David_Lachappelle

As you just saw on the video, Dave LaChappelle has worked with many famous celebrities such as Leonardo Dicaprio, Madonna, Pamela Anderson and many more. He is best known for his surreal, dramatic and often controversial images of celebrities. With a background in photography, fashion, advertising and the fine arts, LaChapelle's wildly imaginative and innovative style has made him one of the most famous entertainment and fashion photographers in the world. In the portrait work he creates, they have the aura of a shock factor and create a sense of a daring ability to show a contrasted side to the celebrity. His work for this has been celebrated many times and since his arrival into photography in 1984 he has had exhibitions of his work almost every year, with six in 1999. But what is surprising is the time it took for his work to be celebrated, it was 9 years before he won his first award, which prompted his first book to be released a year afterwards. So it seems LaChapelle wasted no time in wanting to spread his message through different types of media – and it paid off. The larger-than-life images he creates are moving in his interest with hyper-glamorous situations and wild prop use. He is dependent on his location, instruments used to develop a beautifully surreal landscape. There is a sense of mild eroticism in most of the photographs; some are stronger than others. David LaChapelle's work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. His publications include two books: LaChapelle Land and Hotel LaChapelle. The most recognized and popular images he has created was Artists and Prostitutes and heaven and hell in 2006, which consists of vivid and surreal portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Manson, Drew Barrymore, Angelina Jolie and Cameron Diaz. David LaChappelle seeks beauty and extravagance surrealistic scenery, and he doesn’t use post production software. His most recent and controversial work is called “Jesus is my Homeboy” which consists of contemporary photographs of Jesus in a modern world. For example: INCLUDEPICTURE "http://dialogofashion.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/lastsupper_davidlachapelle-1.jpg" \* MERGEFORMATINET This photograph is called ‘the last supper’ Davids LaChappelles sense of drama, flashy colors and religious symbolism, all these elements appeal to most viewers. LaChapelle's photos are typically produced in larger sizes in editions of three, and priced at $28,000, or in smaller sizes in editions of 10, priced at $8,500. Like David LaChappelle, I wanted my three portrait images to be colorful, bright and appealing. The first two images were taken outdoors, my aim was not only to capture the subject but also include the background as part of the subject so therefore the entire body and brick wall was focused. I have tried different camera positions until I lined up the subject that better matches the background. The main lighting was the natural sun light, so it was important for my subject to be under a shade so sun light isn't directly on the face. Second image was taken at an angle; I chose to have a low angle shot because I felt that the direction of the brickwork created an interesting effect, and gave the viewer a different prospective of the image. The third image was a close up of my subject and was taken indoors. Zooming in to the subject was necessary to capture facial proportions, the background is one color, which highlights the subject in the photograph and makes the subject more interesting and appealing to the eye. I have used flash to bring the subject towards the brightness level of the blue background and longer lens with a larger aperture to bring out more contrast in the picture.