FashMag Review: Vanity Fair – Dec 2014

For this weeks Fashion Magazine review, I chose to review this months issue of Vanity Fair!

Vanity Fair is run by the same company as Vogue and GC, Condé Nast, and as such uses quite a few of the same photographers in each issue each months.  Rather than just reviewing all of the photographers that are featured in the magazine, I chose three photographers whose work really stood out to me.

The three photographers are David Roemer, Dylan Thomas, and Pari Dukovic!  These photographers are all very different but at the same time spoke to me as I further researched their work.

VANITY FAIR FASHMAG REVIEW – December 2014

1. David Roemer // http://roemerstudio.com // NYC Fashion Photographer

This issue of Vanity Fair was the first time I have had exposure to David Roemer. However when I saw his images on his website I immediately was grateful to have found his work.  Roemer has the ability to capture his subjects in a very non-traditional, yet visually appealing sort of way.  Whether in the studio or on location he has a way of painting the light on his subjects beautifully.

Shown in the four images above, you can see what I was talking about.  In the first two images the woman has her hair almost completely over her face, yet the light is still painted onto her skin perfectly, such as the light hitting her cheek in the first image.  The next two images use hard shadows to draw very distinct cuts in the model’s body while still maintaining a beautiful and feminine appeal.

Something about Roemer’s work just speaks to me.  I am not a huge fan of strong masculine imagery, however he did an entire series of “cowboy” images and they were so powerful.  He used the sun in the images I have above to actually paint with shadows.  The cowboy has almost no light at all on the front of his face, only wrapping around from the back.  The woman has 65% shadow and 35% light on her face.  For any of you who have had formal training in photography, you know that this is a big no-no and breaks all of the rules of portrait photography.  BUT IT WORKS!  IT WORKS SO GOOD!

I am so grateful for photographers who are willing to push the limits of photography and produce work that is new, fresh, and unique.  Fashion photography is all about elegance and beauty.  I feel that David Roemer exemplifies this concept!

2. Dylan Thomas // http://dylan-thomas.com // London Photographer

Dylan Thomas is not someone who I would really consider a “Fashion Photographer.”  He is featured in this months issue of Vanity Fair.  However, as you can see from these two images above, is that Thomas is what I would call an Environmental Portraitist.  All of his “portraits” included on his site are of people in their environment, whether that be work or home or even play.

Even though I don’t consider Dylan a true fashion photographer, he is featured in fashion magazines and he presents a beautiful and touching array of images including people, which is why I am including him in this post.

When I look at his work I am honestly really impressed by what he produces.  Each of the images tells a story.  Telling a story in photography is something we are taught to do in every class, video, tutorial and everything else that teaching photography.  Thomas is able to capture these people in a place that tells the viewer about their life.  It is like the images are windows into the lives of these subjects.  It makes the images more real and more person for the viewers to connect to.

Overall I feel that this photographer is amazing at telling a story and creating a feeling with his artwork.  This is something that I am always looking to do with my own personal work.  Learning how to turn your artwork from a photograph to a story is one of the hardest things to learn in photography, but is the most essential part of photography.

3. Pari Dukovic // http://www.paridukovic.com // NYC Fashion Photographer

Pari Dukovic is the last photographer that I am going to review in this post.  His work is so much fun to look at.  All of his work is very edgy, that’s really the only way that I know how to describe it.  He either uses very harsh shadows, harsh lines, bright colors, motion blue, or a combination of two or all of them.

As you can see in these images they are just so much fun and unique.  I always think to myself that there is no diversity in photography and that everyone who is famous has to produce the same time of work or magazines and designers will not want it in their work, but I am always proven wrong.  Searching through endless photographers each day/week never ceases to result in a few really fun and unique photographers.

Well that is it for this week edition of FashMag!  I hope that you guys all enjoyed this weeks review of Vanity Fair December 2014!  If you have your own favorite photographer from this months issue please post it in the comment or even just give me your own opinion on these photographers and their work!

If you have any suggestions for the next issue that I should review please leave me a comment!

Until next time, live your dreams and may passion never die!

Kirk