Access Fashion Media and Communications:
Photography
Name: Kaymei Kabia
PHOTOGRAPHERS: David Lachappelle
Student ID: KAB12379353 24 November 2012
David Lachappelle is an American fashion photographer and director. He moved from North
Carolina, where he studied at the North Carolina school of arts, to attend the school of Visual Arts in
New York City. Lachappelle would showcase his art work in numerous galleries in New York City where “his work caught the eye of his hero Andy Warhol and the editors of Interview Magazine, who offered him his first professional job” (Rafael Rivera, 1990-2008).
After his time at Interview Lachapelle branched out and started shooting editorials for renowned publications such as GQ, i-D, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone an Italian & French vogue. At the same time photographing an eclectic range of celebrities such as David Beckham, Paris Hilton, Leonardo
DiCaprio, Muhammad Ali, Tupac Shakur, Britney spears, Lance Armstrong and Madonna just to name a few.
Once establishing himself as a photographer, Lachapelle moved onto directing music videos, live theatrical shows and documentary film for the likes of Elton John, Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams,
Christina Aguilera and many other popular figures.
Lachappelle describes his work as “escapist fantasies, celebratory, beautiful”
( http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/lachapelle.html
). His photography showcases a bizarre and surreal ‘larger than life’ style, which is often inspired by his Christian background and love for pop culture. His work exhibits his appreciation of western art history “and is peppered with
Christian symbolism and imagery, as is shown especially by the ‘Jesus is My Homeboy’ and ‘American
Jesus’ series” (Erik buys, 2011).
Dollhouse Disaster, Love Scorned, 1997
Archangel Michael, 2009 Jesus is my homeboy, 2007

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Nick Knight
Nick knight is a British fashion and documentary photography. He attended the Bournemouth and
Poole College of Art and Design, whilst here he released his first book “skinheads” in 1982. The book which tracks the history of skinheads from the 60’s to the mid-70’s won him the Designers and Art
Directors Award for Best Book Cover.
Shortly afterwards Marc Ascoli, art director of Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto, hired Nick Knight for 12 consecutive Yohji Yamamoto catalogues, this catapulted Knight’s career as a fashion photographer as it was “a time when Yamamoto campaigns were among highly admired” (Jo
Craven, 2011).
He was then hired by the co-founder of i-D (and former editor of British Vogue) Terry Jones to produce a series of 100 black and white photographs for the fifth anniversary issue of the magazine.
Since then Knight has worked on campaigns for Alexander McQueen, Jil Sander , Christian Dior,
Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, with his work being exhibited at “international institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, Saatchi Gallery, The Tate Modern and Hayward Gallery”
( http://showstudio.com/contributor/nick_knight ).
Knight has an innovating, unconventional style of photography which along the years has garnered a reputation for challenging the ideas of beauty, “my aim has always been to push at the boundaries of what is and isn't beautiful” (Susanne frankel, 2009). His first publication, Skinheads, shows that
Nick Knight has an interest in British subculture. Throughout the years social issues have been an influence for Knight’s work. His website showstudio.com hosts “Political fashion” a feature film series which tackles an array of social issues that affect the fashion industry such as racism, disability, ageism and weight discrimination. He once said "I don't want to reflect social change - I want to cause social change." (Jo craven, 2011), showing that he is a firm believer that photography can propel social progress.
Visionnaire, 1997 Red, 1986 Skinhead, 1982

Dave Lachapelle Bibliography
(2011). David Lachapelle. Available: http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/lachapelle.html.
Last accessed 24th Nov 2012.
Buy, S. (2011). The Church of David LaChapelle. Available: http://erikbuys.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/the-church-of-david-lachapelle/. Last accessed 24th
Nov 2012.
Rivera, R. (2011). Portfolio News Contact Links. Available: http://r2fotografia.com/links.html. Last accessed 24th Nov 2012.
Nick Knight Bibliography
Craven, J. (2011). Who's Who: Nick Knight. Available: http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/nickknight-biography. Last accessed 24th Nov 2012.
Frankel, S. (2009). The fabulous world of Nick Knight. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion/features/the-fabulous-world-of-nick-knight-1809790.html. Last accessed 24th Nov
2012.
Nick Knight. Available: http://showstudio.com/contributor/nick_knight. Last accessed 24th Nov
2012.