A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

“A picture speaks more than a thousand words." - How true this statement is! A camera captures moments and conveys them much more effectively than words can ever attempt to. The right kind of photograph can speak volumes about a certain subject. The same holds true for fashion photography, that wonderful branch of photography that focuses specifically on 'fashion'. The trained eye of a skilled fashion photographer can work wonders for a fashion accessory, model or a show, and add to its beauty.

Fashion photography, in the form of presenting garments on and off bodies and the system in which these images circulate and operate, has long been on tenuous ground in both the public and academic spheres. While the public may continue to be critical of the idea of such photography and the idea of fashion in general, its triviality, wastefulness, impermanence and commercialism, many people still buy the clothes and keep up with the trends.

Attempts to legitimize the topic of fashion and its depiction as a subject as an area warranting serious academic consideration and examination however, have proved more difficult. Although these attempts have been increasingly frequent as the role of fashion has become increasingly more evident and influential and its dialogue more social in its mainstream prevalence, the general consensus is still to view fashion and its related institutions in a largely negative manner and its presentation unworthy of consideration beyond a superficial level. Proponents and creators of fashion photography have strained to garner respect for their form as well as maintain an appearance of continuous innovation and a sense of progressive ‘modernity' through each season.

I don’t want to downgrade or deglamourize fashion photography, it is far too much hard work to do that, but let’s not forget that the main reason for its being, to show what a garment looks like, to show it off in glossy magazines and catalogues in order that the readers will spend a lot of money buying it.

A fashion photographer is judged not only on his photographic ability, but how good he is at shifting dresses off the rails. In fashion photography the client always calls the tune and as a result it has traditionally been regarded as the lightweight end of the photographic practice. Its close relationship to an industry dependent on fast turnover makes the fashion photograph the transitory image par excellence . . . the commercial sphere of photographs, the domain of the everyday image, which represents the debasement of a conventional history of photography.
Having said that, the best fashion photographers have always had their own trademarks. Among the best fashion photographers it is always possible to distinguish one from another. The best assignments go to the fashion photographer that stands out and is able to come up with ideas that differ from the norm.

Any competent photographer could make a decent and competent job of photographing a woman’s catalogue or even the fashion page of a popular newspaper, but on a higher level of doing a fashion shoot for “Vogue” a more creative level of thought is needed. Top end magazines, such as “Vogue” etc will only employ fashion photographers that have built up a reputation forever coming up with new ideas in their photography, looking for new scenarios and different props in their pictures, and for a consistency that puts the photographer under a load of pressure.

The nature of fashion and fashion photography to be impermanent, its latent transience in ever changing and shifting trends, generates and exudes a perpetual ‘in-process' quality. This quality is delusory however, as images and styles repeat themselves in carefully calculated and timed increments.

The apparent instantaneousness of fashion lends it an attractive volatility. Fashion is really about maintaining the eternal sameness, preserving the status quo; it is a quixotic gesture, a con trick, a sleight of hand, which makes us think that change is happening when the opposite is closer to the truth. Fashions are not about putting into circulation the really new, because the genuine novelty cannot be absorbed quickly into the cultural formations of everyday life.

Fashion periodicals are the primary purveyors of these images and subsequent identities, with ‘Vogue’ as the gold standard for magazines in this arena. Through fashion photography, these publications exhibit and mediate the ideals of each era. Their role in such activities of dissemination and influence is problematic and damaging on several levels. With the growing popularity and seductive appeal of this medium and the apparent innocuous quality assumed by it, of merely reporting new styles and where to obtain them, the publications' more subversive edge remains hidden.

Fashion magazines do not just present fashion, they instruct in the creation of image and self-representation. Through these publications, women are able to imagine and construct the ‘best' and ‘most desirable' versions of themselves. Fashioning the body becomes a practice through which the individual can fashion a self. Whole distinct identities are formed through dress; social perceptions of wealth, class, taste and personality are mediated by the presentation of the body. The garment constructs the self, and the individual captured in photography memorializes and makes permanent that self.

Today, fashion photography is now not merely confined to recording of an event or a fashion
accessory on film. It has evolved to become a highly stylized art form, capturing an entire era and the trends prevalent during that period of time. Fashion photographers have become a highly influential community in the media world. Today, fashion photography blends fashion and art beautifully, while making a subconscious mark upon us all.