Things about Richard Avedon

Besides the obvious the stark beauty and originality of his work, his fascination for the medium  and his extensive photographic collection the thing that tends to stick in the forefront of my mind was an article, a child hood experiment of his.

Inspired by a fatherly anecdote on the power of the light in the making of a photograph namely when a magnifying glass is held between the sun and a leaf. 

The leaf of course is set on fire.

The next day little Richard taped a negative of his sister to his skin (an arm if my memory serves me correctly) before he went down to the beach.

As he peeled it of that evening - there was his sister sunburned onto his arm. 

'I knew from the beginning that being a photographer and playing with light means playing with fire.'