Richard Avedon

Avedon was an American photographer who lived from 1923-2004. He was best known for his work in the fashion industry. Avedon wanted his models to convey emotion and movement, which was a departure from the norms of motionless fashion photography. Avedon is well known for his high fashion photography, including photos for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and  his large-scale character-revealing portraits.
(Bio info from biography.com)

Here are a couple pictures that I liked and I thought these few show what Avedon was so well known for...
 



 This is a portrait of singer Marian Anderson. I love the way he captured the look of her singing and the movement of her hair. This photo is a beautiful step up from a ordinary portrait.

 

 The way Avedon added motion and expression to fashion photography made it much more interesting than the normal motionless, still fashion photos.

 

 I really like this photo. The contrast of explosiveness and effortlessness is beautiful. Her facial expression is very soft and effortless which is a nice contrast to the explosion of hair behind her.

 

 Avedon did such a great job of capturing motion when photographing fashion.