From left: photographs by:Izima Kaoru, Joel Peter Witkin, and Guy Bourdin.












Actual death or merely the depiction of death has always been closely associated with photography. As early as 1839Hippolyte Bayard photographed a self portrait as a drowned man. And in the 19th century it was common practice to take portraits of family members after they have died. Sometimes living family members were photographed posing with the recent dead. Nowadays it is no longer a common practice to photograph the dead however, that doesn't mean that the depiction of death isn't still deeply infused in photography today. Now we see the depiction of death a lot in fashion photography, for example Guy Bourdin shot most of the ad campaigns he did for Charles Jourdan shoes using pictures of women who had been killed by crimes of passion. Joel Peter Witkin frequently uses dead corpses and body parts in his still lifes. Death is still a common factor in photography today because death is fascinating and scary. People are scared of the unknown and death is still one of those areas that are still unknown. Along with the work of Guy Bourdin and Joel Peter Witkin I found some interesting death in fashion photography by a photographer named Izima Kaoru. I think death will always be closely associated with art and photography, although how it is associated may change with the times. It may not always be used so frequently in fashion photography.