Is traditional fashion photography finished?

[raid]

bbc.com has this article today on the future of fashion photography.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131204-is-fashion-photography-finished

 

[jsrockit]

Fashion is very cyclical. I would imagine the photography involved changes often too. I would never count anything out when it comes to fashion.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Fashion is very cyclical.

For a moment I thought you had written cynical, which would be just as accurate

😉

 

[jarski]

For a moment I thought you had written cynical, which would be just as accurate

😉

I also read it cynical, and this post made me realize my mistake 😛

 

[daveleo]

Fashion is very cyclical. I would imagine the photography involved changes often too. I would never count anything out when it comes to fashion.

Agree.
I can't think of anything that is as dynamic and ever-changing as fashion designs and customer desires.

(o well maybe . . . digital camera designs 😉 )

 

[Lauffray]

Some people like to announce and predict the death of things way too much 😀
I tend not to listen to these folks much anymore

 

[mwoenv]

Can anyone consider the images shown as part of the article of decent quality? On the other hand it's good enough for the instantly-forgettable work being done.

 

[ianstamatic]

Maybe for Nick Knight it is.
His early stuff was so awesomely good.
His latest stuff (if its not his asistants work) is just kinda meh in comparison.

 

[DominikDUK]

Nick Knight knows a lot about digital manipulation and was a very creative photographer unfortunately this is a thing of the past. 🙁
As has been said before Fashion photography is very cynical and cyclical. In fact I predict the renaissance of big Studio productions a la Horst, Beaton, etc... the reason for that is that fashion photography was always the polar opposite of what the masses viewed as fashionable.

Furthermore this article is the typical social network, instantagram and I-phone hyping (trash) that we photographer are constantly getting bombarded with. Not a single photograph made with one of these devices oozes sofistication and beauty like old time (up to the 1990's) fashion photography. Once the world is saturated with instangram social website I-phone pix people want the old sofistication and beauty back.

Long Live Horst, Ritts, Beaton, Avendon, Penn, etc...

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

As a former (young) fashion photographer, I agree with Nick´s opinions. fashion photography used to be a forum where creativity, great sense of graphic impact, new techniques both with film and lightning were cherished. Now it is a platform where "brands" rule, bloggers draw the attention. It seems that the more your style is like the simple I Phone Hipstamatic imaginery, the more popular you will be. I lost my interest already more than 10 years ago. some of the images I was doing then, can be seen on my site, link below...

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

Nick Knight has long been at the forefront of innovation and 'revolution' in fashion photography. But, for maybe too long, he's been a bit beyond practical work. His prognostication is in line with his frame of mind, but probably not with reality. Even as print magazines might experience decline, there will still be a place for quality still photography that isn't 'disposable.' As convenient as an iPad is, it will never replace the feeling i had when i was in high school and went to the store to buy the new issue of Vogue and Bazaar. PAGES. The scent. All that stuff. Fashion is dreamy. And, seems to need a tactile, physical base.

Instagram? Flavor of the week, relatively.

"Long Live Horst, Ritts, Beaton, Avendon, Penn, etc..." — yessir.

Is anyone else as bored with fashion photography as i am — since they've all gone digital? There was a time when each photographer had a very pronounced signature. You could easily recognize even a single image as being from a certain photographer. Nowadays, digital makes it all very much the same. I haven't bought a magazine for over five years, and i used to live in/love that stuff.

 

[robert blu]

As a former (young) fashion photographer, I agree with Nick´s opinions. fashion photography used to be a forum where creativity, great sense of graphic impact, new techniques both with film and lightning were cherished. Now it is a platform where "brands" rule, bloggers draw the attention. It seems that the more your style is like the simple I Phone Hipstamatic imaginery, the more popular you will be. I lost my interest already more than 10 years ago. some of the images I was doing then, can be seen on my site, link below...

Interesting photos in your site!
robert

 

[DominikDUK]

Nick Knight has long been at the forefront of innovation and 'revolution' in fashion photography. But, for maybe too long, he's been a bit beyond practical work. His prognostication is in line with his frame of mind, but probably not with reality. Even as print magazines might experience decline, there will still be a place for quality still photography that isn't 'disposable.' As convenient as an iPad is, it will never replace the feeling i had when i was in high school and went to the store to buy the new issue of Vogue and Bazaar. PAGES. The scent. All that stuff. Fashion is dreamy. And, seems to need a tactile, physical base.

Instagram? Flavor of the week, relatively.

"Long Live Horst, Ritts, Beaton, Avendon, Penn, etc..." — yessir.

Is anyone else as bored with fashion photography as i am — since they've all gone digital? There was a time when each photographer had a very pronounced signature. You could easily recognize even a single image as being from a certain photographer. Nowadays, digital makes it all very much the same. I haven't bought a magazine for over five years, and i used to live in/love that stuff.

Peter Lindbergh is a good example his old work is superb his new digital work leaves me cold.

But then the most Innovative Fashion work of the late 90's to 2010 was not published is vogue but in Id and other more indie fashion mags.

Interestingly a lot of cosmetics ads are from the film and era. Armani perfume with Diane (Heid)Kruger for example.

But it's not only the photography that has changed but the models as well up to the 2000 models had a personality and were unique up to a point but today it's enough that you're young and decent looking. Christy Turlington at 44 still looks better than 90% of today's models imo.

 

[Ranchu]

Truly lousy photographs in that article, though I kind of liked the one with the tree and the silver dress. The article is simply a click bait, petapixel type thing. There's plenty of excellent fashion photography in any given issue of W, they're like three dollars.

🙂