Yesterday I finally went to the Vanity Fair exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, which showed photos featued in the magazine dating from 1913 to the present. It was really interesting to see how photography has advanced and how the quality of the photos has changed so much. I was mainly excited for the show because I knew it would contain a couple of my favorite artists: annie Leibovitz, Irving Penn. Annie Leibovitz's work was absolutely incredible, as always. I love how she can capture A star's personality in just one photo, and the incredible statements she makes with single shots (i.e. the iconic nude, pregnant photo of Demi Moore).. she never ceases to amaze me.
What I'm most excited about though is the new artists which I had never heard of prior to the exhibit. One photographer in particular Herb Ritts, really caught my eye at the show, and when I looked him up after I was even more pleased. You can see a bunch of his photos HERE. What I really like about him is his use of male nudes, which can be surprisingly hard to come by. I love how he intertwines two people (or more) together to create a beautiful sort of statue that simply becomes about the beauty of skin and bodies, and the lighting in all of his shots is phenomenal. There is also one photo in particular that has made it onto my list of favorite images, Neith with Tumbleweed, Paradise Cove, 1986 (it can be seen on the link I posted above). I haven't had time to do nearly as much research on him as I would like.. but I definitely look forward to finding more of his images.