Photo Adventure Thursday : The Avedon Project

Can I just say, 

YAY FOR BEING DONE WITH SCHOOL!

ok, that felt good.

Anyway, It's photo day!

This past week, I had to scramble to get a final portfolio done  (I was mostly unaware that it needed to happen)

We were supposed to pick a famous photographer and emulate their work.  Not easy!

I decided to do Richard Avedon.

If you aren't familiar with his work  SHAME!!!!

He is only one of the BEST photographers EVER. 

EVER!

He was mostly famous for his celebrity and fashion work done in New York.

But in the early 80's, he took on a project for a museum.

He was supposed to go photograph the American West.

Ya' know, cowboys n' deserts n' stuff.

But he didn't do that.  Instead, he wandered around the small towns, (over 6 summers, mind you) and picked random people that he liked to photograph.  

People from all walks of life, hobos, housewives, miners, teens, and other random people.

The photos are simple.  The person stands against a white background in the shade.  

Yep. thats it.

He shot them from straight on.  (kind of a no-no)

But here's where it gets good......

He was able to connect with these people.  He photographed them as if he or the camera were not even there.

Like if you saw this person on the street, or in their home, or waiting for the bus, 

.this is what they would look like

Not and easy thing to convey.  In fact, that's why people love Avedon so much.  

He was gifted.

Here are some of Avedon's photos from that project:

 I love them.  But then again, I'm the artsy-fartsy type.  Some people like it and some don't.

Anyway, I gave myself the tall order of copying this.  Not sure why I thought it was a good idea, because mine didn't come CLOSE.  But I still gave it a shot.

I had super wonderful friends and family that came out to help me do this.  I was so grateful!

I originally had everything set up outside, but then it started to SNOW!  I had to move the backdrop into my kitchen where the light was not very good {because the background is paper}.  Oh well.

it's a small portfolio, but I think I got some good stuff.  There were a lot of great ones, but I picked these few because they were the most similar to Avedon's style.

So glad to be finished!