Over this past year I have been working on my honors thesis: The Ethics of Image Manipulation in Fashion Photography. For this project, I am conducting a series of 10 fashion photo shoots with different women. I shoot half of each photo shoot with digital and half with 35mm film. I then edit the digital photographs with Photoshop to make them appear like fashion ads. The film images are printed without editing. The goal of my process is to show where fashion photography has developed from and how it has changed over time. I am examining how extreme manipulations made in Photoshop affect the expectations of society and how women relate to their bodies. The image I chose to show for this assignment is one I took during this project. It is a digital image but has not yet been edited with Photoshop. I believe that this photograph shows who I am as a photographer because I am dedicated to showing women as they truly are. This image brings the viewer close enough to the subject so that some sort of connection is made between them. The subject’s connection with the camera and with me as the photographer made the photograph very memorable to me. I think the framing of the subject within the space also contributes to the content of the photograph. It shows a kind of absence which is also reflected in the expression on the subject’s face.
This photograph was taken by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. It was part of a series of photographs of a model in couture gowns by Dior. The images go against the audience’s understanding of reality as the model hangs from a chandelier or leans against a chair on the ceiling. I chose to show this photograph for this assignment because of the intersection between fashion and art. Fashion photography is not always recognized as an art form. I disagree with this however. I think fashion design is a form of art and photography is a form of art. Combining the two may not always, but can, produce incredibly artistic images, like this one. I hope to shoot fashion photography professionally one day. Specifically I would like to photograph couture designs without adding in the practice of image manipulation. By leaving the clothing and the people in these photographs without retouching, I hope that my images can influence more viewers and avoid discouraging those viewers away from enjoying incredible clothing. In my opinion, a fashion photograph should show the beauty of the human form accentuated by the beauty of an incredible garment. This photograph is a brilliant example of that idea. The photograph cannot be entirely about the garment because style has no meaning with no one to wear it. Conversely, the fashion photograph cannot only be about the model, because clothes have a presence in our recognition of self, style and even personality.
