Alexander Neumann:

Alexander Neumann is a fashion photographer who only uses natural light during his photo shoots. Neumann is Peruvian and believes that being raised in this colourful spirited country shaped his playful style of photography. He began his career focusing on documentary and fine art photography but after moving to New York and working with Mario Testino he began to explore fashion photography. His work is vibrant and elegant, reflecting his appreciation of different art forms. Neumann has been published in Vogue Mexico and Korea, GQ Magazine, Harper's Bazaar and has worked on advertising campaigns for L'Oreal and Avon.

Neumann is unique in his photography style as he uses only natural light within his work, he says that "reality is beautiful, I want to recreate reality like it is. I want something beautiful and I love the graphic of that light, and you can create great effects using natural light." This natural light allows him to create different effects using shadows and back lighting.

The back lighting within this photograph is effective as it emphasises the model's hair and draws the viewer's eye into him. The composition of the image breaks the rule of thirds as the model is central however the positioning of him, facing away from the camera, allows this to work and the photograph to remain aesthetically pleasing.

The use of shadow on one half of the model's face works to draw the viewer's attention to the details within the model's face. The simplicity of the background is effective as it allows the audience to focus completely on the model and her clothes.

The lighting within this composition highlights the natural highlights on the model's skin - this portrays natural beauty within the photograph. The use of stripes is also effective within the composition due to the contrast of quantity and direction of lines.

Within this photograph, I like the sporadic use of natural light as it highlights the important elements within - the model's face, ring and outfit. The simplicity of the background and lighting work in unison to create an effective piece of fashion photography.

My Response:

For my response I chose to focus of the primarily on the lighting of the photographs, ensuring that there were clear shadows, back lighting and sun flare. However when I went back to the photographer's work, I noticed the importance of location and outfit so decided to focus more heavily on these aspects of his work in my second shoot.

The sun flare and over saturation of this photograph effectively work together to frame the model into the composition. The positioning of the model is interesting as the wall takes up most of the composition, it is also not perfectly vertical which I believe adds to it by giving stopping the wall from becoming the main focus of the photo.

Second Shoot:

The contrasting colours within this photograph work within this photograph as they add to the mood of 'fashion photography.' However I don't think that the brightness of the photograph fits as well as the first shoot photographs within Neumann's neutral tone collection. 

The use of shadow is effective at showing the sun within this composition, it also creates leading lines which draw the viewer's attention towards the model. The use of breaking the rule of thirds is also effective as it creates a slight symmetry. However, if I were to retake this composition I would choose to remove the tables in the background as they create a distraction from the model and break the symmetry within the photograph.

If I were to respond to Alexander Neumann's photographs again I would choose to photograph in a busier but more architecturally structured area - I believe this would improve my response as Neumann's work is most effective when the model and the background link through colouring or pattern, for example the model wearing vertical stripes against a wall of horizontal stripes.