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.