I have chosen Ritt's as he is renowned for his portrait photography in the fashion world. He began his photography career in the late 70’s and quickly gained a reputation as a master of art and commercial photography. From 1988 onwards he directed many influential and award winning music videos and commercials.
Herb Ritts's work is provocative, striking, simple and beautiful. The usage of black-and-white film in all his work is distinguished. The blackest blacks are full of depth and tiny nuances. As you can see in the image of Nelson Mandela, he has used a deep black background, the light has picked up every linear detail and crevice on his face. This appears to have been taken in a studio which is relevant to my work.
His composition is as much about the subject that fills the space as it is about the negative space. He has a remarkable ability to capture textures and incorporate them in the image to make it whole, whether it's skin, an octopus, sand, cracking clay on the skin or the dry earth of the Mojave Desert., that includes for me skin , hair and fabric worn my the subjects.
The organic shapes of his nudes, along with the reflective quality of the skin, always glistening, is a modern look on a timeless theme - the body. His portraits capture a totally different mood they are no longer about mystery, but quite the opposite. All of his subjects seem to be quite comfortable around him and allow him into their private world. They are very close up and personal. It is as if they want to share their worlds and their lives with him. And it shows in the intimacy and the intensity of the portraits. The way he captures the people behind the personalities is refreshing. I also really love the contrast in his work between extreme glamour and raw reality.
In addition to producing portraits and editorial fashion for Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview and Rolling Stone, Ritts also created successful advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Donna Karan, Gap, Gianfranco Ferré, Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Levi's, Pirelli, Polo Ralph Lauren, Valentino among others. Since 1988 he directed numerous influential and award winning music videos and commercials. His fine art photography has been the subject of exhibitions worldwide, with works residing in many significant public and private collections.
In his life and work, Herb Ritts was drawn to clean lines and strong forms. This graphic simplicity allowed his images to be read and felt instantaneously. They often challenged conventional notions of gender or race. Social history and fantasy were both captured and created by his memorable photographs of noted individuals in film, fashion, music, politics and society.
For me his work captures the beauty of the human body through seductive and very beautiful lighting which give the pictures are clean linear definition. His work in my opinion is also a little pretentious and a little too contrived. I actually prefer natural shots caught of people seemingly unaware of the camera, however I can see and feel the movement in the athletic running shot of Flo Jo and in the Versace ad of the flowing fabric. Most of his images are shot centrally to the page and the lighting reflects of the contours of the subject matter which is the human body or face. The images are very atmospheric and for me captivate the the sheer false world of fashion its aesthetics! The lighting is very subtle and is extremely complimentary to the models in the shots. Most of the images I have selected are either close up shots of faces and their eyes are focused directly into the camera or slightly turned away as Madela.
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