictures. 

Marcin Tyszka: Marcin Tyszka is polish photographers who specialize in fashion photography. He started his career in front of the camera as a teenage presenter of one of the most famous program on the first channel of national polish TV for almost 10 years. He started taking pictures at age 15, quickly growing from a hobby to a way of life. Now, he’s one of the most popular photographers in Poland, France, Thailand, Italy, USA and many more. He also works regularly for Vogue as well as with one of the best models in USA, Anja Rubik. He’s a photographer of high fashion. He’s photos are quite simple but very good as well. We can see that he match the colours of the background perfectly with the models outfit, he thinks about everything that’s around as well.  His photos really help me to think about the whole image and make sure that I concentrate on every single detail in the photo not only the main subject/person, as well as obviously the lightning and composition of the photo. The poses of his models are also very interesting as we uses a lot of crops which don’t affect the outfit but help the model to pose which is very helpful for both, the photographer as well as the model.

Suzanes Heintz: Photographer Suzanes Heints decided to take photos of herself with her ‘family’, husband and daughter. She’s a single women therefore we was fed up with questions about when she was going to get married. She was really tired of all these questions therefore she purchased two mannequins, one of a man which was her husband in the photos and another one which was a little girl, simply her daughter in her photos. She dresses them up and took a variety of photos, while going skiing, vacation or even stereotypical romantic moments. The way she sets the scenes are perfect. They also look realistic because of her body language and expressions of her in these photos. She poses very well in her photos even though her ‘family’ looks the same on each of the photo, her body language and face expressions make the photos look really interesting and funny as well. She was using the timing set up on her camera to take photos of herself with her new family. I think she had to put a lot of work into her photos because she had to think about the composition of the photo and everything else while being in front as well as behind the camera. I really like this idea and I am going to think about using it maybe just with a small doll because I think these pictures look really interesting and they are also very eye catching.  

Historical photographers

To research the historical fashion photographers I have used a magazine 'British Journal of photography' from September 2013, where I have found an article called 'Printed fashion', which was about few historical photographers who took photos for British, American or even French Vogues and many other fashion magazines in 70's, 60's, 50's or even late 40's. 

Peter Knapp, was born in 1932 in Switzerland. He studied graphic design but then talented in painting he continued his studies in Paris. He has started his career as an artist, but his fashion photography can be find in some famous magazines in vintage issues like French Elle, The Sunday Times or even Vogue. His work really helps me to think about working with the model and the poses which are very important, because we can see that in every he makes the model pose really nicely, interesting as well as unique. His photos are overall very unique especially the 60's style because that's when he was taking most of his photos to magazines like Vogue.

Bruce Webber, born in 1946. Bruce is an American fashion photographer and occasionally film maker. He is most known for his as campaigns for Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren and a lot more. He's photos are very professional, as he works with very famous people all over the world. He presents his work in the best possible quality. 

Steve Hiett was born in 1940 in UK and is a fashion photographer, designer as well as art director and musician. He studied painting at art school and then continued his studies in Royal College of Art Graphic Design School in the early 60's in London.After few years he finally decided to become fashion photographer. Steve creates a 3D effect in his photographs using a particular format and combination of colours. All women in his photos appear to have endless legs and brilliant skin, often combined with luxury cars or riding bicycles. Hiett's work has appeared in magazines such as Vogue (English, French and Italian).