Name Poem

Our assignment was to create an acrostic name poem, using words that have something to do with ourselves and express each word as an image. The process was interesting because there were so many different ways we could come up with an image in order to express a word that we chose.

Jewel

Exquisite

Surprise

Smile

Intriguing

Corageous

Acrobatic

Richard Avedon Research Project

Richard Avedon was an American photographer born in New York City in 1923. When he was about twenty years old he started studying at the New School for Social Research at the Design Laboratory in New York City. A few years later he became the staff photographer for Harper’s Bazaar. He developed an interest within the fashion industry and continued to shoot for them as well as Vogue. He got married for the first time when he was twenty-one to a woman named Dorcas Nowell who later became known Doe Avedon, a well-known model. Five years later they got a divorce. He remarried to a woman named Evelyn Franklin with whom he had a young boy named John Avedon with. In 1950 he won the Highest Achievement Medal award from the Art Directors club in New York.  Eight years later he was listed in the Popular Photography magazine as one of the world’s ten greatest photographers. He started exhibitions of his work, a popular one being at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. In 1963 Avedon went to the south to photograph the Civil Rights Movement. In 1966 he returned to Vogue as the Chief Staff photographer. In 1969 he captured the Anti-War Movement throughout America. Books full of his photographs and more exhibits were being created to show off his talent. Harvard University presented him as a visiting artist with a certificate of recognition in 1987. Avedon held Master classes in New York for photography at the International Center of Photography in 1992. The next year he received the International Center of Photography Master of Photography Award. Three years after that he received a humanitarian award from the Mental Health Association in his hometown. Many more books and exhibits were established throughout the fifty states as years passed. Avedon died on October 1^st 2004 from a brain hemorrhage while on the job for the New Yorker magazine in San Antonio, Texas. The Richard Avedon Foundation was established the same year.

Photography was such a big part of who Avedon was, and his work is very distinguishable through all his hard work. Avedon says, “If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible.” Avedon continues to influence photographers and his work will never be forgotten through the help of his son John and his four grandkids.      

Avedon was strongly influenced by an Austrian-American photographer named Lisette Model who also worked with Harper’s Bazaar. Just like Avedon, Model created strong intimate connections with her models. She carefully captured people in the outside world. A lot of her series consisted of straight on portraits outside somewhere on the street. She never looked for the most beautiful subjects, but rather found a way to express a more realistic look on a variety of different faces. Avedon too did not focus on putting forth smiles; he wanted a realistic relatable picture. 

Edward Steichen was another American photographer that influenced Avedon. He started as a painter and merged into the portrait and fashion photography world. He also had an intimate quality within his portraits. Steichen’s experience serving in World War 1 helped develop his unique prospective with the camera. His past experience further developed his own style of “realism”.

As for Avedon’s fashion photography, a Hungarian photographer named Martin Muncási influenced him. He was the first to bring life and motion to photographs. Avedon said he “brought a taste for happiness and honesty…” The photograph that seemed to catch Avedon’s eye the most was a woman in her swimsuit running on the beach. The wind was blowing in her hair and her legs were extended. He was not interested in still, fake, posed models.  At that time it was a totally new prospective that attracted a lot of attention. Avedon further pushed this technique of motion and had his models jumping and moving around even more.

            Avedon worked in both the fashion and portrait worlds of photography. He was not particularly interested in  fashion photographs that had been taken up until his time. Most fashion photography was models just standing of the camera showing off their product, which did not spark his eye. Avedon took a much more lifelike spin on his work and  captured his models in action. He had his models jump or move around, opening up a whole new world for fashion photography. As for his portraits, he brought forth real emotion and life to each and every one. He usually photographed in black and white for which the contrast created a sophisticated effect. His portraits all captured the true colors of what was inside the model. Each portrait has such a deep emotion the viewer can never just skim it over. Each one has a bold message within it keeping the viewers eyes glued to the photograph, trying to feel the deep emotion he portrayed.  Avedon said, “My photographs don’t go below the surface. They don’t go below anything. They’re readings of the surface. I have great faith in surfaces. A good one is full of clues…” He was an expert at making someone who was looking at his photographs, instantly feel the connection that was made directly through the lens of his camera. He had a way of digging deep inside someone’s emotions and expose his or her features. He was able capture the moment of intimacy he and his models shared.

Avedon used a wide range of subjects that he was able to capture portraits of, often times being famous stars. His technique was straight on black and white shots of his models posed in front of a blank white background. He described his theory as, “I have the person I’m interested in and the thing that happens between us.” The way he captured these very deep connections inside of each model was by talking to them about emotional or uncomfortable situations that had significance in their lives. He would manipulate them in order to receive an entirely real emotion to appear. He would say things like imagine that you’re dog just died or he would bring up something they love. He sat there with his camera ready until he felt he captured the perfect shot. 

Avedon was a man full of passion and determination. David Jay Walket wrote a memorial page about him,  in remembrance he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with such energy and intelligence…Once he knows what he wants, he can’t get it done fast enough, he’s moving onto the next thing, the next angle. He’s always a live wire. He still is.” He always further challenged himself. Never did he think one particular shot was finished. Even when he would see his works published, he never complimented them but rather always critiqued them and saw room for improvement. He accomplished so much within his lifetime and continues today to be the hero of many.

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