What makes a fashion photographer great?

[detune]

Connections certainly seem to make a difference, I know this as I've moved to Sydney where I have no connections and I'm struggling for sure... of course I'm no and have never been a super star, but I was able to make a small side living back home.

 

[Valentina83]

I agree with what I read:

-the eye for the good light, the good model and the good selection

-a personal vision/signature, that is still risky cause it can be boring after a while, especially when you start...

-personality

-and connenction. For me that's the most difficult part. I moved to Paris and I didn't known anyone and I'm not a "public relation" kind of person. I had to do a lot of efforts to start to work, but now it starts to pay.
And if you have ambition in this field or you are the son of steven miesel, or you have to manage to make a lot a PR work. Fashion it's also PR.

 

[detune]

sometimes I feel its' if you have a big mouth or not... seems like some photographers shout so loud they drown out the more humble of us

 

[ched]

This is sort of like asking why you need a director on a film set. The photographer is usually the traffic cop on the set, making decisions about when things move ahead and what needs to wait or go faster. Someone has to maintain the balance between the departments. That and the eye, already mentioned.

 

[homeboy]

Connections make it happen faster than lightning.....
but it can happen if you are good...

Connections matter but in the end it's your portfolio that speak louder than words. Just because someone can get you in contact with top editors and PR firms you might be turned down faster than lighting if your previous work isn't up to scratch. It's the creativity that's the most difficult part. Just like not everybody can become a director like Steven Spielberg, aiming to rival Testino will not work out for everyone no matter how skilled you might be at lighting, fixing settings and pressing the shoot button.

A photographer does more than just adjust the lighting and snap the pictures. There is creative side to it which separates the amateurs from pros like Testino. Give a furnished apartment, a camera and a model to four photographers and I can gurantee you that all of them will provide shots completely different from those from the other photographers. B)

The vision is high important as a photographer needs to communicate the message by playing around with light, angles, colour balance and location. A good fashion photographer also knows how to direct a model telling them how to pose and whatnot.

 

[CommunistCow]

Honestly I HATE Juergen Teller and Terry Richardson's work compared to the many many other great fashion photographers out there.

If you had to prioritize by importance what makes an image good it would go something like this

1. Creativity
2. Lighting and how it is set up (see #1)
3. Camera

Personally I shoot with a Canon 10d and will soon be shooting with a 5d. There are tons of people out there who take great shots with cheapy rebels and tons of people who take horrible photos with very nice and expensive cameras.

 

[iluvjeisa]

What are the qualities of a great fashion photographer?

The question popped up in another thread where we were discussing why there is such a small number of well known fashion photographers these days.

Quoting MMA: ""...it's easy to take a picture, but it's much more difficult to have a personal vision." - Does the photographer have to have a vision?

What other aspects can you think of?

 

[MulletProof]

Gah, such a difficult question, ILJ.
I will refrain from attempting to break things down from an objective approach and just speak from what makes a great fashion photographer for me.

First and foremost, as MMA says, a vision, I think you need to conceive and digest fashion in your own terms.. have a passion that's already gone beyond impressionable or alterable states, strong enough to ditch trends and adjusted into your own personality in order to project your own quirks through the lens.. which is such a rare ability these days, there are only a handful of photographers that you can identify right away and not necessarily for physical elements.

A great fashion photographer would also value beautiful clothes and the personality of the models he works with.. he would understand the role of a muse and not just project his own thoughts but be able to go through the eyes of his model and extract at least a small percentage of what makes the model internally distinctive.. he should know how to capture a soul.. either while in character or as mere human being. A forgettable picture often involves a model captured in a forgettable way.

Besides finding his muse (s), I think an ideal fashion photographer would also care enough about fashion to find a strong team that compliments his work (styling, hair, makeup) and nurtures his aesthetic through a humble exchange of ideas and inspiration from the vision of those he works with.

I also think a great fashion photographer is not afraid of defying tendencies and being faithful to what he finds excitement in.. he would explore and maybe even exploit shapes, locations, moods, and be able to stick to them until satisfied and have the ability to move on when he's no longer interested despite commercial success. Comfort and sincerity is key to warm up the hearts of viewers.
A great fashion photographer takes on a journey through fashion, plays with it, provokes it, teases it, respects it, and finds liberty in growing in it, and making it grow too in some way.

I might come up with a few more ideas for this.. I think about this quite often, especially when encountered by the work of Terry.

 

[ultramarine]

I think that all great fashion photographers must have a style ... this style in particular has to be so polished and strong that makes you know who took a picture just by looking at it ... as well, the photographer has to be unafraid to collaborate ... they have to trust the team and be open to suggestions and collaborate ...
Another important thing is that the photographer has to have a passion for both photography and fashion ... and I think most of them have to keep up with the shows and whats going on on their media (at least until they have a name and still some do)

 

[agee]

Let me ask a question, is what we see on the fashion pages most likely the "vision" of the photographer, stylist / fashion editor or the magazine's editor in chief or the ? I ask the question "likely" because I know that one party is responsible for 100% of what we see, but what is most likely?

 

[MulletProof]

I think it really depends on the publication and the photographer.. US Vogue for instance is extremely strict, they have a vision that collaborators fit themselves into, not the other way around, sometimes you can't even tell the difference between a photograph by Sims and a photograph by Demarchelier, whereas in magazines like i-D or Dazed, the stories change dramatically as you flip through its pages and the photographs have more sequence with previous (or personal) work of the photographer, the requirement seems to be more 'impress us in order to work for us'.

What I love is when a photographer is stubborn enough to stick to his formula instead of trying to appeal and conforming into someone else's parameters of work (hoping to slowly inject his own ideas), and that development of such a strong vision eventually brings on the attention of even the most strict publications, that want to show their 'products' through his lens.. it doesn't happen often and when it does, it comes in such a small amounts but I bet it feels like a small sense of victory for him/her.

I can think of Vanderperre's recent one-picture debut for US Vogue.. his style is completely intact but it also resonates well with the magazine's aesthetic.. if anything he went through his older work, which was less somber than it is now, but it's still 100% him.

[vogue.com]

His second and last (?) appearance the following month seems a little more strangled though.

[bwgreyscale]

 

[softgrey]

The question popped up in another thread where we were discussing why there is such a small number of well known fashion photographers these days.

Quoting MMA: ""...it's easy to take a picture, but it's much more difficult to have a personal vision." - Does the photographer have to have a vision?

What other aspects can you think of?

i think this applies to all photographers doing any and every kind of photography...


i think that fashion photographers have to LOVE fashion...
pure and simple...
they have to love it love it love it...
like a drug...
and they have to want the fashion to be the star of the photograph...
not the model, not the location, etc etc...

they have to care about the clothes and how they move and how they look, etc...
it's always got to be the FASHION FIRST...
it's ALL ABOUT THE CLOTHES>>>

 

[blueorchid]

I think people can confuse the idea of having a "personal vision" with having the same style in EVERY photograph, though. Personal visions can change.

 

[tigerrouge]

According to the given legend, many a great fashion photographer went into it for the fanny rather than the fashion, as if it were somehow less-than-manly to be in it for the art.

 

[Mchunu]

I just wanted to say that I don't think that having a love/passion for fashion is a necessity in being a great fashion photographer.

 

[Kanna]

^ I agree, if he/she is a fashion photographer.

 

[iluvjeisa]

i think this applies to all photographers doing any and every kind of photography...


i think that fashion photographers have to LOVE fashion...
pure and simple...
they have to love it love it love it...
like a drug...
and they have to want the fashion to be the star of the photograph...
not the model, not the location, etc etc...

they have to care about the clothes and how they move and how they look, etc...
it's always got to be the FASHION FIRST...
it's ALL ABOUT THE CLOTHES>>>

Why do they have to love fashion - to produce beautiful photograph or to intuitively know what separates a specific garment from another and present that aspect?

Or is it more that they can't have a complete disdain for fashion because that leads to that the editors and photographer can't communicate well...?

 

[Zazie]

For me, I prefer photographers that have a FRESH point of view. Who likes something unexpected, different. Who can give me new ideas. I wish more photojournalists will agree to work with me as they photograph from the "gut", their instincts are lightning quick and usually spot on. They are more interested in character than beauty and that results in powerful images. I prefer to catch the model when he or she isn't "ready", with a spontaneous expression or movement/gesture. When they start "posing", unless they are VERY good models who can project a strong persona, it's going to get very tedious as I know I'd hate most of the pictures. A lot of models are vapid, and it shows, believe it or not. That's when the models will have to close their eyes/do some big actions as that is more likely to get us ONE good shot. I hate working with photographers who are too caught up with their own "style" and the shoots start to look repetitious, the same aura/light, same "mood", capturing the same expression, etc.. I have a very low threshold of tolerance for boredom!

 

[iluvjeisa]

For me, I prefer photographers that have a FRESH point of view. Who likes something unexpected, different. Who can give me new ideas. I wish more photojournalists will agree to work with me as they photograph from the "gut", their instincts are lightning quick and usually spot on. They are more interested in character than beauty and that results in powerful images. I prefer to catch the model when he or she isn't "ready", with a spontaneous expression or movement/gesture. When they start "posing", unless they are VERY good models who can project a strong persona, it's going to get very tedious as I know I'd hate most of the pictures. A lot of models are vapid, and it shows, believe it or not. That's when the models will have to close their eyes/do some big actions as that is more likely to get us ONE good shot. I hate working with photographers who are too caught up with their own "style" and the shoots start to look repetitious, the same aura/light, same "mood", capturing the same expression, etc.. I have a very low threshold of tolerance for boredom!

I can see what you are saying with the last bit....but it all comes down to if your ideas resonate with the style of the photographer. The very best ones are quite recognizable, yet never repetitive.

One mystery to me is why I find fashion photography so fantastic. I really think some of the best art of the last century came from Vogue and Bazaar. I was never too much of a fashion person...so I don't really understand why the imagery would be so striking to me compared to all other art forms. Is it the fashions itself or is it something about the dynamics of the situation? Or is it the beauty of the people - the minds of the creators, the bodies and, I would argue, feelings of the models?

Obviously, considering my cluelessness about what makes me like fashion photography at all, I can't explain what makes a good fashion photographer. It just looks right or it does not, and for every case I could give a detailed opinion as to why, but I do have a hard time coming up with a general rule.

I like what MulletProof said about capturing a soul. Or capturing the ideal person who should be waring that particular dress.

 

[BetteT]

I just merged this with an old thread on the same topic.