Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, Turkish and Welsh photographers, met in England in 1994 and became a creative tour de force. They have merged high-glamour, colour and sometimes dynamic landscapes with a fair amount of image manipulation to create amazing images in fashion, portraiture and advertising. They always seem to get something new out of models and actresses (as shown in the hot-off-the-press images of Cameron Diaz for V Magazine, below) and create unconventional images.
Dutch photographers, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, have been partners in every sense, since meeting in 1986. They mixed their separate fashion design and art backgrounds to create a new wave in fashion/art photography and pushed boundaries using image manipulation, quirky compositions and humour to produce images which have changed the perception of typical fashion photography.
YSL Manifestos
And they are now working, amongst other advertising, on the unique YSL Manifesto seasonal campaigns. These are great ad campaigns with the image book, behind-the-scenes video and free gift, all released simultaneously in major cities on the streets, and on the YSL website. Campaigns have featured some of fashion’s most iconic models such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer.
Perhaps one of the ultimate creative collaborations is Jean-Paul Goude and Grace Jones:-
“Initially, she was flattered by all of my attention,” says Goude on his former muse and lover. “And she’s no dope – Grace is an opportunist and she knew my vision was good for her career. Initially, she let herself be taken over, but then she suspected that I had only fallen in love with her image.” Was that true? “Of course it was! That’s the story of my life.” The Guardian
Jean-Paul Goude, was a photographer and art director when he met Grace Jones. She, at the time, was a model and performer. What began then was the most amazing, inspirational collaboration in our modern creative history. I distinctly remember the first time I saw their work together – work of jawdropping effect. Work so powerful and confident, with the power of its own convictions, that it stood out from everything around it at the time.
Jean-Paul Goude became famous for his other-wordly creations featuring Grace and went to many lengths to achieve them. “What I’m interested is the illusion of reality,” says Goude to The Guardian. To achieve the iconic full-length portrait of Grace, without Photoshop and today’s easy computer manipulation, was a testament to his search for perfection. He did it by cutting up transparencies of many different poses to create a montage of the perfect pose (see stages below). This was to be the launch image of Grace Jones as an icon in 1978.
After that, from album covers to tv ads, his creativity with her knew no bounds. I especially remember the totally shocking Citroen ad – it was way ahead of its time.
25 years later, in Spring 2009, they were ‘together’ again to produce some seriously fierce imagery for V Magazine (above) for the release of her new album ‘Hurricane’, the first in 20 years. You can purchase ‘Hurricane’ here. And Jean-Paul Goude released a retrospective of work to mark his 30-year career, ‘So Far So Goude’, available here.
Just going to show – true talent never fades or ages.
Quirky ‘fashion’ editorial shoot.
After that, from album covers to tv ads, his creativity with her knew no bounds. I especially remember the totally shocking Citroen ad – it was way ahead of its time.
