Richard Avedon uses light, framing and leading lines and movement to create compelling photographs. Many of his portraits use blown out lights and over exposed darks to isolate the subject. From Avedon’s work I get the impression that he only wants us to focus on exactly what we are looking at. There is an effortless feel to the way I experience his photographs. Avedon’s images at a glance can seem simple but he uses the “photography rules” to his favor by abandoning them. The consistent theme for Richards photographs is the high contrast isolating a centered subject.
Jonathan Mannion adopts the style of isolating the subject center frame from Avedon, however Mannion uses dark backgrounds and selective lighting to bring attention to the subject. For dramatic isolation Mannion uses a washed-out background relying on high contrast and leading lines to make the image a success, for example the Jay Z portrait. Mannion built on what he learned by making creative use of color gels to add contrast and dynamic levels while separating the background from the subject. Mannion seems to stay relatively close to the boundaries of conventional studio photography.