FASHION & BEAUTY PHOTOGRAPHY Mar 2007

Jose Aragon says he started flirting with cameras at the age of four, when taking some family portraits one summer. But it was only later, during his college years as a geology student, that he decided to pursue his true passion. He started assisting in Madrid, and later moved to London, winning the Fuji-Affaep Assistants Awards in the fashion category.

A natural progression from still images and his avid curiosity took him to study at the New York Film Academy. He has been involved in commercial and more experimental projects in fashion, music, dance and documentary filming and photography.

His unmistakable style and treatment of light, space, colours and textures is recognised internationally.

Clients include:

Cartier, Hogan, Boodle and Dunthorne, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Camper and Nicholson, Principe di Bologna, Wella, Jaime Mascaro, Pinaud, Oriflame, Vogue Gioiello, Vogue Pelle and GQ.

Catalonian couple Bèla Adler and Salvador Fresneda live and work in a daylight studio-loft close to the sea in Barcelona. They have worked together since 1991, starting on a Camper project. They produce and art direct almost all their work, including location-scouting, casting and digital postproduction, as well as graphics on some campaigns.

Fashion clients include Burberry, Women'secret, Escorpion. Loewe, Dorotea, Cortefiel, Caroche, Aninoto, Acosta, Zone, El Corte Inglés, Antonio Miró, Levi's and Trucco.

Editorials include Elle, Chic, Telva, Marie Claire, Vogue, El Pais, AB, Big, Matador, B-Guided, Vanidad, Glamour, GQ, Trax, Woman and Yo Dona.

Awards:
1994 - European Graphic Campaign
1995 - British DAD Annual
1999 - European Design Annual
2003 - Grand Prix at the Festival de Publicidad de San Sebastian
2004 - Silver award for graphics at El Sol Festival in San Sebastian

For almost two decades, Düsseldorf-based photographer Burkhard Henrichs has worked as a digital and analogue photographer, nationally and internationally, specialising in fashion, beauty, people and kids.

He has a line-up of famous fashion clients that includes Esprit, Camel, Daniel Hechter, Schiesser, His Jeans, Karstadt, C&A, Neckermann and Wehmeyer. And he has shot for advertising clients Coca Cola, Motorola, Sony, Johnson & Johnson, Lufthansa, Ltu and many others.

Burkhard says that, besides his engaged studio work, one of his photographic passions lies in "the challenge of outdoor shootings wherever clients are willing to go. Most important: creativity, reliability and service...with a smile".

He can also offer his own worldwide location library to his clients and is able to communicate in German, English, French and Spanish.

Christian Gaul's images reflect the various cultures he has associated with throughout his life - born in Germany, raised in Brazil and graduated from New York University.

Lately, he has been spending a lot of time in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo though he continues to travel the world. In his pictures you find "a tropical spontaneity", keen lighting and a fresh view on contemporary fashion, portrait and lifestyle photography.

His curriculum includes clients Vogue, Fiat, Women'Secret, Adidas, Sony and Globo Communications; campaigns for Renner and TIM and recently directed his first movie for Vivo Mobiles. He is booked for the forthcoming Richards autumn catalogue.

Aside from his commercial work, Christian is preparing his fifth solo exhibition titled 'Simples' - "a poetic view on blood". His first book is about to be published: a compilation of more than 10 years of portraiture accompanied by his texts describing the day each shot was taken.

French-born photographer Elise Dumontet moved to London 12 years ago. With her natural talent, Elise soon learned her craft by assisting some of the biggest names in the fashion industry.

Within a year of shooting for herself, she was working for magazines such as The Sunday Times Style, Tank, The Observer and All Access.

Elise's "passion for all things beautiful" drove her to create a simplistic yet unique approach to beauty photography. She says, "My one goal, with any of my pictures, is to create the most beautiful image I can, regardless of my subject."

Elise Dumontet is represented by Corbis Artist Representation.

When asked to sum up his work and motivations, Zurich photographer Günther Kathrein was very succinct:

"It is the challenge of coming together to photograph somewhere in the world, with people and clients like Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Schwarzkopf or Wella".

Click on the link to the left and you will see why he prefers to let his photos do the talking...

Amsterdam fashion and beauty photographer Hans de Vries recently photographed Yfke Sturm for the Dutch Samsung campaign.

He also shot the new Maybelline print campaign with Dutch model Sanne.

Other recent projects include:

• Keune hair cosmetics - worldwide campaign
• Campaign for Dutch jewellery designer Bibi van der Velden
• The fall collection 2007 for White fashion.

Berlin-born beauty and fashion photographer, Harry Vorsteher, works for intenational clients and agents.

He recently shot the V E N T I campaign at his Düsseldorf studio.

He is currently in Cape Town on a 6-week trip.

The artist, photographer and director Iris Brosch, lives between New York and Paris.

Her photographic style has been described as "Miuccia Prada meets Leonardo da Vinci". Brosch's unique celebration of female sensuality moves in fresh directions through her ability to rework timeless classicism with a thoroughly modern twist. She likes to shoot groups giving a poetic touch with an exquisite set and a young fresh casting.

"I think that a photographer's technical ability is important, but the vision is more important."

Her fashion and portrait photographs have been published in Italian Vogue, German Marie Claire and many other magazines. She has also photographed advertising campaigns for Hugo Boss, Pantene, Tommy Hilfiger, Maybelline, Virgin records, Campari, Renault and many others. 

Featured here are photos from some of her last projects: the shooting in Barbados for M&S swimwear magazine, the new collections of various American designers for FHM magazine and also a few photos for British Marie Claire in Miami.

Dutch photographer Jo Francis is based in Hamburg and specialises in beauty and people.

He has strong views on the role of technology in photography. He believes - regardless of the changes brought about by digital technology, and all the possibilities for manipulation - that the major task of photography is "still the portrayal of visible reality, the incorruptibility of this reality".

The beautiful and the sensual, the aggressive and the repulsive - these are the focal points of his work.

His pictures are a mixture of his vision and gut feeling and he says that nothing has really changed "because neither camera nor electronic image processing system can compensate for artistic shortcomings. What counts above all is the sensitivity of the photographer".

Manfred Keupen, born in 1951, studied painting and has created advertising campaigns in New York, Los Angeles and Paris from his Munich studio.

He works on fashion productions worldwide following his motto of "shoot global, pay local".

He offers special conditions for photo shoots - worldwide connections for locations, hotels, etc - together with his cooperation travel partner, Stop Over.

Amsterdam-based fashion photographer Marijke Aerden works for international fashion magazines and advertising agencies.

After buying herself a camera and discovering a fully equipped darkroom in her New York apartment, she has been shooting ever since. She approaches photography with a "no-nonsense sensibility".

Her work appears in Cover Magazine, Elle, Glamour, Style & the family tunes. Her clients include Takashimaya, Levi's and Villeroy & Boch.

Mick Mazzei specialises in fashion and beauty photography. Having started out in visual composition for theatre lighting design, he has been behind the lens for 10 years.

With his own studio in Munich, he splits his time between there and Sao Paulo.

His work has been exhibited in Brazil, Germany, Austria and the USA and has appeared in UK Head Magazine and C-Head Magazine.

Mick says he aims to treat all his clients individually. His motto is "Let's make everything beautiful" and as part of that, he attaches special importance to perfect skin.

 

After his studies, Michael Diehl worked as an international model for many years. Being very successful at his job, he got the opportunity to work for some of the best professionals in the art of photography. It became therefore quite obvious that Michael would change his position from being in front of the camera to behind the camera at the height of his career.

In 1989, Walter Ferrier, one of South Africa's leading photographers, asked Michael to become his personal assistant. Together they worked on numerous and extremely exciting projects for famous fashion houses, catalogues and magazines. In the meantime, as a permanent resident in South Africa, Michael became an expert for shootings in Cape Town and also opened up his own modern studio close to Stuttgart / Germany.

The enormous artistic standards set by Ferrier and his ability to shape dreams and ideas, still influence Michael's work today in his productions.

Paul Bakker is a young fashion photographer, known for his technical use of light and atmosphere.
He is considered "a true artist in the way that he sculptures his models".

Clients include Blvd, Playboy, Dif, Philips, Audi magazine, ArtEZ, Boidermal, Nescafé, Sebastian and couturier Mart Visser.

Paul is represented by Unit C.M.A., an international creative management agency for photographers.

Robert Penkwitt has teamed up with Norwegian/French photographer Linn Muskaug to shoot a whole new series of photos in recent months:

• The new catalogue for Parisian fashion label Oggitersen, shot in St Tropez which was well received at the Parisian fashion fair
• An editorial for Display magazine, shot in a Parisian aquarium and soon to be exhibited in Joao Ferreira's art gallery in Cape Town during the The Cape Town Art Festival.
• They were also published in German magazine, tout va bien.

The pair has a new creative cell, called robertandlinn, which you can see at their website. Their concept is to shoot simultaneously and thereby "create a new space in which all parts of the team move freely in a 3-dimensional flow, setting free the often static connection between model and photographer".

Robert and Linn are in Cape Town at the moment, working for various German clients.

Suzy Corby works in the UK and Spain, focusing on fashion, beauty and art.

Her clients range from small specialist designers to international magazines. Her photographs have been published in Collezioni, Vogue novias, Ask, Event, La Vanguardia Magazine, El Mundo and Beauty Line.

She seeks out projects that enable her to "do something different and interesting, something exclusive, tailored-made".

Location and natural light are important aspects of her work.

Suzy's work is currently being exhibited in the Saatchi Web Gallery. She is also working on a personal book project that combines her two loves: fashion and nature.

Swiss photographer Urs Wyss moves between Moscow and his home country, often working in Paris and London, too.

He works mainly for international companies, and likes working in team, and loves shooting for fashion magazines, like Vogue Russia, GQ, Harpers Bazaar, Jalouse, Elle and InStyle.

Currently, he is shooting a monthly beauty story for InStyle Russia with well-known Russian actors, as well as for P&G Russia and will shortly be shooting a big beauty story for InStyle.

Images:
men-story: shooting ICON Paris
white campaign: shooting K-mag

Latest jobs were the international campaign for Cimarron, a campaign for Andrea Blu (jewellery), the look book for Escorpión, and a campaign for Kleymac.

Recent editorial has included NOX, DT and Tendencias fashion magazine with model Minerva Portillo.

Projects coming up are: Tendencias, Desigual, Cimarron Autumn/Winter 07/08, Escorpion Autumn/Winter 07/08 campaign, Dolores Cortés 08 campaign, and Kleymac 08 campaign.