Commenting in the latest EDIT 6 magazine and webzine at www.gettyimages.com/edit, Lewis Blackwell, Group Creative Director at Getty Images says that “less than 20 years ago, you could always tell the advertising images from the editorial ones. Ads were at least aspirational, if not totally dreamlike. Sometimes they were lurid in colour. Editorial was gritty realism and always black and white.
“Now it is nearly always colour for news, with only upmarket advertising being likely to opt for a full-page black-and-white image. Authenticity is a key watchword in much advertising photography, while our finest photojournalism is often remarkable for its symbolic power and surrealistic eye for the strangeness of life”, says Lewis.
The New Photographers 2007 exhibition of 35 emerging talents brings together new stars from the world of photography. It suggests they could have a significant impact on commercial imagery, yet draws many images from the arenas of editorial and art.
“Advertising is at its most vibrant when it pulls in new influences and talents. Our selectors worldwide recognised that in suggesting artists who are often well outside the mainstream of advertising. You can’t fail to be excited by the talent emerging from Chinese art photography, or note that the eye of the most impactful editorial image is a good starting point for credible advertising photography”, says Lewis.
New Photographers 2007 follows on the success of its predecessor, New Photographers 2006, which has travelled the world and been the subject of numerous articles and talks, also went on to pull in international campaigns or otherwise get another level of recognition, adds Lewis.
“This year’s show of talent has perhaps even more diversity - it is quite dark, literally as well as in meaning - and it pushes the edge of “what is photography” right against illustration. That’s a direct reflection of the broader trends that are out there. So plenty of realism there” says Blackwell.
See the pictures and download the entire article free at www.gettyimages.com/edit, or contact Gallo Images, Getty Images Master Delegate in Africa and the Middle East, for a copy of Edit 6 at R90-00 per copy at “sales at galloimages.co.za”.
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EDIT by Getty Images is published quarterly and reveals the very latest in visual trends and the shifts in photography and film, analysed and explained by the Getty Images global Creative Research team and the professionals who use imagery. All 6 issues of EDIT can be downloaded free of charge at www.gettyimages.com/edit.
Gallo Images is Getty Images Master Delegate in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, representing leading still and moving imagery collections for use by the advertising, design, corporate and publishing markets.
