“Lights, camera, clothes, models…” this is the call to action for the world of fashion photography. In the world of fashion, fame, and stardom, photographers must learn to function as directors, choreographers, and creative artists. From the early development of the camera to the present time, photographers have been both challenged and seduced by the possibilities of the camera to surpass the world of objects, clothes, and models and create a world of imagination, style, and cultural sophistication. Fashion photography at its best is a perfect amalgamation of the content presented by the photographers and their desire to capture a specific mood, feeling, or spirit. This is what is currently on view at Holden Luntz gallery in Palm Beach, Florida, in a show featuring photographers such as Jim Lee, Albert Watson, Robert Farber, Brian Duffy or Harry Benson.
As the viewer gazes at a memorable fashion based photograph they will be visually transported for an instant to an imaginary time and space and live in an imaginary and subliminal world. Photographers have found creative ways to mythologize, mystify, and ultimately sell the garments represented in their finished pictures. The pictures become more than photographs – they engage our individual and social psyche and create a desire, on the part of the viewer, to participate vicariously in the lifestyle that a great photograph suggests.
Within the many disciplines of culture, art works have been the product of assignments – Renaissance painters produced great paintings for Popes and Kings, great musicians produced concertos and librettos for noblemen and rulers, and great architects produced lasting monuments for public governments. In a similar way, talented fashion photographers have produced iconographic imagery for designers and publications alike. Top photographers in the industry have had working relationships with some of the most influential fashion designers such as Vionnet, Schaparelli, Chanel, and St. Laurent, just to name a few, and have generated photographs for top publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Maison & Jardin, Elle, etc. Together, all these components allowed for the creation of the genre of ‘fashion photography” beginning early in the 20th century.
Under the bright lights : fashionable moments
January 7 – February 16, 2017
Holden Luntz gallery
332 Worth Ave
Palm Beach, FL 33480
USA
