This weeks Goodness comes from one the greatest portrait photographers of all time, Richard Avedon. Don't be fooled though, if you're not into portrait photography, you should still check this

out.

From 1979 to 1984, famous portrait and fashion photographer Richard Avedon, traveled through 13 western states and 189 towns to photograph his interpretation of the West. The body of work that came out of this extensive study is titled Into the American West and to this day is one of the most influential and talked about bodies of photography ever made.

Avedon, prior to Into The American West, was known for photographing world famous figures like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Dylan and the Beatles. He now presented the art world with a groundbreaking series of portraits contains 124 i

mages of strangers that he encountered during the project. Unlike most fashion photography, Avedon shows no glorification in the images, only truth. Instead of portraying the West as a grandeur spectacle with open ranges, Rocky Mountains and blues skies, Avedon chooses to show ordinary people that carried out ordinary lives. Instead of focusing on the stereotypical portrayals of the people of the west, Avedon spent time in truck stops, factories, oil fields, ranches and mines.

The photographs are black and white and each subject is photographed against a white backdrop. No pretty blue eyes are displayed, no colorful clothing to hint towards personality. In photographing the subjects against the white background, Avedon took the figures out of any context. We are shown nothing of the background information to elude towards the space around t

he figure. Instead, we are confronted face to face with people that we have never met. We view them eye-to-eye and they look at us as much as we look at them.

Despite the fact that color and context are stripped from these images, we as viewers can still read into the lives of each person. Every pair of eyes tells us something. Every stark face hints into the realness of their lives, into the realness of our lives. It’s difficult not to judge the people in the images and in doing so we as viewers become self-reflective.

This body of work impacted the art world heavily. Avedon, previously known for his glamorous portraiture and also accredited as the artist who turned fashion photography into art, now displayed this work. The images were printed very large and confronted the viewer with life size images. Some of the high end, ritzy crowd of the fashion world refused to consider this body of work real. Many questions arose as to what portrait photography was supposed to be and whether or not Into the American West could even fit into that category. After all the smoke cleared, this body of work soon became considered one of the most prolific and insightful portrait series ever made.

As all artists should, Avedon pushed the boundaries of art and photography without knowing what the outcome would be. In creating Into the American West, Avedon made a bold move away from the work that made him famous. He pushed the concept of portrait photography and created a remarkable series of portraits that will continue to be a focus of study and analysis by artists in the future.