Lindsay Adler

Message:

Lindsay Adler is a famous photographer specializing in the area of beauty and fashion. She held an interest in photography when she was young and continued to shape her style throughout her learning. Now, she travels around the world to take photos for renowned beauty brands and media. Because of this, her work mainly focuses on capturing the subject itself, often displayed in closeup (portrait), using colorful bright lighting, portraying “women […] with strength and elegance. […] They always look strong. They always look elegant […] demands attention.”

Style:

“It was like, Oh, this is me. This is my, my style. It was using clothing, makeup, and the human form to make graphic art. So very clean, bold, graphic, geometric and colorful.”

In Lindsay Adler’s work, eye-catching lighting is always used. She has loved lighting since she started her journey as a photographer. In the below images, we can see the bright and contrasting lighting that is cast on the subject’s face. It can direct the audience’s attention to specific parts of the model’s face, add visually appealing elements to capture viewers’ eyes and give a complex, mysterious mood to the work. In her interviews, she often claimed her style as clean, bold, and graphic. She examines the strength and power of women and explores “slice of light and color. I love elements of the old with a modern twist. I love trying to see how I can draw on what has been successful in the past but integrate my own style and give it fresh life.”

Photograph:

I selected these portraits because they adopted the technique of intense lighting; the choice of color, the combination of them, and the position where they cast on the subject are intriguing to study. The image inspires me to deliver messages and create various moods through the use of different lighting. I can use it to direct the audience’s attention, focusing their eyes on the section I intended them to examine. In my identity project, I want to experiment with this intense and bright lighting. The lighting can be used to convey and reflect the mix of feelings inside the songwriters or listeners–those feelings that are hidden underneath the surface. By representing the intense emotion through lighting, it gives the audience a strong visual effect while adding more layers to the image.

How does this photographer creatively represent your chosen subject matter?

This photograph captures a woman as its only subject. Because of this, this portrait does not contain as much detail (things to look at) compared to other works. However, it is very sharp, which makes the image full of details (texture). From the look of the model, it is not clear, to me at least, what place and time period the photographer intended to depict. Still, what is clear is that the actual setting of where this photo was taken may be the photo studio, where the photographer can create a simple and clean background as well as strong, colorful lighting that is shown in this work. In detail, this photograph has a bright red background; starting from the left side, it gradually changes from a light red to a darker red. The character, the only subject, in this image is a woman with thick makeup and well-made hair. This is a closeup of her: she is placed in the center left of the frame, nearly dominating the entire screen. Her gaze is directly pointed at the camera, giving the audience the impression of strength and power. Some characteristics they seem to have are dark, ambitious, confident, and cold. She is like a poisonous rose, covered with thorns but still beguiling and spell-binding. Also, she reminds me of those Disney stepmothers. Furthermore, like the background, the pose of the model is not fancy; she is just standing and glaring into the camera. Lastly, according to the creator of this photograph, the work is aimed to showcase diversity in women through stereotyping and bring out the powerful side of females.

The camera shows the character from the top of her head to the top of her shoulder. Her face dominates the most space, positioned at the center-left side of the whole screen. Looking at it for the first time, my eyes are first drawn to her gaze; she is staring directly at the camera, which triggers an alarming feeling in the audience. Also, her face was lit up by a bright blue color light, which is the lightest and noticeable lighting in this image. This brings emphasis to her face and, most importantly, her eyes. Moreover, the shapes in this photograph can be separated into three parts: the right background, the model’s pale face, and her neatly made dark hair. Firstly, the model’s hair, face, and shoulder all have a smooth and clear curve forming their outer shape; the hair’s curve flows and combines naturally with the model’s head, while the background and the frame are rectangular shapes, which differ with the subject. Finally, the lighting and color of this photo is full of contrast. The use of bright red and blue enables the photographer to establish a great difference, which makes the photo visually appealing and displays the dangerous and unique side of women. In addition, the simple red of the background places emphasis on the face of the model, which is lit in blue. Another contrast is the shaded and non-shaded blue on the model’s face. The lighter part, which is the eyes, is the most eye-catching section of the photo and also the focus of this work. The reason for giving so much attention to the eye is that the eyes are considered to be the most communicative part of a human except for their mouth: eyes give off genuine emotion, and people feel close when they have eye contact.

This photograph leans toward the simplistic side. As mentioned above, the creator of this image is Lindsay Adler, who works in the fashion field. Her image aims to be simple, striking, and elegant in order to draw the audience’s attention at first glance and leave a deep impression. In Adler’s own words, her style is “using clothing, makeup, and the human form to make graphic art. So very clean, bold, graphic, geometric and colorful.”

At first glance, the photo comes across to me like a warning sign. The model in the picture is portrayed as an arrogant, confident, and independent woman–a totally different expression from what is usually linked to a woman. As I discussed above, elements that contribute to this effect are lighting, color, and the subject herself. By utilizing these elements, the photographer successfully captures the diverse side of women. As she stated, “I found that the way that I portray women is with strength and elegance. No matter what image I take of them, they always look strong. They always look elegant.”