My Visual Diary - History of Music Photography
This morning we had a lecture on the history of music photography in which we learnt about a few different music photographers over the years.
Herman Leonard - He was an American photographer whos started out in 1947. He most well known for his work of Jazz singers fro that time. He worked a lot in jazz clubs where he would grasp the rawness of the setting. He loved taking photos with weird lighting and atmospheric smoke which was an ideal love for jazz clubs. By the age of 25 he had photographed all of the top jazz singers. As well as working with a lot of jazz singers, he also took a lot of photos for album covers. Not all of his work was of the actual artsit, he liked to grasp the concept of the artist in his photos for thing they were either known for or what still life/physical objects defined him.
Jim Marshall - He was an American singer who is known as the first rock photographer. He worked with artists like The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. In his time as a photographer, he shot 500 album covers.
Annie Leibovitz - She was the first female music photographer in 1949. Her whole photography career was celebrity based, he subject was always celebrities. She worked with a lot of people including John Lennon. She is known for the piece she took of John Lennon a few hours before he died as it represents the separation between him, the band and his partner. People see the photo as a reason for the band separation and it makes fans think about his death as more of close partner suspicion.
Anton Corbijn - He is a photographer, music video director and film director from Holland who began he career in 1972 at a gig. By putting work out there, he managed to get a contract working for NME creating a rather large step in his career. He works a lot with depth of field where the model is at the fron in focus and the background is out of focus.He's known for his work with U2 and Joy Division as well as his use of intense black and white, contrasting photographs and raw work.
Laura Levine - She is a female photographer who works a lot in black and white. She was a big photographer in the 1980's getting to work with upcoming artists like Madonna, James Brown, Boy George, Sinead O'Connor and The Clash. She was the sort of photographer to make the artist feel very comfortable so she could get them to do what she wanted. Her shoot with Madonna was in her flat and the most famous photo was taken with her curtains. She works a lot with lighting as she tries to capture the emotion within a set. As she took photos thoughout the 80's, she left the border around it when printing for extra effect.
David La Chapelle - He's an American 1980's photographer who works with a lot of colour and graphics. He also had photographer Madonna but it was in the 2000's and in a much different style.He likes to juxtapose and put artists where they wouldn't usually be seen. A lot of his work is portrait and fashion based. He has worked with artists such as Blink 182, Pink and No Doubt.
Tom Oldham - He is an English photographer who studied at Plymouth College of Art in the 1990's. He bagan his career shooting in local pubs and clubs around the town. His most recent work has been of artists such as Tinie Tempah, Dizzee Rascal and Ellie Goulding.
