Barbara Morgan (make-up blog #8)

Barbara Morgan is an American photographer whom I particularly like due to her work with dancers. She is also the co-founder of the magazine Aperture. She first began studying art at the University of California, Los Angeles as a painting student. She tried her hand a teaching art for about a year, but then began working at UCLA where she met her husband, photographer Willie D. Morgan, who sparked her interest in photography. In 1935 she met Martha Graham, the pioneer of the modern dance movement, and began photographing her and her company. For many years to come, Graham was the chief photographer for Martha Graham as well as several other dance ensembles.

Irving Penn (make-up blog #7)

The recently deceased Irving Penn is another American photographer who is well known for his portraiture and fashion photography. During his early career, he began by studying under Alexey Brodovitch at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art, were he graduated in 1938. He began with drawing and painting, and had much of his work published in magazines such as Harpers Bazaar. However, he began to establish himself more as a glamour photographer shortly after World War II. After making a name for himself he became one of the main fashion photographers for Vogue magazine. One of his trademarks was to posesubjects against simple grey or white backdrops, creating a trend of simplicity that was use and impersonated by many photographers after him. Another trademark of his was to construct upward angled backdrops that would form acute corners behind his subjects. He was also later known for his wide variety of subjects and photographs that were somewhat ahead of his time, for example a series of posed nudes whose physical shapes ranged from thin to plump.

Annie Leibotvitz (make-up blog #2)

Since we are currently working on portrait / fashion retouching in class, I decided to write about a photographer who lately has been straddling the line between fashion and art photography. Annie Leibovitz is undoubtedly one of the best art photographers of our time, yet she is also a chief photographer for Vogue magazine as well as many other mainstream publications. How has she miraculously been able to walk the thin line between commercial and art photography? I think that it has to do with her innate ability to make fashion spreads both glamorous and interesting at the same time. She does the cosmetic touch-ups by airbrushing the faces, thinning out the figures, etc. Yet she starts with creating extraordinary scenes and subject matter that can allure both the public eye as well as art lovers and critics. She is always able to iconize the celebrities and supermodels that she shoots by taking a typical portrait an making it unusual and interesting while still keeping the subject's beauty intact. 

Megan Forehand

Since we're allotted one blog post to write about a local or commercial photographer, I thought I'd use this one to showcase my friend Megan Forehand. Megan graduated recently from UA with a Bachelors in Studio Art and since then has created a thriving portraiture business in Tuscaloosa.

Although her work can be categorized as commercial photography, Forehand has extensively studied fine art photography through her time her at UA, giving her exceptional knowledge of lighting, angles, photoshop, etc., and allowing her work to stand out amongst other local photographers. Her portfolio consists of weddings, babies, dancers, headshots, you name it; whatever the subject matter the model will always look spectacular and interesting. I feel that it's her knowledge of fine art photography that gives her an edge over other competetors.

What I have also always found interesting about Forehand is her drive and determination. She starting taking photo classes about 2 1/2 years ago, around the same time I did, and within a year began creating her own business. She is a photographer who truly loves taking pictures and shares her love for photography with her clients by making them look good and producing images for them that they will cherish forever.

Her website is http://www.meganforehandphoto.com/index2.php?v=v1

Joyce Tenneson

One of the most respected photographers of our time, Joyce Tenneson creates her own unique style of portraiture where her subjects seem to appear as superhuman, or somewhat like characters from mythology. With thirteen books and work shown in over 150 galleries worldwide, Tenneson has produced an expansive amount of work that varies from outstanding portraiture to illuminating still lifes.
One of my favorite series of hers, "Transformations," uses light and color in a way that gives the images an ethereal, dreamlike quality. Another series, "Wise Women," is a wonderful homage to influetional women in our society. Another series that greatly inspired some of my work is "Intimacy," a collection of flowers that beautifully displays color and texture.

David LaChapelle

One of the first photographers I've ever discovered was David LaChapelle. With his work mainly in fashion and entertainment, LaChapelle's images immaculately depict pop culture and have become notorious not only in the art world but in mainstream media as well. His pictures are instantly recognizable due to their vibrant colors, extreme reality, and often shocking content.

LaChapelle attended North Carolina School of the Arts, then the Arts Students League and School of Visual Arts in New York. He was first hired by Andy Warhol for Interview magazine, where he first began shooting celebrities. Not long after he began shooting for top editorial publications around the world. His images have graced the covers of Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Rolling Stone, just to name a few.

Once establishing himself as a contemporary photographer, LaChapelle began directing music videos, live theatrical events, and documentary film. He's done videos for artist such as No Doubt, Britney Spears, and Moby. He's also done stage work, such as Elton John's The Red Piano at Caesar's palace. LaChapelle's also directed several documentaries, such as the award-winning RIZE, a film about the dance style Krumping.

His work is still featured today in countless museums around the world. Within the past year his work was on exhibition at the Museo del Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City and also the Musee de La Monnaie in Paris.

Alessandro Bavari's "Sodom and Gomorrah"

When looking over several of the links listed in the ART 408 blog, I came across Alessandro Bavari, and Italian born artist who works mainly with photomontages. Bavari's work is an intricate collage of photos taken of people, animals, landscapes, and other subjects that result in surreal and fascinating images that will leave the viewer awestruck. His subject matter is also strongly influenced by indo-european myths and allegories as well as 14th and 15th century artists. 

"Sodom and Gomorrah" is an ongoing project of Bavari's that visually depicts the legendary damned cities. As Bavari writes on his website, "I have imagined these two cities as a kind of amusement park for visionaries, where my gaze is neither accusing nor benevolent, but simply amused and curious, open to taking in as much as possible." His interpretation of the cities is simply fascinating, with images that are as shocking and grotesque as the written descriptions of the town from the Bible and other texts. Several of the images in fact depict excerpts from the book of Genesis, such as the town oracle who predicts the onset chaos that would come from the city being damned, which is seen above. Or the two angels who come to stay as guests in Lot's home, as pictured below. 

Aside from the stunning visual imagery in "Sodom and Gomorrah" one must also take note of the complexity and detail within each image. Every image is huge in size and composed of hundreds of other images each intricately placed into the frame. It's almost as if each image is a puzzle in which one would have to stare at for several minutes in order to see every detail and separate images within it. 

To conclude, Alessandro Bavari's "Sodom and Gomorrah" is a visual masterpiece that brilliantly depicts one of culture's most legendary myths. His attention to detail and exquisite photomontaging creates images that are shocking, surreal, and will stay in the viewer's mind for days on end. 

Dance and Photography

Aside from photography, my other passion in life has always been dance. The concept of creating art through music and movement has always fascinated me, and I simply love discovering photographers who show a similar interest in the areas of performance, movement, and the body. So far I have merely dabbled into my research of dance photography, yet I am hoping to fully incorporate the subject matter into my final portfolio for this semester. This post serves as somewhat of a launching pad for me to get started and further my research...
Almost every master photographer has done a series relating to dance, movement, etc. One series that I've always found interesting is Richard Avedon's nude portraiture of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Avedon captures the dancer's movement splendidly while also producing great work pertaining to the body. Annie Leibovitz has also shot dancers in several of her series and magazine features. Leibotvitz shoots with a similar interest in the dancer's body and form. Posted below is from a series she did on dance icon Mikhail Barishnikov.














The work that I've most recently researched however is Barbara Morgan's extensive study of modern dancer Martha Graham and her company. Morgan spent years documenting these dancers and their graceful movement and lines, creating some of the best action portraits of her time.