Is Fashion Photography an Art Form
Clothes, they say can tell a story; and a fashion photographer ensures that it is told in the best possible manner. Of course, photography is about styles and techniques, but it’s a photographer who manages to weave a story around a dress and ultimately helps to sell it.
That is perhaps the reason why a seemingly simple task of taking pictures of models wearing designer clothes has become a multibillion dollar industry today. It’s not only clothes that these photographers manage to sell; they also sell accessories. Watches, shoes, hand bags, jewelry…the list of things that can be sold is endless. Thus, in essence, it is just another aspect of advertising photography, where the products that are being sold are the clothes and accessories.
When a magazine hits the stands, men and women make a beeline for them to see what the latest trend to hit the streets is. And if the photographer is unable to justify the beauty of the design, the whole effort’s wasted; the designer’s job seems to have gone down the drain, the model seems to be nothing but a lifeless doll and the magazine that displays these clothes loses its followers.
It’s the job of the fashion photographer to bring to life the designers clothes and turn it into an art form. The fact that a photograph helps to sell a product deters many from calling fashion photography an art form. But it isn’t always about the clothes; in fact if it weren’t for photographers, some clothes wouldn’t look as glamorous as they do on cover photos of magazines. Right from setting the right mood, getting the right pose and editing the picture to producing an end result that’s flawless and near perfect; the photographer uses his artistic skills. In fact, there exist photographers like David LaChappelle and Edward Steichen who’ve come up photographs where it’s difficult to discern where fashion ended and where art began; they completely blend as one! But of course, there are some whose work cannot be classified into this category. These are often amateurs who’re easily distinguished by their lack of styling skills. It’s common for their pictures to be characterized by models that aren’t appropriate for the clothes, accessories that do not match the style or clothes that look shabby and wrinkled.
It isn’t always about exotic locales and beautiful clothes; it’s also about the manner in which a photographer uses different elements that result in a perfect picture!
The author of this article is a photographer based in Miami. Besides fashion photography, he is also involved in advertising photography and catalog photography.
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