Vogue photographers have always offered a fresh take on fashion, producing unique images that defined the world of fashion. The publication has been continually producing diverse high-quality content.
The list of famous fashion photographers Vogue includes such well-known names as Cecil Beaton,Erwin Blumenfield, George Hoyningen-Huene, Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, Patrick Demarchelier, Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, David Bailey, Mario Testino, Richard Avedon, William Klein, Yasuhiro Wakabayashi and many others. Their images are daring and iconic. They are the reason “Vogue” keeps dominating the entire world.
Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton was a renowned British Vogue magazine photographer. In 1920’s he became a fashion photographer, capturing the world with his signature style of photography: portraits where the sitters became only a part of an unusual decorative pattern behind them. With the beginning of war his career changed direction a bit. He documented the consequences of war, which turned him into an established war correspondent. Cecil never settled for one thing and besides being a master of photography, he was also a gifted clothes designer.
Erwin Blumenfeld
Erwin was an influential photographer from Germany. His career took off in his 30’s when he started taking pictures of the clients of his leather shop in Amsterdam. Erwin prided himself in always breaking rules. It helped him push artistic boundaries to the limit and beyond. He viewed photography as art, shifting his focus from money and fame to quality and value. A major part of his extensive portfolio is his black and white female nudes.
Cecil Beaton saw Blumenfeld's work in Verve and quickly tracked him down. Beaton wrote in his diary, 'His merit as an artist lies in the fact that he is incapable of compromise, and although I would like him to work for Vogue, his pictures are not of Vogue quality, for they are much more serious, too provoking and better than fashion'. Despite these reservations, Beaton hired Blumenfeld and signed him on for a years' contract in 1937.
Despite the commercial environment he was working in he continued to experiment and refused to compromise his work for the fashion photography world. In turn, he created the 'doe eye' cover for Vogue as seen above on the left. The model, Jean Patchett, was reduced to a flat white background with a perfect pair of lips, cat eye, beauty spot, and no nose. This has been noted as not only one of Blumenfeld's best covers but one of the most iconic covers of Vogue's history.
Georhe Hoyningen-Huene
George Hoyningen-Huene is a well-known photographer born in Russia. Trying to escape from Revolution he fled to France. Starting out as a draughtsman, he later became a prominent Vogue magazine photographer. His works can be characterized by elegance, application of creative light and shadows, reminiscence to Greek sculptures. His inexhaustible supply of fashion shoot ideas helped him become supremely successful.
Guy Bourdin
Guy Bourdin is a talented French-born artist. He always wanted to become a painter, that’s why his works were inspired by his favorite artists Matisse and Balthus. His images are characterized by surrealism, dramatic colours, cropped composition. Guy’s photography is provocative and striking, to say the least. It is an embodiment of true high fashion photography.
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton was a prolific German-Australian artist. He began to be featured on the pages of Vogue in 1960’s. Due to the controversial nature of his photographers, his name was always surrounded with backlash. His black and white nude photos with a sense of voyeurism caused a mixed reaction in people. He liked to challenge the norms of acceptable, which helped him turn into one of the most talked and famous magazine photographers.
Horst P. Horst
Horst P. Horst was an outstanding German-American photographer. His fashion photography career launched in 1930 for French Vogue. Horst is known for his powerful pictures of famous women. He preferred studio work and always meticulously prepared for the photo session. Horst liked to use props and experiment with lighting - that set him apart from other famous magazine photographers . His sixty-year-long experience has really shaped the world of photography.
Irving Penn
Being one of the most influential famous fashion photographers Vogue, Irving Penn breathed new life into photography after the Second World War. He knew how to do fashion photography in an eye-catching way, creating a masterpiece after the masterpiece. His attention to composition and detail, elegance and dramatic lighting set him apart from others. During his seventy-year-long career he had experience of working in variety of genres and had the honor of creating Vogue’s only still life cover.
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was a legendary American fashion photographer. His black and white character-revealing portraits turned him into one of the most famous fashion photographers. Richard often wanted to create a story behind a photograph, claiming that commercial side was not that important. He tried to depart from all the conventions, often asking a model to show emotions and motions during fashion shoot, which was unheard of.
William Klein
He is an American-born French Vogue magazine photographer. William was often criticized for breaking all the possible rules of photography: a lot of his pictures were blurry or out of focus, distorted or grainy. When giving fashion photography tips for beginners people criticized him and told that Klein is an example of what not to do. Despite the outrage, William refused to compromise his approaches and that helped him start collaborating with Vogue in 1955. He disliked shooting in a studio and took fashions outdoors. Klein revolutionized the medium with his raw talent and ambitions. Below is an interview with William Klein about what his studio looks like from the inside.
Yasuhiro Wakabayashi
Starting out as an apprentice to Richard Avedon, this Shanghai-born photographer, quickly rose to fame and became one of the most famous fashion photographers. The way he executes his vision is precise and original. His style, which is characterized by surreal aesthetic, weird juxtapositions and bold colors, skillful retouching is easily recognizable. Looking at high end retouching before after proves what huge difference it makes for an ending result. Even at the age of 86 Yasuhiro continues to create fashion art photography in his studio in New York.
Behind the scenes of a Vogue fashion editorial shoot:
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