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Richard Avedon

Photographer

American·b. 1923

Known for:

fashion and environmental portrait photography

Education:

Studied with Alexey Brodovitch at New School for Social Research (1944-1950)

Richard Avedon worked for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue for decades before his large-scale portrait work in the American West - documented in In the American West (1985) - extended his practice well beyond fashion. He was the first staff photographer at The New Yorker, hired in 1992. His subjects ranged from fashion models to civil rights leaders to the terminally ill.

Richard Avedon's Gear List(3)

Rolleiflex (medium format)

Rollei

Connection Source

PhotogpediaWebsite

Connection note

Used Rolleiflex for nearly all fashion and portrait work from 1940s through late 1960s

Product description

Twin-lens reflex camera system produced by Franke & Heidecke in Germany, shooting 6x6cm frames on 120 roll film. Known for its waist-level viewfinder, quiet leaf shutter, and Zeiss or Schneider taking lenses. Various models were produced from 1929 through the 2000s.

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Last updated March 20, 2026

Connection note

Avedon used Hasselblad medium format cameras throughout his studio practice; his method of making multiple exposures across a single sitting — the contact sheets of which he used as compositional tools — relied on the Hasselblad's square format and the physical size of the 6×6 negative. Documented in "Evidence 1944–1994" (1994) and in accounts of his studio practice at his West 58th Street studio.

Product description

Produced from 1970 to 1994, the 500C/M is a modular medium format SLR using 120 or 220 film. Its interchangeable magazines, focusing screens, and Carl Zeiss lenses made it the standard camera in professional studio and location photography for three decades.

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Deardorff 8×10 View Camera

Deardorff

Connection Source

PetaPixelBook

Connection note

Avedon used an 8×10 Deardorff view camera for "In the American West" (1985); documented extensively in the book's production notes.

Product description

Manufactured by L.F. Deardorff & Sons in Chicago from the 1920s through the 1980s, the 8×10 is a wooden field camera producing negatives 8 by 10 inches. Its bellows design allows for full front and rear movements including tilt, swing, and shift.