Helmut Newton

My initial response to Newton's work is to think, at first glance, that his bodies of work are based around the idea of male dominance however when looking deeper at the images I realise that there is more to these photos. I realised it is actually the complete opposite. I feel it is to express female dominance and their control over men. In this first photo you see that a man is grabbing the women in a way which looks like he has no permission to do but she lets him, but also seems as though she doesn't even care about what he is doing and doesn't take notice, Enforcing the idea of female dominance.

                The meaning or purpose I feel could be for both commercial use and fine art. I feel it would be used commercially because in the photographs there are clearly branded products, for example the watch in the first photo. However, in images with no clear products, the focus is the narrative of the image and that idea of female dominance. The images look very professional apparent by the quality of the images. However most of the images are done on location, I feel this is because it brings out more of the story within the image.

                   Almost all of his images are in black and white with a high contrast. This is probably to enforce the idea of a higher class and elegance. Because of this it also plays a role in the narrative of the photo because we associate black and white with elegance which tells us something about the photo. I noticed that a lot of his work is done using low key lighting which creates quite a negative atmosphere on the photograph.

                  It's easy to understand how is work is something to be negatively criticised for being sexist and objectifying to women. However, I feel that if you look deeper within the images you find that it is not. These negative opinions are probably from people who are not educated in art and the ones who prove these opinions wrong are people like writers of the BJP.