Bruce Weber
(1946 - )
Bruce Weber was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania in 1946. He studied and trained in photography and film at various institutions in New York City. By the mid 1970s, Weber was producing a great number of black and white photographs of young men and women. Although, not strictly a fashion photographer, Weber's work has been highly influential in the fashion world.
He was influenced by photographers such as Diane Arbus, and Richard Avedon. By the end of the 1970s, Weber was exhibiting his work in several major galleries. His photographs for advertising campagins of Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Gianni Versace, Abercrombie and Fitch, Revlon, and others have achieved widespread popularity. Weber has also shot photographs for advertising campaings for Volvo and Dior Homme.
Weber's photographs show clothing as part of an attractive way of life. In 1978, Weber showed the 12-year-old Brooke Shields wearing men's clothes for Soho Weekly News. The same year his photographs for the men's magazine GQ were new in mainstream publishing for their obvious homage to well-endowed body-building models. The Calvin Klein advertisements that Weber produced were some of the most sophisticated advertisement photography, but also highly controversial. Weber's photographs celebrated the male form. Weber has also been sought after for his portraiture. Magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stones have employed Weber for editorials of renowned figures in fashion film, music, and the arts. Weber has also photographed celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Georgia O'Keeffe, among many others, who have commissioned him for private sessions inside their own homes or within natural settings.
Weber prefers the use of black and white film and natural light. He prefers natural settings, or location shoots, that show the subjects outdoors. Weber does not show only clothes or underwear in his photographs, he shows individuals wearing the clothes and underwear in glamorous, fun social, and intimate activities; ultimately selling the idea that a certain brand of clothes is the key to and ideal lifestyle. In this way, Weber successfully fictionalizes scenes with anonymous models, advancing the great fantasy of fashion photography. Because Weber usually shoots out-of-doors, some of his work can also be seen as landscape photography. He has consistently shot in upstate New York, southern Florida, and Montana to provide different vegetations and architectures; seen in Weber's work Roadside America. Weber has also published two books of his photographs of dogs in nature, Gentle Giants and Bear Pond. Weber's film career is also important part of his artistic production. His fimls are often dark and realistic takes made in black and white. Weber has a total of seven short and feature lenght movies, two of which (Broken Noses and Let's Get Lost) won Best Documentary Awards from the International Documentary Association. Let's Get Lost was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. The film's soundtrack rose to number one on the charts and was the best-selling Chet Baker collection in history. In 2001, his documentary Chop Suey was released and his newest film, A letter to True was released in 2004 by Zeitgeist Films. Weber has also directed videos for Chris Isaak and the Pet Shop Boys, the latter winning Music Week's Video of the Year; he has created a total of eleven books of photographs and writings. His photographs are in the permanent collections of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum as well as in the Photography Division of the City of Paris.
Bruce Weber lives in New York, New York. He is married to Nan Bush with whom he sometimes collaborates.
