Fashion

A couple of weeks ago I found this book on fashion photography from 1980 titled Fashion: Theory. I found it really interesting, especially since all of the photographs are in black and white. When you think of fashion photography you generally think about high gloss color photos, but that’s not the case with these photos. The book showcases eight photographers and each photographer talks about how they executed each photo and their journey through the fashion business. One photographer I found most interesting is Jean Pagliuso. “Girl Eating a Peach” was one of the Pagliuso photographs represented. He said he created the photo using a Nikon and a ring light as well as a star filter to diffuse and refract the light. This is very useful information if you want to recreate the effect; however, he doesn’t talk about why he choose to have the model eating a peach or choose to have this type of effect on the photo. I find this photo among one of the most interesting in the book and would be interested in the why of the photograph. I noticed that most of the photographers in the book did not talk about the why and only about the how. I wondered if it’s common practice in the fashion photography world to disregard concept and only worry about the representation of the product sold. However, some of the photographs led me wondering what exactly was the product. Going back to the “Girl Eating the Peach”, for example, the girl is wearing clothing but the focus is more on the peach and the dress seems less important. I find this a lot in fashion photography, but maybe I’m confusing commercial photography with fashion photography. However, I still find these fashion photographs compelling regardless of the fact that I can not determine what goal the photographer has in mind. This book definitely peeked my interest in fashion photography.