Eve Arnold is one of the magnum photographers to move over to photojournalism fashion back in the 50's, she is known as a photojournalist however one of her most famous works is a picture of celebrity Marilyn Monroe. It is said that Monroe trusted Arnold more than any other photographer, perhaps this was because of the high quality background she came from, A magnum photographer photographing celebrities and fashion was a new thing in the 50's and it came about at roughly the same time as kodaks Tri-X 35mm film release. The truthfulness documented in photojournalism may have been the appealing thing about Eve for Monroe as a lot of celebrity photographers are looking for something sneaky where as the opposing documentary photographers are usually looking for the truth.
I am interested in Eve because of her transition from photojournalism to fashion, A lot of controversy still revolves around Magnum shooting fashion, lots of people had a different view of it and this reflected on its practitioners, As Lise Sarfati says "All of this makes me wonder about the perception of this work out in the world. Do fashionistas like it? Does Magnum's audience like it? What do you think about an organization grounded in documentary principals dipping its toes in the fashion ocean?" Obviously fashion within Magnum has stayed but what was it that attracted these strictly documentary photographers to the fashion scene?, was it the fact that as opened minded people they saw it as yet another opportunity to create something unique and special or was it the idea of creating a new style of fashion photography that would in turn influence the rest of the world?.
 |  |
I think Arnold saw Marilyn Monroe as a normal person just doing her job, the celebrity hype doesn't seem a motive in terms of Arnold because throughout her life a consistent theme of her work has been people and their jobs and how that job defines them. Sure Monroe looks like a movie star and a celebrity in the photo but that was her job, she is a movie star and arnold captured that just like she would capture a writer or a painter. Looking at the two photographs above i see a correlation through this ideology, both photographs are doing the same thing, illustrating the subjects through what they do for a living and how that has become a defining aspect of their lives.
It is simply this that pushes me to think that it was not a conscious decision to dip into fashion it was simply that both forms of photography lend themselves to what Arnold originally found a love of photographing. We are on the outside looking in and so we cannot see her personal agenda, both types of photography can be categorised but this wasn't a contributing factor, she didn't stop one day and say i want to photograph something different because to her there was no difference, be it Marilyn Monroe or a mongolian horse trainer they are both just people doing their job.
