Fashion editorial photography is a unique art form, and perhaps one of the most difficult forms of art to master. Although fashion editorial photographers have a great deal of artistic freedom, their ultimate goal is to sell clothing to a particular audience. If the clothing doesn't look good in the photograph, the pictures are not useable. The audience can't just be interested in the pictures, the audience must want to buy the clothing featured in them.
Greg Kadel has mastered the editorial. His pictures are inspirational and interesting, but still sell the clothing. The images are moody and even a little scary, but you can't take your eyes away from them. He aims for shock, and ends up engaging us and pulling us in.
Some of these pictures are downright creepy. But even when incorporating the creep-factor, we still don't lose sight of the beauty. Although his style is avaunt-Gard, Kadel focuses on making the clothing (and the girl wearing the clothing) look desirable.
This photographer manages to pull emotions out of models in a way that I've never seen before. I can feel the angst, feel the passion. The clothes are accented by the emotion emoted through the model and captured by the photographer.
Many of Kadel's photographs are in black and white. When he uses color he does it very subtly and very deliberately. These touches of color add to the mood of the piece, shifting the mood at times from totally edgy to slightly feminine.
These photographs belong to Greg Kadel Studios and associated magazines.
