Iconic Fashion photographer — Norman Parkinson
In my opinion, Norman Parkinson’s impact to photography is equivalent to Coco Chanel in fashion. He created a lot of revolutionary changes in photography industry.
Norman Parkinson was born in London in 1913 and educated at Westminster School. He opened his studio with Norman Kibblewhite in London when he was 21 years old. He worked for Harper’s Bazaar and Bystander magazines from 1935 to 1940.
He was the first fashion photographer who took active women beyond the stiff formality photography. Models’ poses in the images weren’t creative and vivid before Norman Parkinson’s. He was the first photographer who supported women to liberate themselves in the photograph. He encouraged women to show their personality in front of the camera. His photographs were full of emotion. You can feel models’ true nature through his photos. It was never happened before Norman Parkinson.
Manolo Blahnik, Digital print, British Vogue, Russia, c. 1975, Normanparkinson.com.
British Vogue, c. 1956, Normanparkinson.com.
On the other hand, he was an iconic photographer because he was very good at catching liberated moments. He was the first photographer who took photography outdoor during 20s. He was the pioneer of fashion street photography. There were so many iconic photographs of Norman Parkinson. One of the most important photograph of his was New York New York. It made Norman famous. It was a photography recording a carefree couple running towards the camera on Brooklyn Bridge in 1959. The woman in the photograph was Pippa Diggle, who was the woman divorced with her alcoholic husband and married the gentleman on the photograph eventually.
Also, he was the first photographer who brought colors into fashion photography in 1940s.
His photographs were timeless impressive style. The art works of him were lively and elegant. He made great impact for photography industry.
Sometimes we can not feel in the same way when we only look at the photograph itself. We touch its greatness only when we learn the background of it.