1. Unit 57: Photography and
Photographic Practice
Research of other
photographers work by
Ashleigh Darlington

2. He was an English Fashion, War, Portrait photographer,
diarist, painter interior designer and an academy award
winning stage and costume designer for films and
theatre.
He was hired as a staff photographer for Vogue and
Vanity Fair during his time working there he developed a
unique style that consisted of getting the stars he was
photographing to pose in front of unusual backgrounds.
From working at vogue he went on to set up his own
photography studio.
He is know best for his society portraits and his fashion
photographs. During the second world war Cecil Beaton
was posted to the ministry of information where he
became one of Britain's leading war photographers and
for this he was best known for the images he took to
show the damage done by the German Blitz.
Cecil Beaton During the
second world war.

3. Cecil Beaton
Marilyn Monroe Mick Jagger Lillian Gish Vivienne Leigh
The Queen Katherine Hepburn Curtis Moffatt Audrey Hepburn

4. Marilyn Monroe By Cecil Beaton
This is a photo that Cecil Beaton took
of Marilyn Monroe, he did a lot of work
with her. All of Cecil’s images are in
black and white.
This image shows Marilyn Monroe lay
on a bed with various items around
her.
This picture was took in 1956 and it
was taken during a photographic
session at Ambassador Hotel in New
York. By the time this photograph was
taken Marilyn Monroe had been a
model for 16 years and an actress for
5.

5. Composition
When Cecil Beaton took this image of
Marilyn Monroe lay on a hotel bed he
chose to go for a more classy image and
focused the camera more on the top half
from the waist upwards so that the focus
was mainly on her face, her beauty.
Cecil is usually known for having quite
unusual backgrounds but with this image it
is quite plain I think this is as he didn’t
want to take any of the focus on her away.
There are quite unusual images next to
her so it is not completely plain and that
comes from the design that is on the
bedding of the bed she is lay on.

6. Techniques used
Cecil Beaton’s images always
follow in the same kind of style
as when he is taking his images
his main focus is the person in
them so he usually has them in
the centre of the image however
with this one he has used the
rule of thirds as Marilyn Monroe
is slightly off being in the middle
and more to one side this is
because he focuses a little on
the background as well with the
unusual images that are on the
bed sheet.

7. Strengths & Weaknesses
I like how Cecil Beaton focuses more on the model and
usually always has them looking right into the camera
rather than looking away, as it involves the audience
more when the model is giving them direct eye contact.
I have shown 3 images of his, my favorite is the middle
image where they have shown 3 images of the one
model all in the same picture, one with direct eye
contact and that is the one that is right in the center of
the picture then next to that there is 2 other images at the
side and I think that is very effective image and looks
good. However a thing I don’t like about some of his
images is when he does what is shown in the bottom
image where he focuses the attention more on the
background rather than the model, but a lot of people
do like this as he is well known for his unique background
styles, but I just prefer when he focuses more on the
models face.