Richard Avedon was truly an amazing photographer. Many of us have seen his photos and never realized whose they were. The photo to the left is one of my favorites from him. It is Charles Chaplin right before he was exiled from the United States for “un-american”/communist activities. The way he is acting in the photo is simply humorous.

This second photo is right up there with the Chaplin photo. The chances of taking this photo are about 1 in 1,000,000. The emotion on her face along with the snake’s tongue create a nearly perfect photo from composition to subject matter. This photo is simply amazing.

The photo to the left interests me in a strange way. The photo is rather creepy, they guy looks like an axe murderer or something… maybe not. But the way this photo looks draws it out of a crowd of photos, which is the goal of the photographer… to make the photo stand out. Thats what this photo does perfectly. When someone sees this photo, they have to get a closer look to see what it is about. I am not entirely sure what this guy does, but it looks scary.

Finally, this photo of Marilyn Monroe had to be included. This photo is probably one of Avedon’s most famous photos. This photo shows her emotion at the time of capture perfectly. She was tired from the photo-shoot, and Avedon captured her facial expression and body language in such a way that you can feel exactly (or close to) as she does when you look at this photo.

Avedon started out in the fashion photography industry, and became one of the greatest portrait photographers ever in the United States.