Richard Avedon

13 Dec. 2011 - People like lists - or at least I do. The magazine the "Professional Photographer" published a list with the 100 most influential photographers. At the top spot is Richard Avedon. I had never heard of him (my mistake), so here is what the magazine wrote about him:
Avedon was the epitome of the modern photographer – a charming, sophisticated man-about-town and a photographer who was able to cross photographic genres. It did not matter where he was, which format he chose to work with or who his subject was, the image would be an Avedon image. It would have that unmistakeable elegance and confidence that marked him out, not just as a great photographer but as a highly successful commercial photographer, who was able to create instantly iconic and memorable images. So what’s his influence? His large-format portrait style with the stark white background, his use of two images to tell one portrait story, his use of strobe lights in fashion, the book In The American West? Of course it’s all this and more.Avedon is a photographer whom every photographer should get to know via his books. They cover his whole career and not only chart his own photographic and personal development but also, that of commercial photography over the last half of the twentieth century.

Quite simply he is No.1. www.richardavedon.com