Professional Photographer: John French

JOHN FRENCH (1906–1966) PHOTOGRAPHER


                  John French has and always will be one of my favorite photographers. I love anything-old fashion and I love how all of his images are black and white and so iconic. He captured some of the world’s top models in the 50’s. I have a few of his pictures hanging in my room. His work is stunning. John French was one of London’s top fashion photographers of the 1950s and 1960s, an era when those who wore and photographed clothing for a living could become famous overnight. The models he worked with included the most famous of the time; many were debutantes who went on to become well-known society figures. French persuaded the art editors of the national press to use his flawlessly lit images of top models and his work appeared in virtually every newspaper and magazine. Working originally with the Daily Express he pioneered a new form of fashion photography suited to reproduction in newsprint, involving where possible reflected natural light and low contrast. He also undertook portrait photography. French is known for his clear, stylish, uncluttered black and white photographs taken against clean backgrounds.  He preferred to work closely with his models, devoting much attention to their posing and his sets.  Hands were important in his images, and were always carefully posed; as well as the eyes of his models, often making them looks to one side to increase the size of the white area in the image. As you can see, John French knew how to work with contrast. He worked with some of the world’s top models and wanted to make an argument that these are the women of our time, and he sure did. As you can see below, he has all of his models looking away and very few of his photographs his models are looking directly in the lens. I think this sends off a perfect argument of how women were looked at in this time. In the 50’s they were the homemakers and the men were the ones who did the job. This makes the women look passive and not as confident. These women all have smirks on their faces with the message almost saying “I am beautiful and this is what beautiful should be.” 

The Greatest of These is Love

For our last project of the semester we are supposed to capture images that have a visual argument. I thought what wouldn't be better to capture then people? I am a strong believer that we are here on this earth for a larger purpose and reason and it has taken me awhile to still figure out what that is. I've watched my workaholic father almost through away his marriage because he became too consumed with money. I've watched good people turn ugly over money and materialism. I've seen fights break out between people over pointless things. I've things countless of my friends parents marriages shatter. I've seen a lot of wrong in a world that I thought was supposed to be good. I asked my why? Because people have lost track of what truly matters in life; love. We live in a materialistic world, where people have forgotten how to laugh and how to have a real conversation, but know how to send a text message. I want to show my audience that love really is the greatest thing of all. Whether it be your soul mate, your best friend, or your animals, at the end of the day the only thing you have left are the people and the relationships you've developed in your life. Below are pictures I may used in my argument from my sisters wedding and other events in my life. I think my sisters wedding pictures are a perfect argument because people show their true colors at weddings. Emotions are high and people let go and show how they really feel (I know this because I was sobbing like a baby when saying a speech).

Visual Arguments

For my multimedia class we are starting on a new collage project where we have to create a visual argument through photographs we have captured and edited. I remember my obnoxious English teacher in high school with an english accent and firey red hair would always yell to us "YOU WILL FAIL IN LIFE AND COLLEGE IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND RHETORIC. PATHOS, LOGOS, ETHOS PEOPLE!! LEARN IT, LIVE IT, BREATHE IT." I would always complain and talk about how we will never use rhetoric ever, but my crazy English teacher has been right so far. Whether it be in the classroom or not, understanding rhetoric and the importance of persuasion through argument are extremely crucial in all aspects of life.

Being an advertising major has opened my eyes to a whole new light of visual arguments, especially in advertising. We were assigned to find a visual argument in an advertisement and immediately I thought of the Dove campaign. Here is the video if yall haven't seen it: 

I used the picture from the Ad itself though to talk about the visual argument which has no text at all on it.

Ethos is used in this advertisement because it shows the screen of a Photoshop program which is usually looked as something that is technologically advanced. The fact that is shows a before and after side of a photograph and the drastic changes done in Photoshop, the reader can assume the person knows what their doing. Also, the fact that this is a Dove campaign ad one can believe this advertisement more since Dove is such a well known and respected brand  
Pathos: Dove advertisements are all known for their emotional appeal they have. The image alone with no text is extremely emotionally powerful. It shows how drastically they can make a normal looking woman look which appeals to many woman who have always compared their bodies or themselves to woman in magazines.

Logos: Persuasion by the use of reasoning is heavily used here by showing the real fact through this picture which is what this woman really looks like. It is reasoning with all the magazines people read where there are picture perfect women in them, when in reality a lot of it is Photoshop. This argues the fact that what we see in magazines an on TV is not always real. 

My First Official Website Complete- Check.

I've finally finished my website! This is an issue I've also thought should be addressed on TCU campus, but as I've researched it more and created an entire WEBSITE about it, i've become even more passionate about it. I'm excited to share it with the rest of my classmates and hopefully show them and faculty at TCU why more healthy food options on campus is essential.

Take a look at my final production: stuwww.tcu.edu/jlynnanderson