On a rainy summer's day in Paris I excitedly joined the queue at the Jeu de Paume to see the much awaited Richard Avedon Retrospective. The first ever Avedon retrospective in Paris, is a feast of portraiture in the clean minimalist elegant style of Avedon. Though Avedon shot almost all the big names in business, politics and the arts my favourite photos were the series shot in the Amercian West of real people, shop assistants and mine workers, the homeless and black jack dealers. These large black and white prints, some mounted on light boxes are mesmerizing, the souls of these people stare straight at you.. A must if you are in Paris.
http://www.jeudepaume.org/?page=article&idArt=539&lieu=1&PHPSESSID=f07afaabedf542f8e9364e5196dcc90b
These portraits of the lovely Francesca were inspired by the great portrait photographers show's I saw yesterday in Paris, the fab Annie Leibowitz and the elegant Mr. Richard Avedon.These two are the masters of the simple and pared down portrait with the focus on the subject. I am so use to doing portraits in chaotic situations on location surrounded by people and literally grabbing the shot I decided it would be fun to create a couple of studio portraits of my own. Using a simple black background and a direct flash with a grid angled left of camera from high above powered down to 1/4 and a second highlight flash behind the lovely Francesco powered down to 1/64 these are the results. There is something to be said for the calm of working in your own space... thanks for the inspiration.
