Alfred Cheney Johnston

Whilst researching further into 1920s hair and make up styling I came across a photographer known as Alfred Cheney Johnston. Looking at his images I felt so much inspiration for my final project. I felt his images displayed the exact look I had in mind. 

Alfred Cheney Johnston was well known New York based photographer. He's often referred to as the Ziegfeld Follies photographer as his work predominantly consisted of portraits of women from the shows known as Follies girls or 'flapper girls'. Alfred also photographed many other actors and actresses from the industry such as Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish.1 

Initially I looked to his photographs because they are a great point of research for accurate hair and make up styling. However the longer I looked I realised I wanted to create a final image that was inspired by his work. 

His photographs show his subjects in a less perfect state and for me this shows a real rawness of the person in front of the camera. I immediately felt inspired by Alfred's work finding the images more intriguing to look at then other photographers of his time.
Looking at a wide range of his photographs I feel the women are captured to show strength rather then in vulnerability. I admire this and want to portray this in my final image.