2. Genre
The Genre of Photography that I am going to discuss in my essay is Fashion photography. I
have many reasons for wanting to discuss this. My main reason is because I have always had an
interest in fashion photography, so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about something
that interests me. The other reason behind choosing this genre is because the fashion industry
has recently been under a lot of scrutiny because of the way there images were seen as not
depicting a ‘real woman’ and I think this ties in very well with the essay question and gives me
a lot of room to discuss and debate.
Particularly I will be looking at fashion images that were published in magazines. This is
because these images reach a large range of people and I feel it will open my discussion more.
4. This is the first image I plan to discuss in my essay.
This is an image by the photographer Edward
Steichen and it was used in Vanity Fair’s 1928 issue.
It is likely that he would have only used his camera
and lighting to capture this image compared with
the equipment and technology we have now. The
reason I am using this photographer is to outline
how much has changed over the last 100 years
within fashion photography and discuss my view on
how it seems as if we used to capture the real but
now we only capture the imaginary within fashion
photography.
6. This is the second image I plan to discuss. The
reason I have chosen this image by Richard
Avedon is because I think it represents a change in
fashion and also a shift in the way people are
expected to look. I also plan to talk about the idea
of the jewel that convers the models eye in the
image and discuss about how perhaps this is the
start of moving away from capturing the real and
that now photographers were more interested in
capturing the imaginary.
7. Image 3: Tim Walker
Year: 2011
Publication: Italian Vogue
8. I have chosen to talk about this image took by
Tim Walker in my essay because I think it is a
perfect representation of how many Fashion
images are now leading to wards capturing the
imaginary rather than reality. I will also discuss
the roll of technology such as Photoshop, and
how that has perhaps lead us towards wanting to
capture the imaginary.
9. Image 4: Satoshi Saikusa
Year: 2013
Publication: Marie Claire
I have chosen this image because I think it
represents that consumers do not want to see the
real they want the imaginary. This is because this
image is photo shopped so that the models skin
looks perfect and flawless. I noticed that all the
magazines I had researched still showed there
front cover models as flawless with perfect skin
even though all of the recent controversy with
Photoshop (which I will discuss further in my
essay).
10. Key points within my essay will be:
• 1920’s capturing the real
• 1960’s/70’s introduction of the imaginary
• 2011- imaginary with the introduction of Photoshop
• 2013- consumers still want the imaginary
• Photoshop controversy-has anything changed since
this?
• Future predictions
