Richard Avedon Photography Analysis

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon grew up exposed to the fashion industry through both his parents. Avedon’s mother came from a family of dress manufacturers; while his father owned the family business, Avedon’s Fifth Avenue clothing store. Fascinated with the pictures of models used to advertise in his father’s store and magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Harper’s Bazaar, Avedon developed a love of photography. At the age of 12, Avedon explored his love of photography further by joining the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) camera club. Avedon practiced by photographing his older sister, Louise, on an old camera. Avedon continued education in college, majoring in photography, however dropped out to join the United States Merchant

I think this photo is a good example of Avedon’s work in the fashion industry, showing elegant clothing in a real-life environment. The use of the lamps hanging from the ceiling frames the focal point of the picture, the models, because of Avedon’s use of rule of thirds. The contrast between the models’ white dresses and the other people’s dark clothing also draws attention to the models and their clothing. Each of the people in the foreground have their attention focused towards the center of the picture, near the models, which draws the viewer’s eyes into the photograph. The second picture I chose, “Suzy Parker and Mike Nichols, coat by Saint Laurent, The American Hospital, Paris, August 1962”, used contrast similar to the first picture however, used a contrast in the type of clothing each of the people were wearing, rather than the color. As many of Avedon’s pictures depict, the lady standing in the center of the image shows emotional distress through her body language. The bandages on her wrists also help to portray a somber mood, as Avedon favored showing real-life struggles instead of the doll-like models many other photographers tended to use at this time. To focus more attention on the subject, Avedon also blurred the objects in the foreground of the photograph. Lastly, I chose the picture “Malcolm X” by Richard Avedon. In this photograph, the subject, Malcolm X, is cropped so part of his forehead isn’t showing. This is a technique Avedon would use with many of his photographs, attempting to invade the personal space of the viewer. Avedon also used a slow shutter speed to capture this imaging, portraying movement and possibly chaos. The positioning of Malcolm X’s shoulders and head align with the bottom and right side thirds of the