American photographer Richard Avedon (1923 – 2004) was best known for evoking emotions & action in his subjects - a practice that wasn’t common in fashion photography of that time. The result was inventive picture compositions with jumping/swirling/laughing models. Avedon also created elaborate sets sometimes involving more than 10 people for his shoots. A definite precursor to the high drama shoot sets we are so familiar with now.
Avedon first worked for Harper’s Bazaar in the 1940’s before switching to Vogue in the 60’s. His early fashion photography career even inspired a film: Funny Face starred Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire whose character Dick Avery is loosely based on Richard Avedon. In his later career life, Avedon made a successful switch to Fine Art photography focusing on portraits of working people from miners, cowboys, oil field workers to butchers.
