My Thanks for 2012

I would like to thank all those who have chosen Lee Folkard Photography to capture your memories in 2012.

I would also like to thank those who have supported my work; those that commented on images and status's via the Facebook Page; Lee Folkard Photography.
Those who have retweeted or "starred" my tweets, via twitter; Lee Folkard.
Those who have read, commented and shared blogposts on the Blog - Lee Folkard Photography.

I would my loyal corporate clients who have made use of my services throughout the year. And also all those who have purchased images from the website; www.leefolkard.com.

I would like to thank all those close to me who continue to support my passion and my work.

Thank you.

Here's to seeing you again and again and again in 2013. Even if it is just through virtual contact.

Brad Pitt for Chanel No. 5

Celebrity has always been the answer to great advertising, whether it is good or not, simply because putting the face of a star on a brand makes the product that much more desirable. Chanel’s decision to use Brad Pitt for their new Chanel No. 5 campaign is nothing short of creative genius. Its innovation is simply proved by using a man for one of the most prominent female fragrances in the world.

The ads themselves are not good and Brad has received a lot of backlash for them. They consist of nonsensical ravings about the journeys of life and love and Brad ends up looking awkward reciting a monologue it is clear he doesn’t quite understand. But it manages to somehow work. Brad Pitt – with that husky badboy voice, etched in black and white – will sell the fragrance simply because it is Brad Pitt with his husky badboy voice filmed in black and white.

The ads are shot by Oscar-nominated director Joe Wright but it fails to live up to the standards that Chanel has managed to keep alive for all these years. But search for Brad Pitt on YouTube and the first search result will be the Chanel No. 5 ads – so people are talking and watching and it is “inevitable” – as Brad inexplicably ends the ad by saying – that the fragrance will sell.

Yousuf Karsh – The Soul-Searcher

“Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can. The revelation, if it comes at all, will come in a small fraction of a second with an unconscious gesture, a gleam of the eye, a brief lifting of the mask that all humans wear to conceal their innermost selves from the world. In that fleeting interval of opportunity the photographer must act or lose his prize.”

-       Yousuf Karsh

Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) is one of the masters of 20th century photography. His body of work includes portraits of statesmen, artists, musicians, authors, scientists, and men and women of accomplishment. His extraordinary and unique portfolio presents the viewer with an intimate and compassionate view of humanity.

Karsh was born in what is now Turkey and was sent to live with his uncle, a photographer, in Canada during the Armenian Genocide at the age of 16. His uncle saw his great potential from Karsh helping out in his studio and sent him to apprentice with portrait photographer John Garo in Boston. Karsh’s place in photographical history was sealed in 1941 when he photographed Winston Churchill after he had given a speech in Ottawa, Canada.

He published 15 books of his photographs which also included brief descriptions of the sessions. Among others, he had photographed “Nelson Mandela, Audrey Hepburn, Mother Theresa, and Humphrey Bogart.

Karsh was a master of studio lights and one of his distinctive characteristics was lighting the subject’s hands separately. He photographed some of the most celebrated people of his generation. He had a gift for capturing the essence of his subject in the frame of a portrait. He chose to photograph people “great in heart, in mind, and in spirit, whether they be famous or humble”, as he so perfectly put it.