#contextualclass

FASHION PRESENTATION

Rankin | Seven Photographs That Changed The Fashion World

In this class, we watched a video about the photographer known as Rankin. In this video, Rankin looked at seven photographs which changed the fashion world and successfully recreated them with his own models and equipment.  

The first image is from photographer Cecil Beaton. Rankin recreated the 1934 photo from Vogue of the white Panama hat. "Beaton brought to it his typical wit and elegance so that what she is wearing is secondary to the beauty of the image." Rankin had help from pop star and model, Sophie Ellis Bextor as his model as she was perfect for the 1930s and 1940s look.

Second Image - Erwin Blumenfeld, 1950s Vogue. "Blumenfield was all about visual experimentation. He was an innovative fashion photographer of his era and a pioneer for colour photography. His stunning Vogue cover in 1950 shows the influence of the surrealist but also shows the excitement of the country looking forward to the next century," Heidi Klum was chosen to be the muse for this shoot because of her chameleon tendencies and fame.

Third Image - Richard Avedon, 1955, "Dovima With Elephants". "Classic styling with energy and creative spirit. Daring, stylish and ambitious, his pictures reflected the optimism of 50s America and turned him into the first celebrity fashion photographer. His status was confirmed by Funny Face, a film based on Avedon but was was made famous for starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. His photo of a model with elephants that was in Harpers Bazaar in 1955.” Rankin chose supermodel Erin O'Connor for this recreation because of her tall and thin figure.

Fourth Image - David Bailey, 1963, Jean Shrimpton. "Before Bailey, fashion photography in Britain was still a gentleman's trade however he broke through all that bringing an energy, charm and incredible life to his images. Bailey is the perfect fashion photographer combining technical brilliance with sheer force of personality to create photos that have a sense of total spontaneity. He created some of the most iconic images of the 60s and most of them were with his muse and girlfriend, Jean Shrimpton.” Rankin chose to recreate the image from Vogue in 1963 with his own girlfriend, Tuuli Shipster.

Fifth Image - Helmut Newton, 1975, "Le Smoking”, original model. "In the era of sexual liberation, pornography going mainstream and conventions being challenged; Newton's voyeuristic images of strong women in often highly charged sexual scenarios often captured the new mood. His pictures also suggested that fashion photographs could be more than just a beautiful snapshot. His images felt like frames from a slightly seedy film and moved fashion photography forward again.” The photo taken for Vogue in 1975 is the one that Rankin recreated with an androgynous and mysterious feel. This was taken in the Rue Aubriot in Paris outside Newton's apartment. Rankin went back to the same street for his shoot and used models, Jade Parfitt and Mollie Gondi.

Sixth Image - Herb Ritts, 1984, "Fred with Tires". "Ritts' work has been described as so dark you can see the shadows and the light. He wanted to make beautiful images with beautiful people and in doing so was responsible for the way men were portrayed in fashion. His image 'Fred With Tyres' which was about workers in denim was shown in Italian Vogue in 1984 and caused quite a stir.” To recreate this image, Rankin used top male model David Gandy who is the face of Dolce and Gabanna.

1)   When the 1950s ended this became the “golden age” of photography and three decades after that because this was when colour photography was getting used a lot more and became a photographer’s standard instead of black and white. Another thing that happened in this time was that photographers wanted to explore the world more and see what it looked like through a camera.

2)   Joel Sternfeld’s equipment looks kind of a like a 10x8 film camera with a tripod he could possibly be using this for bigger film size and better quality in the image.

3)   Robert Frank brought an outsider’s perspective as he began a 9-month road trip around America. In the book itself he wanted you to take each picture in on their own and not have others in the way

4)   His attitude to photography is as they say “is always on the offensive” he wants to be aggressive to provoke a situation. Even In the interview they had with him he was blunt, quick comebacks and honest.

5)   The reason why Joel Meyerowitz rejected Henri Cartier-Bressons decisive moment because New York and Paris are entirely different places so they will need to change the style of each place

6)   Tony Ray Jones had key pointers about being a Successful Street photographer and they are –

Be more aggressive

Get more involved by talking to people

Stay with the subject matter by being patient

Take simpler pictures

Don’t take boring pictures

Get in closer

7)   British photographers have gravitated to the beach as an ideal location because the subject matter would show certain things like family drama and dreams of love that they wouldn’t normally show anywhere else.

8)   With the saying “surface rather than soul” I think it means that you see it for what it is then learning more about what it’s like or what it can do

9)   Observations from the road trips from -

This projects shows America in the 60s/70s

In that time, it was shocking to see colour photographs because people didn’t do them then, they all did black and white because it was the normal

10)William Eggleston is regarded as “King” because he showed that colour photography could be used as a form of art

In our contextual class we got to watch a documentary that show the fashion side of photography and how certain photos made a big impact on it. Throughout the documentary we get shown a photographer called Rankin trying to recreate the seven images that became the most significant fashion photographs of the 20thcentury.

Task 1

The seven photographs and photographers are

“White Panama Hat” by Cecil Beaton taken in 1934

Vogue cover taken in January issue of vogue in 1950

“Dovima with Elephants” by Richard Avedon taken in 1955

Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey taken in 1962

Rue Aubriot in Paris by Helmut Newton taken in 1975

Untitled by Guy Bourdin taken in 1970

Fred with Tyres” by Herb Ritts in 1984

Cecil Beaton was an English photographer and also a designer that was alive from 1904 till 1980

Edwin Blumenfeld was a German American fashion photographer that was alive from 1897 till 1969

Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He was alive from 1923 till 2004

David Bailey is an English fashion and portrait photographer. He was born in 1962 and is still alive

Helmut Newton was a German Australian fashion photographer. He was alive from 1920 till 2004

Guy Bourdin was a French fashion photographer and also an artist. He lived from 1928 till 1991

Herb Ritts was an American fashion photographer and a director. He lived from 1952 till 2002

Task 2

American Beauty clip

The mood and lighting change all of a sudden to where it’s just focusing on the man in the audience and the main cheerleader dancing, showing that he can’t look away from her by having a close up on his eyes. The mood in this clip seems like a normal basketball game all happy and excited for the match and all of a sudden it changes halfway through the clip, where its just two people in the room and it seems like that it’s all happening in the guy’s imagination to where she zips down her top and roses fly out indicating it is his imagination then it snaps back to reality showing the cheerleaders finishing there dance.

The Birds clip

The mood in this clip is quiet and tense as it seems in the classroom they are waiting to see what is happening to where they try to sneak away to safety where it becomes chaotic as they all try to run and scream from the birds attacking them. The lighting in this is normal as it is trying to look like daylight as they are outside

The Shining clip

Awards Research 

Awards Research 

Stock Research

Contextual Class (Task 2)

Task 1 & 2

This is a busy black and white picture

With a lot of people walking in different directions in the image

At the centre of the image is a man on the ground, possibly injured and seems as if as no one has noticed him or even cares

Task 3 & 4

In contextual class we were put into groups and given different books and we had to select one image and say what is happening in the image.

In this image I see a black woman on a chair in a relaxed, possibly sexual pose having a cigarette, she is in some sort of sailor uniform with a necklace made of white beads and has her face painted white.

After doing this task we found that the person in this image is a black Nigerian woman or possibly a trans woman. Also, possibly as sex worker with how she is sitting and her outfit. With her face being painted white we thought that her sexuality is not welcome in her own culture.