Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The picture Fred with Tyres8212;taken by legendary American fashion photographer Herb Ritts in 19848212;by far, remains the greatest shot I8217;ve ever seen. I first saw the photograph 10 years ago, when I was picking up photography as a serious hobby. I was surfing the Internet and chanced upon this Ritts classic on a website. The two words that kept crossing my mind and coming out of my mouth as I gazed over the image were 8220;fantastic8221; and 8220;brilliant8221;.
Fred with Tyres is the black-and-white picture of a model called Fred8212;he has a killer body that is over-chiseled and his torso is steeply punctuated by the ridges of six-pack-abs8212;who is standing in a garage, holding two tyres in his hands.
Every photographer worth his salt has tried to copy this truly iconic picture but failed to capture its magic. I, though, never dared to copy it for two reasons: one, it8217;s too popular and two, it would be too stupid of me to attempt an imitation of an inimitable image. It8217;s like Mona Lisa, so many people have tried to paint it but all they ended up with was a faint resemblance to the Da Vinci masterpiece
I shoot a lot of actors and models and though I8217;ve not specifically picked up any of the tone and light inputs from Fred with Tyres, I think that since the image is deeply entrenched in my mind, it must have left some imprint of influence on my images.
