The commercial and formal artistic duality of fashion photographs steadfastly held my attention this past semester. Fashion images are most easily identified in the context of glossy sartorialist publications yet many have the formal artistic qualities worthy of gallery showcases. It is my belief, and others, that the paramount difference between high art and fashion photography lies more upon the context and overall process rather than the artist’s intention and final presentation of the work.
For this body of work, I choose to place models in less than conventional settings as I feel this allows the clothing to become the focus of the images. By giving the models an opportunity to style themselves an underlying relationship between the model and garment is manifested therefore adding another layer to the narrative. The concept of narrative is furthered by using a variety of field depths and off-kilter points of view to display subtle details illustrated formally. In order to intensify the narrative qualities of my work a strong emphasis is placed on natural lighting and the creation of a tableau. Influenced heavily by those photographers of the past two decades, it was my intent to create broken narratives enticing the consumer by fashioning open ended scenarios presenting the viewer with all the necessary tools for an imaginative ending.
