Thomas Hoepker

Five young New Yorkers sit on their lunch break in an idylic setting on the East River, Brooklyn, chatting in what seems like a casual, non-rushed fashion, going about their daily life. Perhaps talking about an evening ahead, or the day just passed. Lucious greens and bright oranges in the foreground create an enjoyable, relaxing and comfortable atmosphere. The people in the picture look as if they're sat comfortably enjoying life, and taking in the beautiful surroundings in which they are in.

But in the background a thick black smokey cloud looms over the twin towers, New York. The picture, to many, evokes thoughts of New Yorkers not caring, and not bothering to help with the disaster of that day. This was the reason Thomas Hoepker, the photographer, banned his own photo from being published, until 2006.

Thomas Hoepker is known for using bold stylish colours in his photos, and for some very contraversial photos of vulnerable people and cultures. He made the decision himself to ban his photo because he knew of the potential impact it could make on America and the world. The US was known to have become united on 9/11 and it was thought that this picture could alter the image America wanted to portray to the world. He thought the picture would be portrayed to show five New Yorkers, not bothered about the tragic event behind them, not even turning to look at it. And the colours made everything seem normal. If the smoke wasn't there, it could even pass as a holiday advertisement, the bold colours and seemingly happy people  show a completely different side to that day. But then you see the smoke, and you realise just what that day was, and how shocking it must have been to some people.

Fashion Photography

Fashion photography has changed over time, I'd say it's come from the time of portraits taken of the rich, to adding fashion, and making them an advertisement. This means the border between adverts and portraits is so un-defined and it is often difficult to tell under what category a photo is in.
Some fashion photos are very controversial in how they are presented. A lot come under scrutiny when they are published for having been altered, photo-shopped. Many of the 'high quality' fashion brands use un-realistically thin and perfect models in their shoots. 'Size zero' models are used a lot in fashion photography because it makes the product hang as the designer would want, and makes the audience more inclined to buy the product with the hope to look as good as the model. In actual fact it is practically impossible to get close, because many have been photoshopped to remove blemishes and flaws, extend body parts to make them look more graceful and made models waists look slimmer.

Photo-shopped photographs are more often found in fashion magazines and adverts for films or music. They often feature a celebrity or well known model, and despite them being naturally thin or pretty, they often feel the need to make the image more perfect and flawless. This involves 'airbrushing' the image to remove flaws such as spots, wrinkles and unwanted marks or lines, leaving the models skin looking perfect and even. They also use tools to make their wastes look slimmer, cut inches off of legs, extend the neck and remove any further 'blemishes'. This creates a very distorted idea of the female body, and as women adapt to conform to the stereotypical 'beauty' they can often resort to illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia, causing irreversible damage to their body.

A good example of these changes is this photo of famous actress Cameron Diaz (left). It shows how the whole image had been brightened to make a more healthy glow. Her legs and waist have been slimmed to create a more desirable figure for women and her stomach has been air-brushed to make a more even skin tone and remove un-wanted muscle definition. This image was displayed and made the audience believe this was how Cameron Diaz actually looked, but in actual fact, so much has been altered, it only bears a slight resemblance to her.