For Sara-Lane: Some Fashion/Art Photographers

HERE is a gallery of images by Candice Wouters. As you can see, Wouters seems to be very interested in fashion and making "beautiful" pictures. Her work has, if not an "old" look, at least a "retro" look. This comes from her use of color, lighting, and the faded-out nature of some of the prints. The have a 60s, 70s, and in some cases early 80s appearance. But, pay attention to what she's doing here. She's not JUST making "awesome-looking" images (which they certainly are). She's got a purpose for them, and it's not particularly what you called "some deep meaning". She is trying to subvert the conventions of "fashion photography" by applying them to (in most cases) self portraiture. She's using a high-fashion stylistic approach for her own purposes. Is she trying to get us to think about how women have been portrayed in the mass media images to which these refer? Is she trying to give us a powerful woman in the type of imagery in which women have historically been merely sex objects? Whatever she may be trying to convey, she has us thinking. And it's because of conceptual choices that she made and the interactions, within each image, between the subject (figure) and her environment. In the case of the work your planning, what is the relationship between subject and environment going to make us think about? What are these images going to do?

Also, check out these links to photos by August Bradley:

http://www.augustbradley.com/

August Bradley Fashion Photography

Notice how what he's interested in is taking old Baroque and High Renaissance portraiture conventions and combining them with the conventions of contemporary high-fashion photography. Now, he does some major digital manipulation of these images to give them the appearance of something that exists somewhere between photography and painting/illustration. Still, I think there are things to observe and learn from in his work. It is the creation of something that feels almost too perfect to be real, while simultaneously too realistic to be a complete fabrication that is Bradley's main focus. He wants us to notice the reference to older master paintings while forcing it to coexist with high-fashion.

Maybe neither of these artists speak to exactly what you want your particular series to do. I just want you to notice that each of them has a specific purpose behind his or her images. So, what do you want your work to do? Or, at the very least, how, specifically, are they going to communicate the things that you are interested in when it comes to fashion and the antique?