Apparently old Peter Lindbergh one of my favourite fashion photographers has gone off on one regarding the use of too much retouching within the industry, a subject I often struggle with and rant about often her on the incredible B Mode. As a lesson to all Mr Lindberg has set about photographing lots of well known models without make or a hint of retouching anywhere to make his very point.
For those of you that are familiar with the Pirelli Calender, you know that pretncious calender that no one could buy and people working at the Pirelli Tyre factory where given them for Christmas and sold them to the highest bidder. Well I had two of the Peter Lindberg one (my friends dad worked at the Pirelli factory) and I loved it..(Sold the other one..)
But back to the story, there is a more in depth feature here which I have stolen from some fashion blog you can read about later, and look at the pics, but before you do I want to moan a little about Bergy Boys antics.
First and foremost all the women Pete has chosen to photograph are flawless. They are amongst the most beautiful women in the world. They dont need any make up let alone retouching..
Secondly, a shot in black and white (as these are) will always be more flattering. You can turn up the contrast, lighten the skin and blemishes never show up like they do in colour. I should know I used to print hundreds of beauty images in b & w and never retouched any of them..
Dont get me wrong I have no place for 'air brushed' over retouched images and wonder how it got to the point where people are rendered unrecognisable. In fact I met Madonna the other day and I thought it was my eighty year old neighbour Rose. I cant help thinking that if PL was trying to make a point he should of photographed some normal people (like my neighbour for instance).
Anyone can take a photograph of a beautiful woman and make them look beautiful as Lindbergh has done, therefore his opinions serve no purpose.
Tell you what, why not dress me in a wig and a skirt (and of course with no make up) and dare not to retouch me for the cover of Vogue...
You cant believe everything you read and you certainly can't believe everything you see..
Before I finish let me leave you with this question.
Your suddenly famous for whatever reason. Everybody wants a piece of you and before you know it your going to be on the cover of some magazine. In the run up to your fame you had a few weeks of cake eating and couldn't move around too much because of a swollen foot. You wore your favourite jeans for the shoot, you know the ones that make your bum look nice, and that tee shirt that make your arms look tanned along with its revealing neck line. You do the shoot and feel like a million dollars (£700,000 pounds). A few days later you see the contacts, (ok, the on screen edit). You look like a whale, the jeans were too tight and caused an overspill around your midriff, It like someone's baking bread and your arms look like baguettes. You're a cross eyed, over weight, going bald, hairy faced spotty freak... But wait a minute, all this can be gone in just a few minutes with the help of healing brush, a clone stamp and an airbrush...What do you do..?
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