David Lachapelle

David LaChapelle is an incredible, modern photographer. He combines celebrities with the bizarre. His photography is unique, charged with sexual imagery, and provides a unique view on people you see in the media, today.

I chose an article from American Photo, May/June 2003, as the basis of my research paper on David LaChapelle. The magazine has a nice design. It is easy to read the print, and the titles of topics are always visible. You won't turn a page and have to take a minute to figure out what is going on, on that page.

Although there are many ads in the magazine, I suppose that one shouldn't expect any less; they're mainly ads for photography-type companies and such. This issue is still plentiful in articles, starting off with a page on Henri Cartier-Bresson.

As I skim through American Photo, I finally come to an article on "The 25 Most Important Photographers Now." There's a nice introduction on the first page, about what this article is about, and on the bottom-left corner it starts with the first photographer in the list, Gilles Bensimon. The article has a nice layout, including a picture by each photographer and their name headlined above or below, and each photographer also has a good-sized paragraph about himself or herself.

Many, many pages into the "top 25," David LaChapelle finally appears. The bottom half of the page shows LaChapelle's photograph, "Facial," which was taken for Italian Vogue in 2001 ("David LaChapelle"). The paragraph written about him starts off with a self-explanation of his photography: " My pictures are escapist. For me, pictures are fantasies. At the same time, they're a document of our time." The article goes on to explain his photography with more detail, and basically fin...

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... plays a major part. The pattern adds to the absurdity of the two girls; their expressions are both totally different. It's actually really hard to tell what this picture is even supposed to be about exactly, but I guess I just love all the colors and the beautifulness of the photograph as a whole.

The use of color is an important aspect in David LaChapelle's photography. He uses saturation to a very high extent. As far as almost making his photography seem dreamlike. I think it's beautiful, and I love the bright colors he uses. Even though he may use a lot of computer manipulation, I think LaChapelle's photography shows a distinct honesty throughout his photography. He still shows what is real, but he dramatizes it and puts it in your face.

Overall, David LaChapelle is a wonderful photographer, and is obviously continuing to develop his skills as an artist.