“All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth”

Richard Avedon was one of the first photographers who inspired me when I started getting into the photography world. He was one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, who changed the genre of photography with his provocative portraits.

Just to bring you into context, he was born in New York in 1923, and he got immersed in the photography world when he was only 12 years old. Amazing, right? Just a kid and he was doing portraits! At a very young age, he was already working for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. I believe Avedon was responsible for a big revolution in fashion photography in the 50’s. Due to his hard work, his talent and passion, I feel I can see every person’s soul he captured.

Even though he used to take portraits from fashion celebrities, he always showed them in a revolutionary manner at that time, which I call “Avedon style”. The model would stay in his studio for hours, sometimes more than 4 or 5, up to the point of exhaustion. Then, when they didn’t even remember they were at a photo shoot, Richard could capture the most natural essence, their soul and personality. What I love about this technique is that Avedon was able to show his characters as regular beings, as someone with feelings, desires, sometimes even suffering, and not just perfect models posing in front of his camera. Moreover, he used to ask people to jump or dance and, right at that moment, he would shoot capturing the person with no concerns about how he/she was looking.

Apart from fashion celebrity’s portraits and many other projects he was involved in, he dedicated 5 to “In the American West”. This one is for sure my favorites of all his photos. He travelled around USA, visiting farmers, miners, homeless people, prostitutes, kids, prisoners, all kinds of people he thought they were part of the real United States life at that time. I am fascinated about this job, because he chose to portrait people that nobody would have ever seen if it wasn’t because of him. I believe he gave this people the chance to feel they were important to somebody.

I understand that no matter how criticized he was because of showing suffering in his images, Richard Avedon is, and will be, one of the master photographers of history. He showed imperfection when most of photographers were too focused on perfection. He showed us impure and purity at the same time and a kind of beauty that wasn’t considered beautiful for most of the society at that time.

"My photographs don’t go below the surface. They don’t go below anything. They’re readings of the surface. I have great faith in surfaces. A good one is full of clues. But whenever I become absorbed in the beauty of a face, in the excellence of a single feature, I feel I’ve lost what’s really there…been seduced by someone else’s standard of beauty or by the sitter’s own idea of the best in him. That’s not usually the best. So each sitting becomes a contest." - Richard Avedon - 1980