Beauty photography makes my heart skip a beat. I've always wanted to create interesting, gorgeous, different beauty images. Those who achieve this feat create images that literally take my breath away.
Today's ode is to photographer Richard Burbridge, who is represented by Art + Commerce. His beauty images are quite simply breathtaking. I find myself drawn to the more fantastical of them—the more far-out, the better.
(Source: Art + Commerce)
It's the way he brings in some strange, out-of-place element that takes his imagery to a whole new level.
(Source: Art + Commerce)
I'm not sure if he retouches his own images; some photographers do—they just don't trust their work in another's hands. I can understand that. If he does outsource his photos for retouching, that retoucher is a god. Some people don't like that feel of retouched perfection, perhaps because it lends a hint of falsity to the image. I adore that feel. When done beautifully, a heavily retouched image has a life of its own. In fact, beauty images really require retouching these days to lend them that fantasy feeling so often attributed to beauty.
(Source: Art + Commerce)
Desaturation/heightened saturation, playing up the intensity of certain elements, contorting shadows and highlights—it's all part of the beauty photography game.
Anyway, an ode to Richard Burbridge...
