Digital Image Production: Seven photographs that changed fashion

After watching Seven photographs that changed fashion I felt like now I know more about fashion and beauty photography but at the same time I know nothing. Fashion photography is so complex and requires a lot of knowledge, from knowing how to use old cameras to the latest generation ones and how to direct your model so her/his pose to express what you want. I realised that fashion photography it's not just about clothes and selling clothes, even if this is one of the main purposes of it, but it's more like a form of expression. Expression of the era, the time it as taken, expression of the ideal of beauty at that time, expression of what photographers and magazines wanted us to see and of their creativity and innovation aswell.

In this film, Rankin, one of the best photographers nowadays, tries to re-create, or more like, to have his own modern approach of seven photographs tha changed fashion. Of course there were more, but this were one of the most influential and original ones. I really liked that he didn't use only new generation photography techniques and cameras but he shoot on old cameras too, on film etc. I think that makes him even a greater photographer because I think that not eerybody nowadays knows how to create beautiful photography using old equipment. Some of us don't know how to create beautiful photography even with new equipment, like me! But the thruth is, photography isn't for everyone, and it's not that easy as a 13 year old with a DSLR thinks. But we're free to try, isn't it?

I am really excited about this project and I can't wait to stick my fingers on a camera and to take pictures! I hope they will be at least decent.

Going back to our subject, here are some parts of the film I've watched (the most important ones) from YouTube which I find really useful in case I want to watch only a particular part, about one particular photographer, for example.

I found some of Rankin's approaces stunning, but obviously they just can't be like the original. But I think that he didn't want just to copy the originals but to transmit his own way of seeing of these masterpieces to us and I believe he did it really well. Some of the photos are really good, but I don't really like some of them, like his approach to Richard Avedon's "Dovima with Elephants". I find it less glamorous and beautiful as the original, and the model looks just too masculine in comparison with Avedon's. She's also much taller than the original model and makes the elephants lose their greatness, and the picture itself just doesn't transmit as much as Avedon's. Maybe the wrong model, maybe the wrong dress (they were different), maybe model's position, I am not really sure, but I think that the thruth is somewhere in between.

Overall I enjoyed wathing this film and I would like to see more photographers taking modern and their own approaches of famous photographs that changed fashion.